Leona

by Jenny Rogneby

  “Have you been in contact with Nina about the meeting this afternoon?”

  “I sent an email to her and Fransén about the meeting time. I didn’t know whether you had done that. Both have said that they’re coming.”

  I watched him. From what Nina had said, I had the impression that Claes had contacted her by phone. I wondered what they might have talked about besides the meeting time tomorrow. But maybe he was telling the truth. I couldn’t be certain.

  FIFTY-ONE

  I closed the door to the conference room and sat down at the short end of the oval meeting table. I hoped, as usual, that this would be the last time I would have to reel off a lot of facts for colleagues who could barely stand to listen. It was just a big show designed to impress others. I had to sound professional to make a good impression on the managers, who in turn would convey what I had said upward and make a good impression on their own managers. That’s how it worked. Professional life.

  So tiresome.

  Meaningless.

  The only thing that kept me going was that I knew it was not forever.

  I had never been particularly fond of the head of investigations. Claes looked at me with a gaze that I interpreted as admiration. It was obvious that he had his eye on me in more ways than one. Minna and Sam sat goggle-eyed as usual. Nina stood out as the only sensible one.

  Claes had called the meeting, so the only thing to do was get started.

  “As you all know, a second robbery has been committed. Because we are in need of the general public’s assistance we have chosen to appear on Sweden’s Most Wanted. Minna, Sam, and I will report the results of that in just a moment. The first robbery occurred, as you know, at SEB at Östermalmstorg. The girl herself carried the money out in a backpack and left the scene on foot. Exactly what route she took is still unclear.”

  I rattled off everything at a furious speed. It was probably obvious that I wanted to conclude the meeting as soon as possible.

  “The dogs have not picked up any traces and we don’t have any witnesses who may have seen her on her way from the scene. She was evidently wearing a black rain cape, which may be the reason that no one noticed her. Forensics has not been able to find any usable traces inside the bank.”

  Strangely enough, everyone seemed to be listening attentively to what I was saying. I slowed down a little.

  “The girl’s identity can’t be established from the surveillance video from inside the bank. On the recording that the girl played, it supposedly said that she was seven years old. Otherwise we still know nothing about her. A man with a Finnish accent is said to have recited the message and a witness has also said that there was another person’s voice on the recording.”

  Claes raised a finger. I nodded at him.

  “Do you mean that no one saw the girl leave either crime scene?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “But my God, both robberies happened in the morning. Östermalm and Old Town are not exactly deserted at that time of day. And how did she get there? She can’t have just flown in.”

  Claes sounded irritated. He probably didn’t want to appear incompetent in front of the head of investigations.

  “No, but unfortunately we haven’t found anyone who noticed her.”

  “Most Wanted, then. Have any witnesses called?”

  “Not about that, even though I specifically reached out for observations concerning the girl.”

  He was being persistent. The people who had seen the girl and called Most Wanted had not been interviewed and I had no interest in interviewing them, either. If it were to come out later that I had missed their testimony I could say that some of the information from Most Wanted had failed to reach me. It had been sent by fax, and everyone was aware that the fax machines broke down constantly, that papers fell down and ended up on the floor, or that other people accidentally took pages that didn’t belong to them. So that would presumably be accepted as an explanation.

  I watched Minna and Sam, who suddenly started to look meaningfully at each other. What was going on between them? I turned to Minna.

  “Was there something the two of you wanted to add?”

  Minna cleared her throat.

  “Hmm…We may have found the escape route,” she said.

  I raised my eyebrows. The head of investigations and Claes turned to her inquiringly.

  “We found a storm drain about twenty meters from the entrance to SEB.”

  “A storm drain?” said Claes, looking at me.

  “Yes, a storm drain for rainwater runoff,” Minna continued. “They’re all over the streets but the one that was closest to the bank didn’t have a cover. No grate, that is. It’s hidden between the parking spaces and extremely small so you almost don’t see it when there are cars there. I didn’t see that there was a hole down into the ground until I was standing right alongside it and leaned over.”

  “But what the hell? Did you know about this, Leona?”

  Claes looked at me with wide-open eyes.

  “I tried to tell you a few days ago, Leona, but you said you didn’t have time,” said Minna.

  I was mute. How the hell had Ronni managed this? We had exchanged the original grate, which was iron, for an aluminum one, so the girl would be able to lift it and climb down. Ronni should have put the original cover back during the night when he picked up the girl with the car. I clenched my fists under the table. Cooperating with that man was truly one big fucking challenge.

  Missing such a significant piece of information made it seem like I didn’t have control over either the investigation or the colleagues who were working for me. I looked at the head of investigations. He was sitting with his brow furrowed and one hand on his jaw.

  “I called and told Nina anyway,” Minna continued.

  Everyone’s eyes now moved to the prosecutor, who was starting to squirm.

  “I naturally assumed that this was information all of you knew about and were working on. I was surprised I didn’t get the information from you, Leona.”

  Dead silence. Claes got up quickly.

  “What the hell is going on?” He raised his voice significantly. Considering that the head of investigations was at the meeting, Claes was obviously feeling obliged to show his muscles. I could expect a real scolding. Probably more than that. Perhaps Claes would transfer me, to maintain his own reputation. I took a deep breath and awaited the outburst.

  “This may be a breakthrough in the investigation,” said Claes.

  Minna nodded and smiled. Sam looked content. Claes continued to look at Minna.

  “Do you mean that the two of you have known about this without making sure that Leona got that information?”

  Minna’s smile froze.

  “How long have you known?” he continued.

  “Since last Friday,” said Minna quietly. “We worked in the field over the weekend, so we were off during the week…We haven’t had time to check further on it…”

  “Last Friday! That’s six days ago, damn it!” Claes shouted. “Are you completely out of your minds? That sort of thing has to be checked immediately. Where does the drain lead to? Is there a similar one outside Forex? Have you sent Forensics there?”

  Minna looked down at the table. Claes just stared at her.

  “And…? Where the hell does it lead?”

  Minna’s voice was faint now. She seemed to have a hard time getting out the words.

  “I shone a light down into the drain. There didn’t appear to be any passageways down there. No visible traces either. We called the city of Stockholm and asked them to order a new cover so that no one would be injured. We thought that because several weeks had passed since the robbery, perhaps there was no point in sending Forensics. Outside Forex there is no such drain. But I did try to tell Leona, so that she could decide what she wanted to do.”

  Claes did not seem to know what to do with himself. He pursed his lips. He looked out the window and said calmly, “The two of you can leave the room. You
are removed from the girl robbery.”

  Minna and Sam didn’t say a word, but got up slowly and moved toward the door. They knew Claes well enough to understand there was no point in talking back.

  “Be sure to write a clear memo about the drain and what you found, now!” he called after them before the door was closed.

  “Where did you get hold of those two, Claes?” the head of investigations asked.

  “They’re new,” Claes hissed back. “If I remember rightly, it was you who wanted me to take care of them because you didn’t have any other assignments for them.”

  Claes was on the warpath, obviously. I was mostly dumbfounded that I’d escaped a dressing down. I had earned one. Minna had said to me that she had something she wanted to tell me, but I couldn’t be bothered to listen. None of that mattered now. Everything had worked out, and I was also rid of my persistent puppets.

  I had counted on someone sooner or later detecting the flight path. I just didn’t like having surprises presented to me in front of my managers.

  Now I saw an opportunity to end the meeting as soon as possible.

  “As I’m sure you understand, I have a number of important things to work on, and with this new information, I think we’ll have to conclude this meeting,” I said.

  Everyone nodded in understanding and started gathering their papers.

  “Claes, I’ll go down in the drain right away myself and see how it looks. It’s been over a month, with bad weather. Probably we can’t expect all that much.”

  Claes nodded. I turned to the others.

  “I’m sorry it was such a short meeting.”

  “No problem, Leona,” said the head of investigations, patting me on the shoulder. “It’s good that there’s something to go on in the investigation. Claes and I have talked about perhaps arranging a little help from outside too, so…”

  “That won’t be necessary,” I said quickly.

  The head of investigations shot a glance at Claes that I could not really interpret. I started walking quickly toward my office, brooding about Nina. Minna had apparently contacted Nina without Nina having called me, even though she was doubtful about why I wasn’t the one telling her about the drain. Had Nina started to suspect something?

  “Leona!”

  Nina came running after me in the corridor.

  “I have to ask. Someone left a message for me earlier today that there was something about the girl robbery that hadn’t come out, that I should know about. I don’t know where the message came from; I got it through the switchboard. They said it was a man who called.”

  Damn, Christer Skoog. He was apparently tired of me avoiding him.

  “I see,” I said.

  “I just thought it was strange. Thought in case you knew something.”

  “No. Nothing…”

  “Another thing. Where are we on the question of Mellström, now, since the escape route seems to be the drain? Wasn’t he seen running from there?”

  “Can we talk about that this evening? I have to go out to the drain,” I said, trying to sound stressed.

  “This evening? Then you’ll have to discuss it with the after-hours prosecutor because I’m going home in a couple of hours.”

  I had no desire to talk with an after-hours prosecutor who was not familiar with the case. He or she would probably decide that Mellström should be released immediately.

  “What are you doing tonight?” I asked. “Do you want to get a bite to eat and talk a little more about this? I haven’t examined the drain properly yet and don’t know with certainty whether it really is the escape route. After all, Mellström still hasn’t said where he was at the time of the crime. He may have taken the bag from the girl and run away. The decision on whether he should be released can perhaps be made early tomorrow when we know more about the drain, don’t you think?”

  Nina seemed doubtful. The prosecutors hated to have people locked up a single minute longer than they had to. Personally I had no problem letting that man stay in jail. Even if he was innocent of these particular crimes he was definitely not a model citizen. Having time to think about his old sins could only do him good.

  “Okay, we’ll have dinner and talk about it,” said Nina before we parted.

  I went into my office and closed the door, thinking about what had just happened. Christer Skoog contacting Nina worried me the most. He was apparently prepared to tell her what he knew about me. At the beginning, when Nina had been randomly selected as the preliminary investigation leader, I had realized that sooner or later she would be a problem. Nina had kept a low profile so far and let me run the investigation in peace, but if, because of Christer, she started having suspicions, she would undoubtedly look more carefully at the case. Nina was too smart to be fooled. I had no choice other than to tell her. Now it had become more urgent — I needed to do it before Christer made contact with her again. It would have to happen tonight at dinner.

  I took out my phone and quickly entered Ronni’s number.

  “What the hell, Ronni! The storm drain cover.”

  “Leona, is that you?”

  “Shut up, you heard what I said.”

  That man brought out my worst mood.

  He sighed. “It didn’t work. Some teenagers were hanging around there when I went to pick up Olivia. I was happy that I got her out at all. I made it just before they saw me.”

  “Are you completely…It’s been over a fucking month. Why didn’t you get back there right after and put on the cover?”

  “Lucky it was you who discovered it anyway,” said Ronni.

  “It wasn’t me, damn it, Ronni! It was my colleagues. I just heard about it at a meeting with the head of investigations.”

  “Oh, damn it. Oh, man.”

  “Oh, man? Don’t you get that there are going to be problems with the next robbery? You’re going to have to find a drain several blocks from the crime scene. A fucking unnecessary risk, Ronni.”

  I hung up. I couldn’t stand any more of his dense comments and was happy that he wasn’t standing in front of me right now. I tore open the door and stomped out to the break room. After two double espressos, though, I came to my senses and realized that I had no one to blame but myself. I had chosen to collaborate with a hoodlum, who presumably had never been playing with a full deck. If I’d had the opportunity I would have chosen someone else. Now I needed to get the whole plan completed as soon as possible, before the guy messed anything else up. Just one robbery to go. I would need to change the plans a little.

  FIFTY-TWO

  You could see immediately which drain grate had recently been replaced by the city of Stockholm. The stone, gravel, leaves, cigarette butts. and other trash that was usually on the street was gone. The grate was also a different shade from the others in the area. I swore to myself as I looked down into the drain and thought it was Ronni’s fault that I was being forced to crawl down into this disgusting pit.

  I had asked a colleague to come along and stand up on the street while I went down, mostly so that there would be someone to witness that I really had checked the drain and not found anything. There were parked cars, and I had to stoop down under the bumper of one to get down. As I had already known, the drain was cramped and not easily accessible for a grown person. Because it had rained the past few days it was also wet and damp. On my way down I heard running water coming from other connected drains.

  With each step down the bent ladder rungs, a strong smell I recognized came through. Stale, damp, mold. I did not like cellar spaces. I felt nauseated. I wanted to get this over with quickly. I had brought along a headlamp to be able to see. The other officer was lying on the ground above, shining a light down around the walls. I looked carefully every time he shone the light down. It was obviously important for the investigation to examine the drain. Now no one would doubt that it had been done.

  I stepped down into the water at the bottom of the drain. On the wall there actually was something. I looked more closely. My co
lleague seemed to notice that something had caught my attention and shone his flashlight against the stone wall.

  “Found something?” he called.

  “Seems to be some type of moss.”

  Did moss even grow in a place like this? I didn’t know for sure. Even though it was damp and discolored, I could see what it was. A piece of the teddy bear’s fur. The teddy bear that the kid had insisted on having with her. I had suspected there would be problems with it, but according to Ronni the girl became completely panic-stricken when he said she couldn’t take it with her. I released the tuft down into the water and watched it wash away with the rain.

  There were no other traces, but I stayed down there for a while so it would appear that I had investigated the drain thoroughly. When enough time had passed I started climbing up.

  “Nothing?” said the colleague.

  “Nil. It’s so wet down there, and considering how much it’s rained the past month, there’s no point in sending Forensics. There are no other passages that lead anywhere down there either. Nothing suggests that this really was the escape route. It’s probably just as I suspected the whole time, that the girl was picked up in a car after the robbery.”

  We pushed the grate back in place together.

  “Would you mind telling Claes that we’ve been here and investigated without result?” I said. “It’s important that he knows that there are no underground passages, and that we can rule out the drain as an escape route.”

  FIFTY-THREE

  I was satisfied with the table I had reserved at the Scandic Anglais restaurant by Humlegården, just near Stureplan. I had chosen the place with care. The meeting with Nina was the most important one of all. The table was slightly secluded, at one end of the restaurant, but maintained a pleasant sense of being around people. The decor provided a warm and pleasant atmosphere, with fabrics in earth tones and wine colors along with dark-brown furniture. It struck me how seldom I went out to eat these days.