B0031RSBSM EBOK

and the crime scene before I draw any conclusions. The fact that he’s naked and his clothes are missing also points in that direction. Presumably the perpetrator keeps the clothes to hold on to the feeling that he gets from killing. A sort of fetish. Just like the blood. But there’s one other question that’s important to focus on here.”
    They all gave their full attention to the forensic psychologist.
    “I wonder why Staffan Mellgren didn’t call the police himself about the horse’s head. There must be some reason for this. Could it be that he knew or at least suspected who had put the head there? Maybe he thought that he could resolve the situation himself by talking to the person in question.”
    “And just who might that be?” Kihlgård tossed out the question without getting any answer.
    Knutas broke the silence.
    “Susanna Mellgren has been summoned for questioning. I’m going to meet with her at ten o’clock. I hope that then we’ll be able to clear up a thing or two. Of course her alibi for the night of the murder has to be checked also—as well as for the time of Martina Flochten’s death.”
    “This means that we have to take a fresh look at the incident of the horse’s head at Gunnar Ambjörnsson’s place,” said Kihlgård. “His life could very well be in danger, too. Should we contact him?”
    “At the very least he’s going to need protection the minute he gets back home,” said Knutas grimly. “We need to go out and meet him at the airport.”
    He was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. When he finished the conversation he gave his colleagues a solemn look.
    “Martina’s cell phone was found under the porch at the Warfsholm hotel. She must have dropped it on the night of the murder. Her calls have been checked. The last one was a message that was received by her voice mail on the night of the murder at 11:35 P.M. Guess who called her.”
    Everyone waited tensely without saying a word.
    “It was Staffan Mellgren.”

 
    The murder of Staffan Mellgren was the lead story on the television newscasts that morning. The police had sent out a press release about the homicide around midnight, and the night editor at Swedish TV’s digital round-the-clock station SVT 24 instantly sent a remote van to catch the next ferry, which left at 3:00 A.M. A little less than three hours later, just before six in the morning, the van rolled onto the Visby dock. In situations like this, it was worth gold to have a news service operating twenty-four hours a day.
    The SVT 24 editor had gotten Johan out of bed in the middle of the night. By the time he and Pia met the Stockholm team at the editorial office, Johan had already had the murder confirmed and had been promised an interview with Knutas outside police headquarters. One of the team members who had arrived by van was Robert Wiklander, with whom Johan had worked on Gotland before. Robert worked for the
Aktuellt
and
Rapport
broadcasts, and now they were going to collaborate. A cameraman that Johan vaguely knew had come along, too, as well as an editor who installed himself in the office. He would handle things from there during the morning, which they all realized was going to be anything but calm.
    They divided up the work assignments. Pia drove up to the Mellgren farm to take pictures while Johan and Robert took turns reporting for the live newscast, using the cameraman who had come from Stockholm. Whoever was not reporting at the moment spent his time tracking down interview subjects. They got the county police commissioner, the president of the college, and the head of the tourist bureau to come to police headquarters to be interviewed. The entire archaeological community on Gotland was in a state of shock. The excavations at Fröjel were halted, and no one thought they would start up again that summer. The students in the course were forbidden to leave the island for the near future. The excavations at Eksta, where archaeologists were in the process of digging up a gravesite from the Bronze Age, were also stopped. Anyone who had even the slightest connection with archaeology on Gotland was affected by what had now become a double homicide.
    The head of the tourist bureau was concerned that this second murder would frighten away the tourists. The media speculated that a serial killer was on the loose on the island—someone who would continue to kill until he was caught. Anders Knutas had called in extra assistance from the NCP