Leona

by Jenny Rogneby

  “The voice on the recording is distorted, of course. It’s a man with a Finnish accent speaking. Who it is I don’t know, but right at the end there is something that was presumably included by mistake when the recording was made. Another voice, speaking Swedish without an accent. Listen here.”

  Johan played the recording. A short section in the middle of a sentence was heard: “…then we’re done. Now…”

  I opened my eyes wide and looked at Johan.

  “Oh! Can I hear it one more time?”

  He played the audio file again. I avoided looking at him, but I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was observing me attentively.

  “I hardly believe what I’m hearing. How in God’s name…?” I said.

  I looked at Johan. Johan looked at me.

  “Is there any possibility that a sound from outside, from something else, may have been left in your recorder and ended up on top of this audio file?” I asked. “You have sound samples of a large number of employees stored, I assume.”

  I played dumb. Of course I knew that was impossible.

  “No, there’s no chance of that. I don’t have any employees’ voices recorded just hanging around in here.”

  No, why should he have?

  “But I don’t understand,” I said.

  I sat down on the chair and stared straight ahead.

  “How did that get onto the tape?” I said.

  “Leona, I’ll research this a little more. I was so shocked when I heard it that I called you at once. This is news to me, too.”

  I leaned with my elbows on the table and my head in my hands.

  “What if people find out about it?”

  Johan sat quietly a moment.

  “Leona, I’m not going to say anything until I know exactly how this fits together. I’ll listen more carefully to the recording. Perhaps there is an obvious explanation.”

  I thanked Johan. Left his office, headed back up to my squad. I had only taken a few steps into the corridor before Claes came up to me. His hair was strangely messy and he had dark rings under his eyes.

  “Leona, there you are. Come!”

  Claes almost dragged me into his office. He closed the door and pulled the curtain. Then he started pacing around in the room.

  “The interview with the girl,” he said. “What the hell really happened?”

  Ah, that was why he looked like he had just gotten out of bed. He mustn’t have been able to sleep.

  “Nina thought there was no point in making a new attempt to question her yesterday. She didn’t say a word after you…well, she was really upset after you left the room. Did you recognize the girl at all?”

  Claes shook his head.

  “It was as if she’d seen a ghost when I came in.”

  “And here I thought you were good with children, Claes. That’s why I asked you to go in and stay with her. I hope you don’t have that kind of effect on your own daughters at home.”

  Claes didn’t smile. He gave me a surly look and continued pacing around the room.

  “Let it go, Claes. She must have seen something in you that resembled the person who subjected her to this. It’s nothing to brood about.”

  He frowned. Stared straight ahead. I continued.

  “Considering her reaction you might say that it’s a handsome, fit man in his prime who is behind the robberies. A good lead, I think.”

  The flattery worked. He smiled.

  “Listen, by the way. Sören was here, and he said that he thought it was a female perpetrator.”

  I sighed and shook my head at the same time.

  “I heard that. Honestly, Claes, do you really believe he has the abilities that he says he has? Are we going to start believing in trolls and gnomes too?”

  “Well, the statistics don’t directly argue for…”

  “No, exactly,” I said, stepping out into the corridor. “Speak up if he has anything sensible to suggest. Until then we’ll make use of customary proven investigation methods.”

  EIGHTY-SEVEN

  Anette called to me as I went past her office the next morning. I backed up and looked in. Even more potted plants had been added, making the room look like a small jungle. Between the plants she had placed framed photos of her family members. One of her grandchildren was wearing a jacket like Benjamin’s.

  “Claes asked me to tell you that he wanted to see you as soon as you came in.”

  There was something different in Anette’s voice. It was calm. Almost a whisper.

  “Do you know what it’s about?” I said.

  She started humming and clearing her throat.

  “I know it’s something important that has to do with the girl robbery but I promised Claes I wouldn’t say anything. He wants to talk with you himself.”

  “Thanks, Anette. I’ll see him right away.”

  I tried to prepare myself for what was coming. Had something occurred to Sören that, despite what we had decided, he’d taken straight to Claes?

  Claes was on the phone but waved me in when he saw me in the corridor.

  I sat down at the meeting table and waited. He was speaking calmly and collectedly. Seemed to be in no hurry to conclude the call.

  I looked at the clock. I had been waiting three minutes now and was starting to squirm. Claes put up a finger as if to say that he was almost done.

  “Good, then that’s what we’ll do.”

  He hung up the phone, then stood up, went over to the door and closed it.

  “I see,” I said. “Either it’s something really pleasant or something really unpleasant you have to say.”

  “Unfortunately it’s more serious this time, Leona.”

  He sat down across from me at the round meeting table. Sighed deeply and put his elbows on the table.

  “Leona, you know that I consider you one of our absolute best investigators.”

  I didn’t answer. Tried to stay cool. Any detective would be terrified after such an introduction to a conversation with their boss. Termination effective immediately?

  “I have unfortunately received information that things are not completely right with your investigation. The girl robberies.”

  I swallowed. Took a firm hold of the arm rests on either side of the chair. My palms had become clammy. My mouth was dry. My heart pounded in my chest. I had to concentrate on breathing.

  So this was how it would end.

  All the work.

  All the planning.

  All the dreams.

  “Okay. What do you mean?”

  I had no choice other than to play dumb. The exertion that was required to keep my voice steady was exhausting. My heart continued to pound.

  “The head of investigations called and said that the case will be moved to II.”

  Now I didn’t know what to think. I stared at Claes, completely speechless. II was the National Police Board’s unit for internal investigations. They investigated cases where police employees were suspected of crimes. So it really was over now.

  “They didn’t say the reason, so we can only speculate on that.”

  So Claes didn’t know. That was a relief. But what exactly had they found? I tried to calm down. Tried to sound unperturbed.

  “Mmm…but…what conclusions do you draw from this?” I asked.

  “None at all. It’s not on my desk and it’s not my job to sit and guess at what’s behind their decision.”

  He suspected me. I was sure of it. I clenched my jaw. Told myself to straighten up. Not flip out now. I got up. Walked around the room, over to the window.

  “But this is crazy! It’s only me, Minna, Sam, and Nina who are working on the case now.”

  “And Sören,” said Claes.

  Sören, yes. Could it really be possible that he had a vision and “saw” something?

  “Claes, you don’t really believe that —”

  “I don’t believe anything,” he interrupted me sharply. “I’m asking you to immediately turn over the physical files to II.
None of you who have worked with the case have authority any longer to open it in the computer system.”

  “What about Nina?”

  “The leadership of the preliminary investigation will be moved over to the National Unit for Police Court Cases. We don’t know who the prosecutor will be yet. Anyway, Nina will no longer be the preliminary investigation leader.”

  I was mute. Had to call Nina as soon as possible. How could this have happened? What had we missed?

  “I’m sorry, Leona. You’ve worked very hard on the robberies, I know that. But you’ll have to see it as a good thing that someone looks at it with fresh eyes. And if a colleague is involved it’s only good that we find out.”

  “Mmm…of course…”

  “This changes nothing for you here. I’m sorry you didn’t get to finish your work but you know how it is sometimes.”

  I wanted out of the room.

  Out of the building.

  Away from it all.

  To flee to the apartment on Malta that had become my symbol for freedom and the life I wanted to live.

  “Was there anything else?” I said.

  “Make sure to get the physical files up to II immediately. Then you can leave for the day. I think you need to rest, Leona. You’ve looked tired lately.”

  I left the room. Sören was standing outside, talking with a colleague. Our eyes met. He inspected me in his usual strange way. I noted that he slipped into Claes’s office as soon as I was down the hall.

  EIGHTY-EIGHT

  An hour later the whole squad had gathered in the break room. Claes had sent out an “urgent” email that he had something important to report. The only ones who knew what it was about were Anette and me. Other colleagues were speculating wildly about what might have happened. Would Claes report that he had quit, or had an old colleague passed away? Anette and I kept quiet. Claes was in his office along with the head of investigations.

  “Did you hear that the finance minister wasn’t indicted for the murder of that journalist?” said Anette.

  Damn! I’d had so much else on my mind that I hadn’t kept track of when a decision would be made on the indictment.

  “I just heard it on the radio,” Anette continued. “But the sleazeball appears to have paid for sex, and as luck would have it, he will be indicted for that. According to the news the prosecutor said that the evidence was there, so he’ll probably go to prison for that.”

  “Always something,” I said. “Will I have time to go to the restroom do you think?”

  Anette looked into Claes’s office.

  “They’re still talking, go ahead.”

  I took off. Pulled out my phone. I needed to get hold of Dina to tell her that she had to go underground for a while. No answer. Just when I had hung up, the mobile rang. Nina’s name was on the display.

  “I just heard,” I said to Nina. “I tried to reach Dina but she isn’t answering. She wouldn’t want to talk with me now anyway. I’ll have to contact Personal Protection and see if they can keep her safe until the trial.”

  “That’s the only thing we can do in the present situation,” said Nina. “It’s important that she comes to court so that he doesn’t walk.”

  Anette waved to me in the corridor.

  “I have to go, Nina.”

  Claes and the head of investigations had come out of Claes’s office. Everyone fell silent when they saw Claes’s grave expression.

  “I have something serious to tell you. I have been informed by Kenneth here that the girl robberies, which Leona has recently been working on intensively, will be transferred to II.”

  The room was dead silent. Everyone knew what that meant. My colleagues’ eyes turned on me. I didn’t bat an eyelid.

  “According to II, information has emerged that one or more police employees are involved in the robberies.”

  Claes and Kenneth must have noticed that everyone was looking at me. Kenneth stepped in.

  “We want to be clear and say that we are not speculating about this and would be grateful if you also refrained from doing so. I have extremely little information but as far as I know there is enough evidence that it is only a matter of time before someone or several people are arrested. It is now extremely important that those of you who know something about the case assist the investigators at II with all the information you have. So far the media has not gotten wind of this, but that is surely only a matter of time. Try to stick together and stand firm.”

  “The most important thing is that we here at the squad keep working as usual,” said Claes. “There is no reason for us to look suspiciously at each other. As you understand, this doesn’t necessarily concern a colleague here at the squad, or even in our district. We’ll let II do their work. You can report to me if you have information that you think may be important to the investigation.”

  Kenneth was quick to comment, “Uh, it’s better that you contact me in that case.”

  “Sure, perhaps that’s just as well,” said Claes. “Any questions?”

  I stuck a finger up in the air.

  “I wonder how long you’ve known about this? It feels a little…unpleasant, that II is snooping around in my investigation without telling me.”

  “For understandable reasons we can’t announce that sort of thing in advance, as you all know,” said Kenneth. “We found out only an hour or so ago.”

  I tried to interpret my colleagues’ reactions. Anette looked at me with worry in her eyes. Fredrik cautiously threw out his hands as if he wondered what this was about. Sören looked away as soon as our eyes met. Had he really…?

  “If there’s nothing else then I’ll leave you. If you have questions later I want you to contact me or II directly,” said Kenneth, leaving the room.

  No one said a word. I could hear myself breathing. Claes broke the silence.

  “As I said, this is not something we should speculate about. Those involved are presumably colleagues from outside.”

  Claes got no response. No one made a sound.

  “Okay everybody, let’s get back to work.”

  I turned around and moved toward my office. Wanted out.

  To breathe fresh air.

  Clear my head.

  “By the way, before you leave,” said Claes. “Two things. First and foremost, I have received information that some of you have still not given DNA samples. That must be done before November 20. I’m not mentioning any names but Niklas, Katrin, and Leona, damn it, see about getting that done.”

  Claes stared at me, the only one of the three listed who was present. I had avoided having DNA taken on purpose. Wanted to delay it as long as possible. Along with many others, I had been strongly opposed to the legislative proposal that DNA samples should be stored for all employees within the justice system. But because the proposal went through and the law had gone into force on July 1, we had no choice. Since then, though, I had other things on my mind.

  “Another thing. I got a message from the janitor. Because they are renovating the firing range in the basement, they needed the space where your lockers were. The lockers that stood against the wall evidently had no backs, so all your things were removed and locked in bags with the janitor. You have to go there yourselves and pick them up.”

  I couldn’t believe it.

  The locker.

  The backpack.

  The money.

  I started walking slowly toward the stairwell. I cast a glance back as I turned the corner in the corridor and happened to see Sören and Claes looking after me. As soon as I was out of their sight I started running. I ran as fast as I could down the stairs. Two flights for every floor. A colleague from Trafficking who met me on the stairs tried to be funny and placed himself in my way in the middle of the stairs.

  “Out of my way, Uffe! If you don’t want to get run over.”

  “Maybe that would have been nice, Leona.”

  He laughed and moved. I kept running, one more floor. Then I forced myself to calm down, so the janitor d
idn’t start wondering. I opened the door from the stairwell and walked toward the janitor’s office. The door was closed. I looked in through the glass pane, knocked. Not a sound. I banged one more time.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming,” was heard from inside.

  The janitor opened the door.

  “Leona! I’m just on my way home. I assume you want the things from your locker?”

  “I need them quickly. Is there any way you could open up again?”

  The janitor gave me a shrewd look. Then he pointed at his cheek with one index finger.

  “You old devil,” I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

  He laughed and went in ahead of me.

  “I don’t dole those out right and left,” I called. “Now it will have to be extra fast.”

  The janitor retrieved the keys, unlocked the door, and let me in.

  “The shelves are arranged by locker number. Look for yours while I finish closing up.”

  He left me alone in the storeroom. There were things everywhere. At first glance it looked as if everything was tossed all over the place, but on closer inspection I saw that all the things were carefully numbered. I searched for my locker number. Rummaged about among my things. Everything was there — except the backpack. I searched the piles nearby. Had someone just put it in the wrong spot? No. It was gone. Could the janitor have…?

  “Did you get everything?”

  The janitor stood in the doorway with his coat on.

  “I’m actually missing a bag. Are you sure that everything was brought here?”

  “I moved everything myself. Palle is sick today so I had to do it all myself. Typical that they decided everything should be moved just to —”

  “Has anyone else been here and picked up anything yet?”

  I noticed that I had difficulty appearing unaffected. I was talking much too fast and in slightly too loud a voice.

  “Just one. I don’t think I’ll be rid of these things very soon. You know how people are, don’t get around to picking up their things unless you threaten to forfeit them.”

  “Who was it who was here?”

  “It was him…what’s his name now…your squad chief.”

  “Claes?”