A Nearly Normal Family(46)

41


I had to wait for half an hour before Agnes Thelin entered the small interrogation room. She placed my keys and wallet on the table.

“We’re going to keep your phone for forensic analysis,” she said, waving an order from the prosecutor.

“Forensic analysis? What crime have I been charged with?”

Agnes Thelin put on an expression of concern, as if she truly cared about me.

“Linda Lokind contacted us back when you came to her apartment for the first time, Adam. She was scared. You ingratiated yourself with her under false pretenses.”

“I only happened to be wearing my clerical collar that day.”

“You claimed to represent Margaretha Olsen.”

I couldn’t deny that, although I thought it was a fairly minor overstep. Definitely not the sort of thing that justified the brutality of those officers.

“We decided that Linda should contact us immediately in case of your return,” Agnes Thelin continued.

So that’s why it had taken her so long to unlock the door.

“But why am I sitting here? Why did they apprehend me? I haven’t broken any laws.”

“You swung a vase at my colleague.”

“Swung? Is that what he claims?”

“He doesn’t claim anything. There were four of you in that room.”

“But you have to question Linda Lokind again. She confessed to me that all her accusations against Christopher Olsen were true. He assaulted her again and again, and she thought about ways to get revenge.”

“I can’t discuss details of this investigation, Adam. You have to trust we’re doing our job.”

“How could I trust you? My little girl is locked up despite the complete lack of evidence!”

“We just received new results from the lab. The crime-scene technicians have discovered small irregularities on the soles of Stella’s shoes, and they match the print from the scene of the crime. We are sure that print came from Stella’s shoe.”

“That can’t be true.”

“Of course it’s true.”

“But it could have ended up there any time at all. Stella has an alibi!”

Agnes Thelin made her hands into a pyramid under her chin. Her eyes were a little shiny, but her gaze was steady and firm. I realized that I wasn’t going to get anywhere. She had made up her mind. She and Jansdotter the prosecutor had decided that Stella was guilty and that I was a common liar. Nothing I said would change their attitude.

“How are you doing, Adam? You’ve been overstepping a lot of boundaries recently.”

I pressed my hands to my temples to get rid of the constant pounding.

“DA Jenny Jansdotter has filed a police report on you,” Thelin went on, taking a piece of paper from the pile on her desk. “You attacked her on the street, shouting and acting threatening.”

“Attacked? Threatening?”

My vision flickered. I fumbled around on the table for something to drink. My mouth was full of dust. The light was so bright I had to squint.

“Adam?”

“I want a lawyer.”



* * *



Contrary to my expectations, it actually felt like a relief when Michael Blomberg lumbered through the door and sat down next to me.

“Trust me,” he said, placing one huge paw on my shoulder.

Ulrika had made the arrangements to get him here.

“I did not attack Jansdotter” was all I managed to get out.

“Of course you didn’t,” said Blomberg. “These charges are completely absurd. You have no reason to worry.”

I was stuck in a nightmare.

“I understand that this is awful,” said Agnes Thelin, “and that you’re not feeling well.”

Blomberg’s hand shot out.

“I’m having increasing doubts about how you conduct your work around here,” he said.

I looked at him. At last he was doing something.

Agnes Thelin went on as if nothing was amiss.

“What I’m going to say now will seem shocking and terrible at first, but in the long run I believe it will come as a relief to you, Adam.”

I turned to Blomberg, who fingered the knot of his tie.

“I know you’re just trying to protect your daughter,” said Chief Inspector Thelin. “But that is no longer possible.”

A sudden calm descended over me. I didn’t understand where it had come from. The pounding in my forehead ceased and the saliva streamed into my mouth once again. My vision cleared. It was as if the moment had caught up with me at last.

“Yesterday I went to the jail to question Stella again,” said Agnes Thelin. “Quite a bit of new information came out.”

I pictured what was about to happen, in the span of a few seconds. The future was a movie playing in my head just before it occurred in reality.

“Stella says she did not come home as early as you claim.”

“No?”

“She believes it was past one o’clock, maybe closer to two.”

“No, that’s not right.” I shook my head firmly. “She was drunk. She’s mistaken about the time.”

Second after second vanished. I looked at Blomberg, who looked at Thelin, who looked at me. We knew, all three of us, that this was an act and nothing more. A performance.