Watching You(108)

‘We found the kidnapper,’ Berger said. ‘We would never have done that without Molly’s unofficial investigation.’

‘You found the kidnapper because he refused to use state resources to provide an illegal service to someone whom he, from what he could tell, believed to be a private individual – Molly Blom,’ Steen said calmly. ‘So he installed a warning in that illegal device so that we would discover you when you were in the process of committing a serious crime. You, Molly Blom, infected the interview room’s recording equipment with a virus, and now you have the gall to claim that this isn’t disloyalty to your superiors.’

‘So it was just a coincidence that the technician happened to be the serial killer and kidnapper we were looking for?’ Berger said.

‘It looks like it,’ Steen said. ‘But, like I said, the investigation is ongoing.’

‘So we just got lucky?’ Berger exclaimed.

‘Not at the denouement. You acted effectively then, albeit with a serious excess of force. But we’re even prepared to turn a blind eye to that, seeing as it led to the rescue of six girls.’

‘An excess of force?’ Berger said.

‘I daresay that every police officer knows that a shot from a range of one metre, using hollow-point ammunition fired directly into the genitals, is going to cause the kind of blood loss that will rapidly lead to death.’

Berger bit his tongue and glanced at Blom. She was sitting perfectly still and met his gaze with a neutral expression. It helped him to keep his tongue in check.

Steen went on: ‘Because you were able to extract information from the perpetrator about where his victims were before he died, we have approved the request of the Stockholm Police that the shooting be regarded as self-defence. Even if it’s perfectly clear that it wasn’t.’

‘What was it, then?’ Blom asked.

‘Murder, of course,’ Steen said, looking back towards Blom. ‘Murder, as retribution for some imagined childhood injustice. And that isn’t the only suspicious death in your vicinity during this so-called unofficial investigation. When we finally managed to reverse the GPS in the stolen Security Service vehicle, you were on your way to a care home for dementia sufferers in Vendels?. My men caught up with you there and you managed to evade them. But you left a body behind you.’

‘We did?’ Berger exclaimed.

‘You were the last people to see a patient named Alicia Anger alive. Even in that instance we were able to divert the police investigation in order to save your skins and get this very obvious murder written off as an accident. But I can’t help wondering what you wanted with this woman, and what she revealed that required her permanent silence.’

‘You know perfectly well that we didn’t murder her,’ Berger said as calmly as he could.

‘How am I supposed to know that?’

Berger managed to detect the trap built into the question just as Blom cleared her throat loudly and began to speak, ‘Alicia Anger was William Larsson’s aunt. We believed that she had further information about William’s disappearance.’

‘And did she?’

‘Not at all. She was completely senile. She claimed to be a Valkyrie called the red girl, living in the tenth century. It was impossible to get any sense out of her. And of course we didn’t murder her.’

‘Hmm,’ August Steen said, regarding Blom sadly.

Berger looked over towards Blom. He could see the strength of resistance in her eyes and realised which of them ought to do the talking.

August Steen tapped his desktop lightly with his fingertips, playing an imaginary piano for ten seconds. Then he said: ‘It’s extremely important that you don’t withhold any information from the Security Service. We need to have a clear picture of the whole case now that the investigation is entering such an acute phase. Are you quite sure you’ve told us everything you know?’

‘Yes,’ Blom said.

Steen watched his former acolyte intently.

‘Hmm,’ he said once more. ‘I’m not entirely satisfied.’

‘What more can we say?’

‘That’s what I’m asking you. Right now I’m not getting a good feeling about the two of you.’

‘Feeling?’ Berger blurted out, and regretted it immediately.

‘I don’t imagine I need to explain the importance of feelings to you, of all people, Sam Berger,’ Steen said. ‘You seem to work entirely on feelings. So you know how valuable they are. And right now, like I said, I’m not getting a good feeling about you.’

He paused. ‘You’re far too cocky considering that the entire Swedish police force was recently trying to track you down. A trace of humility would have been more becoming under the circumstances.’

‘Becoming?’ Blom said.

‘Not only that. Also more effective. If you had shown even a trace of regret or awareness of your many mistakes, I would have been able to make you an offer. I actually had authorisation from the senior management of the Security Service to do precisely that.’

August Steen grimaced briefly and stared at the wall above their heads. ‘While you were absent, Superintendent Allan Gudmundsson and I agreed that charges should be brought against you; you would be held to account in a regular criminal trial, and then sent to prison. That is no longer the case. Both the Security Service and the Police Authority have come to realise that you were driven by an excess of ambition as police officers, and nothing else. So we are dropping the case that we had been preparing. But we can’t overlook numerous instances of misconduct and multiple criminal offences. You’ve broken so many laws, written and unwritten alike, that it would be very difficult to retain you in the force. You simply aren’t police officers any more. And I regret that.’