Camilla Lackberg Crime Thrillers 1 and 2: The Ice Princess, The Preacher

‘Heavens no.

‘Yes, thank you so much, ma’am, I promise to get back to you.’

In triumph, he slammed the receiver down in the cradle, making Patrik jump in his chair.

‘That’s the way to do things!’

Mellberg continued beaming like a jovial Santa Claus. It occurred to Patrik that this was the first time he’d ever seen Mellberg’s teeth. They were astonishingly white and regular. Almost a little too perfect.

Mellberg gave him an expectant look, and Patrik gathered that he wanted him to ask what was going on. Obediently he did so, but he didn’t expect the answer he received.

‘I’ve got him! I’ve got Alex Wijkner’s murderer!’

Mellberg was so beside himself with excitement that he didn’t notice that his comb-over had slipped down over one ear. For once Patrik was not struck by a desire to giggle at the sight. He ignored the fact that the superintendent had used the pronoun ‘I’ indicating that he had no intention of sharing any glory with his co-workers. Instead Patrik leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and asked earnestly, ‘What do you mean? Have we got a breakthrough in the case? Who was that you were talking to?’

Mellberg raised his hand to stop the barrage of questions and then leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his stomach. This was a moment he intended to milk to the last drop.

‘Well, Patrik, when you’ve been in this profession as long as I have, then you know that breakthroughs aren’t something you get; they’re something you earn. Due to my extensive experience and skill, as well as my hard work, there has indeed been a breakthrough in the case. A certain Dagmar Petrén rang and passed on some interesting observations that she’d made just before the body was discovered. Yes, I’d even venture to say significant observations, which will eventually lead to our putting a dangerous killer behind bars.’

Impatience tingled like tiny pinpricks inside of Patrik, but he had sense enough to know that all he had to do was wait Mellberg out. Eventually he would get to the heart of the matter. Patrik only hoped that it would happen before he took retirement.

‘Yes, I recall a case we had in Göteborg, autumn of 1967 …’

Patrik sighed and prepared himself for a long wait.

She found Dan where she expected to find him. He was moving the pieces of equipment on the boat as easily as if they were sacks filled with cotton. Huge, fat rolls of rope, seamen’s sacks and enormous fenders. Erica enjoyed watching him work. In a hand-knit sweater, cap and gloves and with white vapour steaming out of his mouth with each breath, he looked as though he fit right in with the tableau behind him. The sun was high in the sky and the light reflected off the snow on deck. The silence was absolute. He worked efficiently and purposefully, and Erica could see that he was loving every minute of it. This was his true element. The boat, the sea, the islands in the background. She knew that in his mind he was picturing how the ice would start to break up and how the Veronica would head off for the horizon at full speed. Winter was merely one long waiting period. It had always been hard for people living on the coast. In the old days, if the summer was good they would salt down enough herring to make it through the winter. If not, they would have to find another way to survive. Like so many of the coastal fishermen, Dan couldn’t live on fishing alone, so he had gone to night school. He now worked as a substitute Swedish teacher at the high school in Tanumshede a couple of days a week. Erica thought he was a very talented teacher, but his heart was here, not in the classroom.

He was fully absorbed with his work on the boat. She padded along on light feet so she could watch for a while without disturbing him until he noticed her standing there on the wharf. She couldn’t help comparing him to Patrik. In appearance they were completely different. Dan’s hair was so blond that during the summer months it turned almost white. Patrik’s dark hair was the same colour as his eyes. Dan was muscular while Patrik was more of a lanky type. But in terms of personality they could have been brothers. The same calm, gentle manner, with a quiet humour that always surfaced at the right moments. Actually it had never occurred to her before how alike they were in temperament. In a way that pleased her. Since breaking up with Dan she had never been truly happy in a relationship. All these years she had either looked for or ended up in relationships with men of a totally different type. ‘Immature,’ Anna had pointed out. ‘You’re trying to raise boys instead of finding a grown man, so it’s no wonder that the relationships never work out,’ Marianne had said. Maybe they were right. But the years were slipping away, and she had to admit that she was starting to feel a bit panicky. The death of her parents was also a brutal wake-up call to examine what she was missing in her life. Then last Saturday night the subject had suddenly led her to think about Patrik Hedström.

Dan’s voice interrupted her musings. ‘Well hello, how long have you been standing there?’

‘Oh, just a little while. I thought it would be interesting to see how you work.’

‘Yeah, it’s certainly not the way you make your living. You get paid to sit on your backside and make things up all day long. Ridiculous.’

They both smiled. It was an old familiar subject for their bantering.

‘I brought along something good to warm you up.’ Erica waved the basket she held in one hand.

‘Oh, why the luxury treatment? What do you want now? My body? My soul?’

‘No thanks, you can keep both of them. Even though I’d call the latter wishful thinking in your case.’

Dan took the basket she handed to him and then helped her over the railing with a steady hand. She almost fell on her backside but was saved by Dan’s firm grip around her waist. Together they brushed the snow off the lid of one of the fish packing-cases. They sat down on top of their mittens, carefully laid out on the cases, and began unpacking the basket. Dan smiled in delight when he opened the thermos of hot chocolate and the salami sandwiches neatly wrapped in foil.

‘You’re a gem,’ he said with his mouth full of salami sandwich.

They sat in silence for a while, devoting all their attention to the food. It was peaceful to sit there in the morning sun, and Erica pushed away her guilt about her lack of work discipline. She had been working hard on the manuscript for the past week and thought she deserved a little time off.

‘Have you heard anything more about Alex Wijkner?’

‘No, the police investigation doesn’t seem to be making any headway.’

‘Well, according to what I heard in town, you have special access to inside information.’

Dan gave her a teasing smile. Erica never stopped being amazed at the speed and efficiency of the grapevine. She had no idea how the rumour of her meeting with Patrik could have already spread through town.

‘No idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Right. So, how far did the two of you get? Go for a test drive yet, or what?’

Erica whacked him across the chest with her arm but couldn’t help laughing.

‘No, I didn’t take him on a “test drive”. I don’t really know if I’m interested or not. Or rather, I am interested, but I don’t know if I want to let it go further than that. Assuming that he’s interested, that is. Which may not be the case at all.’

‘In other words, you’re chicken.’

Erica hated the way Dan was almost always right. Sometimes she thought he knew her too well.

‘Yes, I’m feeling a little insecure, I must admit.’

‘Well, you’re the only one who can decide to take the chance. Have you thought about how it might feel if it actually worked out?’

She had given it some thought. Many times over the past few days. But at this point the question was extremely hypothetical. All they’d done was have dinner together, after all.

‘Well anyway, I think you should go for it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that …’

Erica quickly changed the subject. ‘Apropos Alex, I happened to find something odd.’

‘Oh yeah, what’s that?’ Dan’s voice was full of curiosity.

‘Well, I was in her house a couple of days ago and found an interesting piece of paper.’

‘You were what?’

Erica didn’t feel like replying and just waved off his shocked response.

‘It was a copy of an old article about Nils Lorentz’s disappearance. Do you have any idea why Alex would have kept an article twenty-five years old hidden at the bottom of her underwear drawer?’

‘Her underwear drawer! Erica, what the hell!’

She held up a hand to halt his protests and continued calmly. ‘My intuition tells me that this has something to do with why she was murdered. I don’t know how, but it smells fishy to me. Besides, somebody came into the house and rummaged around while I was there. Maybe that person was looking for the article.’

‘Are you crazy?’ Dan just stared at her, gaping. ‘What the hell business is it of yours? It’s the police’s job to figure out who murdered Alex.’ His voice climbed to a falsetto.

‘Yes, I know. You don’t have to shout, there’s nothing wrong with my hearing. I’m fully aware that it’s really none of my business, but first of all, I’ve already been involved through her family, and second, we were actually very close at one time, and third, I’m having a hard time forgetting about the whole thing since I was the one who found her.’

Erica omitted telling Dan about the book. Somehow it always sounded more crass and cold-blooded when she said it out loud. She also thought that Dan was over-reacting, but he had always been incredibly solicitous of her. She had to admit that it didn’t sound awfully smart to be running around in Alex’s house, considering the circumstances.