Hidden in Snow (The ?re Murders, #1)(53)

She falls silent, glances down at her unpainted nails, and wishes she were somewhere else.

“It’s an easy thing to miss,” she adds. “Something similar happened to me in Stockholm, which is why I got in touch.”

Daniel Lindskog nods in a way that Hanna would like to think is encouraging.

“It does seem as if we’ve missed this,” he says. “We’ve spoken to Viktor, of course, but this is new to me. We definitely need to take a closer look at him.” His expression is appreciative now. “Clearly we should have had a better handle on things. Thank you.”

Hanna feels a wave of relief. She made the right decision. The problem is that she no longer has the courage to trust her instincts. Her boss in Stockholm has made her doubt herself in a way that she never did in the past.

“How’s life in Stockholm?” Anton asks. “You’re with the City Police, I believe?”

He opens a tin of gingerbread cookies on the table, takes two, and pops one in his mouth.

Hanna had hoped to avoid the question. Playing for time, she picks up her coffee and sips as slowly as possible.

She can’t tell them the truth, nor does she want to lie.

“I was based in the Stockholm City area,” she says eventually. “I worked on domestic abuse, that kind of thing.”

“You’ve left?”

Hanna opts for a white lie.

“I’m just considering my options.” Which is true, from a purely technical point of view. “I needed a change,” she adds quickly. “My sister has a house in Sadeln, and she’s letting me stay there while I think about the next step.”

Again, perfectly true.

“When do you go back to work?” Anton wonders.

“That’s up in the air.”

She sees a spark of interest in his eyes.

“That kind of crime takes its toll,” she murmurs without going into detail. Hopefully they will draw their own conclusions. It is no secret that officers investigating violence against women and children often suffer burnout, or end up hating men.

Daniel points to the wall of pictures. “What’s your view on this case? Anything you’d like to say about the perpetrator?”

His eyes are hazel and totally focused.

Hanna may have specialized in this field throughout her career, and she has also taken psychology courses to deepen her understanding, but she is neither a qualified psychologist nor a profiler.

“It’s hard to come up with something off the top of my head,” she says hesitantly. “I presume you’re looking for a man, given the statistics.”

The numbers tell their own story; there is no need for her to repeat them. Anton and Daniel must be aware that almost ninety percent of those convicted of violent crimes are men. The use of violence is strongly linked to the male sex.

She studies the photographs for a few seconds.

Amanda’s half-naked body is exposed in the close-ups, and Hanna feels a surge of rage. Not letting the bastards get away with it has always been her greatest driving force.

Every time a perp was sent down thanks to her efforts, she was striking a blow against Miguel, the bar owner in Barcelona, the man whose bad breath and body odor she can never forget.

Every guilty verdict was a step toward paying off the debt that still weighs her down, even though she was the innocent victim.

“It’s easy to look for a sexual motive,” she says. “But in fact cases of sexual violence are usually about power and dominance. When men use violence within close relationships, for example, through sexual humiliation or physical abuse, it’s almost invariably because the perpetrator wants to demonstrate his position of power. He wants to show that he is in complete control of his partner. It is a damaging pattern of control and the exertion of power that has very little to do with his sex drive.”

The two men are listening closely.

Hanna is beginning to feel pleased that she has captured their attention. She is not a bad police officer; she knows what she’s talking about. In this context she is professional, secure.

“Because Amanda’s boyfriend has a history of violence toward his girlfriends, that makes him a person of interest.”

She turns to Anton. “Do you know if they quarreled on the night she went missing? Could she have dumped him? That can be enough of a trigger.”

Anton nods slowly. “Her girlfriend Ebba told us that Viktor and Amanda had had a fight at the party. Apparently Viktor was pretty drunk.”

Daniel rests his chin on his hand. “We’ve been wondering whether Amanda might have died by mistake.”

“Can you explain?” Hanna says.

“We’re not sure the intention was for her to die. We think things might have gone wrong.”

“Of course—that’s why he put her on the chairlift!”

Hanna exclaims. “Because he wanted to give her back.”

Daniel seems surprised. He looks at Anton. “Have you already discussed this?”

Anton shakes his head.

Hanna’s mind is racing.

“We mustn’t underestimate the feelings of guilt and fear that follow an assault,” she says. “Many perpetrators regret what they have done, and at that moment they are capable of honesty and decency. The problem is that the criminal behavior pattern is too strong. After a short while they fall back into the same pattern. The parameters of what is acceptable are gradually extended, and eventually the violence is normalized. What was initially unthinkable appears reasonable, or at least doable.”