Leona

by Jenny Rogneby

  “Another girl robbery?” asked Sören.

  Strange that he had asked. He ought to have known already. He slowly turned his head and looked at me with his usual penetrating gaze.

  “Did you already know?”

  “Listen, I need to go there. I’ll have to let you off. It may be dangerous. Can you make your way back to the squad yourself?”

  “Sure.”

  As soon as he closed the car door I pushed the accelerator to the floor. I had to get to the girl before someone else did. I rushed ahead between cars, up on sidewalks. Had to get hold of the girl. Lots of police officers were certainly already en route to the crime scene. My heart raced as I heard sirens.

  EIGHTY

  Olivia stood as if petrified. Looked at the drain, as if what she was seeing would disappear if she just looked at it enough. Next to the drain, in the middle of the street, an enormous truck was parked. It wasn’t a regular truck with a big loading platform like Grandpa used when he carted out gravel. This one had a big white barrel on it. From the barrel a long rack stuck out with a hose pointing down toward the ground. A man with bright orange clothes and white reflectors around his legs was pointing the hose down into the drain. Olivia didn’t understand why he was standing there. Daddy hadn’t said anything about it, so the man probably didn’t know anything. He was probably there even though he shouldn’t be. He had to move. Couldn’t stand there. He would ruin everything. Olivia had promised that everything would be perfect this time. Daddy would get so angry if she didn’t do what she was meant to.

  She had to wait until the man was done with what he was doing. She looked around. A short distance from where she stood was an entranceway with an alcove. She ran there as fast as she could. Hid in the alcove. Another man with similar orange clothes came walking toward her. She made herself small against the alcove’s edge, back pressed to the door. Heard the steps approach. Closed her eyes. When the steps continued going past she peered out over the area. A little closer to the drain was a big container. She could hide there and wait until they had driven away. Then she’d be close enough to run down into the drain. To get there she would have to cross the street. She hesitated. Daddy had said that she was not allowed to cross streets by herself. But if she didn’t get down in the drain Daddy would be even angrier. She waited until there was only a single car left on the street before she took off.

  EIGHTY-ONE

  I was approaching Handelsbanken on Renstiernas gata. Saw some uniformed officers who were already outside the scene. I drove around the block toward the drain. When I came in on Kocksgatan I saw the drain-cleaning truck with its enormous tank. The truck almost took up both lanes. By the drain stood an orange-clad worker. I looked around quickly, but I couldn’t see the girl anywhere. I drove slowly past the truck. The street was cluttered with two large orange dumpsters full of concrete and lumber, plus a smaller container. There were plenty of places for a little girl to hide. I was about to turn right at the intersection when suddenly I saw her in the rearview mirror, behind the container. I made a quick U-turn. If I just drove her to the apartment then I could drive back to the crime scene and the other officers as if nothing had happened.

  I drove closer to the girl and braked right in front of her. Opened the door and ran out. Grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her toward the car. The girl started pulling and wriggling her body to get loose.

  “What the hell are you doing? You have to come with me.”

  I hissed at her. The sound of the cleaning truck’s pump had stopped and the street had become strangely quiet.

  “I have to go down! I have to go down!”

  She screamed and struggled. The skinny little girl was stronger than I would have thought. The two orange-clad workers who were now packing up looked in our direction. I pulled the girl over to the back door of the car. As I opened the door to push her in I saw a familiar unmarked car coming toward us. It slowed down and drove up close. In the car sat Minna and Sam. The two of them leaned closer to the window and looked right at me. Damn!

  They had seen me.

  And the girl.

  Together.

  There was no doubt they understood what was going on. I waved them away, indicating that they could go. That I was taking care of the girl. The plan to drive the girl to the apartment was ruined. I swore to myself. Now I had no other choice than to take her to the station.

  EIGHTY-TWO

  Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. Olivia couldn’t think of anything else. What he would do when he found out she hadn’t managed it. That she had made a mistake again.

  The dumb quiet lady had come and ruined everything. Picked her up when she didn’t want it. If she had been left alone to wait for the orange man to be done she would have managed it. Then she could have done everything just the way Daddy said. But the lady forced her into the car, yelled at her to give her the bag and to wrap herself in a blanket. Then she had driven off. Now Olivia would never get to go home to Mommy again.

  “I don’t want to. Daddy is going to be really angry.”

  “Quiet. As of now you do as I say. You stay completely quiet and don’t say a word when anyone else is listening. Do you hear that? Not a word. This has already gone to hell. I’ll take care of your daddy and say that you’ve been good if you just do as I say, okay? I’ll make sure that you get home to your mommy too, as soon as possible, but you have to pull yourself together now. Do you understand?”

  The lady took out a phone and put it against her ear. She looked at Olivia in the rearview mirror and turned quickly around.

  “Where’s the teddy bear?”

  Olivia didn’t reply. She didn’t know what to say.

  “Hey!” the lady yelled. “Where the hell is the teddy bear?”

  She was driving fast, braking and making fast turns. Olivia had to hold on so she didn’t fall down on the floor.

  “Forgot,” said Olivia.

  “What do you mean forgot? Where?”

  “At the bank…”

  “Hello, it’s me,” said the lady with the phone against her ear. “We’ve run into problems. Major fucking problems. The city of Stockholm has drain cleaning so she didn’t make it down. She’s with me in the car. No, she hasn’t caused any problems. Pull yourself together, damn it, stop blaming everything on the girl.”

  Olivia understood that the lady was talking with Daddy. He was mad, she could hear that.

  “I’ll take care of this, but it’s going to take time. Don’t call me. I’ll be in touch before I stop by with the girl. Just don’t do anything stupid, Ronni. Stay inside.”

  The lady hung up.

  “Was Daddy mad?”

  “No, just a little worried about how things were going for you.”

  The lady looked in the rearview mirror. It was lucky that she hadn’t said anything to Daddy about the teddy bear.

  “Your daddy isn’t very nice to you, huh?”

  Olivia didn’t know how to answer. He was nice sometimes and mean sometimes. She didn’t dare say that Daddy was mean because maybe the lady would tell Daddy and then Daddy would be mean again.

  The lady didn’t drive to Daddy’s house, but instead to another place where they drove past a man who was sitting in a cage. The lady showed something from a flat black wallet that she had on a chain around her neck. Then the man in the cage let them pass. They drove down to a garage that was underground. There was a dark, scary tunnel there. Then the lady stopped the car, stared at her sternly, and said, “Now you listen to me. Whatever happens, I’m telling you, not a single sound to anyone other than me. Not a peep. If I ask you something then you look at me. If I blink two times you can answer. If I don’t blink two times you keep quiet. Completely quiet. Do you understand? If you do that I promise that you will get to go home to Mommy as soon as possible. Okay?”

  She nodded.

  “My teddy bear…”

  “I said that you should keep quiet. Not another word about that now.”

  The lady took Olivia by
the hand through several basement passages to a room with rows of tall lockers and clothes hangers. They walked quickly past a lady who stood bent over in one of the passages, putting on a black boot. At the back of the room she stopped and opened a locker. She took out the tape recorder and then put the backpack in the locker. She locked the locker and took Olivia to two big elevators. She pressed the button. Walked once around Olivia. Opened another door and stuck her head out. Closed it again and went back to the elevator door. Olivia stood quietly.

  EIGHTY-THREE

  I pressed the elevator button again. Fucking slow elevators. I hoped that no one would be taking the elevator together with me and a bloody seven-year-old girl in a wig, black rain cape, with dummy bombs fastened to her body and slipper socks.

  I needed time.

  Time to think.

  The time in the elevator was all I had.

  The bag. I didn’t have time to move it now. But it was securely stored in my locker in the basement. I would have to take it home after work. The elevator door opened slowly as usual. I dragged the girl in with me. The blanket from the car had fallen down and was dragging behind her. I pulled it up over her shoulders. She had forgotten the teddy bear, but that was the least of my problems right now. I pressed seven. The squad office would probably be full of people. I wanted to talk with Nina, to discuss what we should do, but now there was no time. The elevator door opened at level seven. I took hold of her hand and walked quickly out into the stairwell, pulling the card through the reader and entering the code to get into the corridor. Looked around. I needed more time to think. I pulled the girl into the restrooms that were only a couple of meters into the corridor. The handicap restroom was occupied so I quickly opened one of the small, cramped stalls and locked the door behind us.

  Think, Leona.

  Think.

  The girl looked up at me with tired eyes. I set her quickly on the toilet seat. I crouched down and looked her sharply in the eyes.

  “Now you have to listen carefully. What I’m going to tell you now is the absolute most important thing for you to remember so you’ll be able to go home to your mommy.”

  The girl didn’t say anything. Just kept looking at me. I took hold of her shoulders.

  “Do you hear me?”

  Her whole body tightened. She nodded quickly and looked down at the floor. I let go. I tried to calm myself.

  “Sorry, sorry.”

  My phone vibrated in my pocket. I quickly took it out. A text. “Last one done?” it said. I couldn’t answer now. I didn’t have time.

  “Olivia, look at me. If at any time I blink with one eye like this —” I blinked with one eye. “— then that means this has become an extremely serious situation for us. Then I want you to pretend to be really frightened. You mustn’t talk at all, but just look really scared. You can run and hide, scream or whatever. But don’t say a word. Do you understand? Can you do that?”

  She nodded slowly. There was flushing in the handicap restroom adjacent. I whispered to the girl.

  “And then you can only answer when I blink two times like I said before. Okay?”

  She nodded. More than that I did not have time to assure myself that she understood.

  I got up. Took a deep breath. I would take the girl straight to Anette. If I just got there I would feel calmer. Anette had that effect on me. She could make any problem disappear. I’d let her help me.

  As soon as I heard the departing footsteps of whoever had been in the handicap restroom I unlocked the door. I took the girl by the hand and pulled her at a rapid clip after me through the corridor. Officers were sitting occupied, with their faces pointed right at their screens. Anette’s door was only a few offices away now. No one had noticed us yet. I pulled the girl into Anette’s office and closed the door.

  “Leona! But dear, what is this?”

  Anette looked down at the girl who now looked more miserable than ever.

  “Anette! Please, you have to help me. This is the girl from the robberies. I found her at the crime scene. I can’t take her into custody. She’s scared out of her wits, traumatized. She needs care, warmth, and clothes. We have to get a technician down here who can check whether there is DNA from the perpetrator on her. We need a forensic examination of her, too. And listen, can you turn this recording in for audio analysis, too? I have to call Nina. The girl needs to be questioned as soon as possible. Through her we may get hold of the perpetrator. Someone must be waiting for her to show up and is probably very angry right now. Will you please contact Social Services too?”

  I could hear that I was babbling. Did she even understand what I was saying?

  “Of course, but my God. Poor little thing. What’s your name?”

  I gave the girl a stern look to remind her not to say anything.

  “She hasn’t said a word so far, but do try to talk with her,” I said.

  I crouched down.

  “This nice lady, Anette, will take care of you for a while. I’ll come back soon.”

  I went straight into my office and called Nina.

  “The girl is here at the police station.”

  “What?”

  “I had to bring her here. Minna and Sam saw me pick her up near the drain. The money is safe in my locker for now; I’ll go back for it later…”

  I paced back and forth around the office while I talked. Yet another message vibrated in my pocket.

  “I have to question her,” I continued. “She knows she’s not allowed to say anything and to be honest I don’t think she’s going to either. She is really worried. I have to be sure to get her home to her mother now.”

  I was talking at a fast pace but Nina was quick to understand that the circumstances had changed completely.

  “Okay. Hold a video interview with the girl for the sake of formalities. I’ll arrange it so that she gets victim assistance right away. The girl’s parents or, well, the mother then, must be informed. Set up a separate report and initiate a preliminary investigation of assault and human trafficking with the girl as the injured party, because formally there is reason to assume that crimes have been committed against her. I will write off everything later on the basis ‘no investigation result.’ And listen, Leona, take a deep breath now, we’ll solve this together.”

  EIGHTY-FOUR

  “Leona, Leona, I heard you got hold of the girl.”

  Sören came running after me on my way to the elevator. Damn, he was the last person I wanted to deal with right now.

  “I’m on my way down to pick up the victim advocate before the interview with the girl,” I said.

  “I’ll go with you.”

  I had held a small number of child interviews during my career. If this had been a normal investigation I probably would have asked someone from the Domestic Violence squad to do the interview. But this time I needed to do it myself so I could control the girl’s responses. The important thing was to ask the right questions so that no one suspected anything. The girl was a victim in everyone’s eyes. Even if she was the one who carried the money out and under normal circumstances would be considered a suspect, the surrounding circumstances meant that she was deemed an injured party and therefore she had a victim advocate assigned to her.

  “Ingela Sundström.”

  The victim advocate was a dark-haired woman in her fifties. Her body language was relaxed, which calmed me somewhat. I looked at Sören. How do you introduce a medium? It’s awkward to explain to an academic that police officers watch too many horror films.

  “This is Sören Möller. He’s working with me and, uh, analyzing interviews. He is going to be with us in the observation room.”

  Ingela shook his hand and turned to me.

  “How is the girl doing?”

  “She’s been bandaged, given food and clothes. My colleague Anette is keeping her company.”

  On the way to the observation room I could see Sören looking at me out of the corner of my eye. If I could just get rid of him.

&nbs
p; Anette had prepared the interview room. The plasma screen in the observation room was turned on. On it you could see the girl and Anette, each sitting in an armchair in the interview room. I turned to Ingela.

  “She hasn’t said a word the whole time so I don’t know what we can expect from an interview. We’ll go in and I’ll introduce you. You can of course talk with her yourself before we get started. I’ll turn off the sound to the observation room in the meantime.”

  “I would also really like to say hello to the girl,” said Sören.

  I see, now the circus was in town. I would have preferred that he didn’t see me and the girl together, in case his psychic gaze saw that we were already acquainted. But refusing his request would look strange.

  I opened the door and we went into the interview room. The girl was curled up with her legs close to her body and a pillow beside her. Anette had found some borrowed clothes from the holding cell, which were much too large. She had pulled the hood up on the hoodie and the pants were way past her feet.

  “Thanks for helping, Anette,” I said. “Did you get hold of anyone from Social Services?”

  “They’re supposed to send someone here as soon as they can.”

  Anette left the room. I crouched down in front of the chair where the girl was sitting.

  “I have two very nice people with me who would really like to meet you. The man here is named Sören, and he is helping me in my work.”

  “Hi,” said Sören, leaning down. “What’s your name?”

  The girl glanced up at him without changing her expression or saying anything.

  “And this is Ingela, who is here to give you a little extra help.”

  “Hi, my name is Ingela.”

  Ingela leaned over and extended her hand. The girl didn’t take it.

  “I work as a lawyer and I help children and grownups who have ended up in situations like you have.”