Dark Angel (Anders Knutas 6)

she had relented enough to serve whole-grain pasta.
    ‘Good morning,’ Lina gasped on the phone, sounding out of breath. ‘How’s it going?’
    ‘OK, but we’re really busy. We’ve got a meeting in a few minutes.’
    ‘I just had to phone you because Nils is sick.’
    Knutas stopped in his tracks.
    ‘What’s the matter with him?’
    ‘This morning it was almost impossible to wake him. He said that he’d hardly slept at all and that his stomach hurt.’
    ‘Hurt in what way?’
    ‘He says it aches but he hasn’t thrown up, and he doesn’t have a fever. At any rate, I let him stay home from school.’
    ‘That’s good. I’ve got a lot on my plate today, but I might be able to drop by to see him later on.’
    Lina’s work schedule was not as flexible as his since she was assigned specific shifts at the hospital.
    ‘That would be great. I know you have to go, so we’ll talk later.’
    ‘I’ll phone Nils.’
    ‘No, don’t do that. He went back to sleep.’
    ‘OK. Love you.’
    ‘Love you too.’
    Worry instantly settled over Knutas. Nils hadn’t been himself lately, and maybe it wasn’t all due to puberty.
    Still thinking about his son, he went into the conference room for the first meeting of the day with the investigative team.
    Chief Prosecutor Birger Smittenberg was already in his place at the table, intently leafing through the morning newspaper. He glanced up at Knutas and gave him a distracted greeting. Wittberg and Jacobsson were sitting next to each other, leaning close and conversing in low voices. The police spokesman, Lars Norrby, was missing. He’d taken a two-month leave of absence to sail around the West Indies with his children. While Lars was away, Knutas had to handle the press himself, which he didn’t really mind. Things were actually calmer this way. He and Norrby didn’t always agree about what information should be made public.
    Knutas had just sat down in his customary place at the head of the table when Sohlman came in. The crime-scene tech’s face was ashen and he looked as if he hadn’t slept all night.
    He sank down on a chair next to Jacobsson, who patted him lightly on the shoulder. Sohlman reached for the thermos of coffee on the table.
    ‘Good morning,’ Knutas greeted everyone. ‘You all know about what happened. Viktor Algård was found dead yesterday afternoon inside the conference centre. According to the ME’s preliminary examination, Algård died of cyanide poisoning. But he also had a wound on his forehead, and there were bloodstains both on the cocktail table near the bar and on the floor underneath. Marks on the floor indicate that the perpetrator dragged the body into the lift, presumably to hide it. We don’t know yet what caused the wound on the victim’s forehead. The body is being taken on the afternoon ferry to Stockholm and the Forensics division in Solna. We’re hoping that the post-mortem will be done tomorrow. Sohlman, can you describe what we know so far about the injuries and crime scene?’
    Knutas nodded to his colleague, who got up to stand next to the screen at the front of the room.
    ‘First let’s take a look at the victim. Certain circumstances make this a particularly interesting case. You can see that the victim’s skin is bright pink. Livor mortis, which is a light crimson or rose colour, has fully developed. This points to cyanide poisoning, since cyanide obstructs the airways, making it impossible for oxygen to get out of the bloodstream. The victim also smelled strongly of bitter almonds, which is typical of cyanide poisoning.’
    ‘I don’t know anything about cyanide,’ said Jacobsson, ‘but it must be an extremely unusual method for killing someone. I’ve only heard of it used as a murder weapon in old detective novels.’
    ‘I know. I’ve never handled a homicide case in which cyanide was used,’ Sohlman agreed. ‘But I’ve actually had a couple of instances of suicide by cyanide. It’s extremely toxic. In this instance we’re probably dealing with potassium cyanide, which is cyanide in crystal form. It dissolves easily in water.’
    ‘Why did you make that assumption?’
    ‘Because that’s the easiest form to handle and carry around. It can be kept in small glass vials. Then all you need to do is empty the contents into a glass of water, or some other liquid.’
    ‘What about alcohol?’ asked Jacobsson.
    ‘It doesn’t dissolve in alcohol, but the perpetrator could have mixed it in water