The Double Silence (Andas Knutas 7)

What if she really did meet this old classmate? And then disappeared.’
    ‘She said on the phone that they were sitting in a restaurant called Kuten on Fårö,’ Knutas went on, annoyed. ‘And of course we investigated this thoroughly, since it was the last phone call she made, meaning that it was the last time anyone had direct contact with Stina. None of the employees remember seeing an Asian-looking woman in the restaurant on that Saturday afternoon. Right now all indications are that the purported meeting was nothing but a lie. It seems more and more likely that she is the perpetrator. The ribbon that was found in the hiding place on Stora Karlsö belongs to Stina. Then there’s her mysterious disappearance and the fabricated text messages. It all adds up.’
    ‘So what’s the motive?’
    Knutas threw out his hands.
    ‘I have no idea! The gods only know what sort of intrigues have been going on with that group of people. They almost seem like a cult – the perfect scenario for bloodshed and revenge.’
    Kihlgård reached for what had to be his third cinnamon roll, took a bite, and then swallowed before saying, ‘To sum up, we can conclude that we don’t know a fucking thing. We have no facts to go on. In other words, it’s an open question as to who’s the killer and who’s the victim.I suggest that my NCP colleagues and I get started at once on searching for Stina.’
    ‘Considering that a murder has actually been committed, shouldn’t we put out an APB on Stina Ek?’ said Wittberg. ‘I mean, to the general public? Since so many people have been in the area, both on Fårö and on Stora Karlsö, we might get some tips if we make use of the media.’
    Silence fell over the room. Everyone was considering this suggestion.
    ‘You’re probably right,’ Knutas said at last. ‘That’s exactly what we should do.’
    He fixed his eyes once again on the smiling woman in the photograph on the screen.

AFTER THE MEETING Knutas went to his office and closed the door. The room seemed stuffy and stifling. He opened a window. For once he felt in great need of a smoke. He usually just filled his pipe without lighting it, but right now he was feeling very irritated.
    Lina had phoned to say that she was thinking of going to Stockholm for a couple of days now that the children were away at a music festival in Roskilde. She had time off from her job, and she didn’t feel like sitting at home, waiting for him to get off work.
    He pushed away all thoughts of Lina and puffed on his pipe. In his mind’s eye he saw the mangled body of Sam Dahlberg. They were getting nowhere with the case. All of the interviews that they’d done had proved more or less useless. They had turned the Dahlberg family home on Norra Glasmästargatan in Terra Nova upside down but found nothing of interest. Outwardly everything seemed perfect: their marriage, the planned surprise trip to Florence, the fancy house. At the same time, Andrea Dahlberg was the last person to see her husband alive. It was entirely possible that she had gone up to the bird mountain with him and pushed him off. We’ve got to get to the bottom of things with her, thought Knutas. With that whole Terra Nova crowd.
    The reinforcements from the NCP were definitely needed, even though he couldn’t help feeling irritated with Kihlgård. He asked questions and generally behaved as if he was the one in charge.
    Knutas’s thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing. It was the duty officer.
    ‘We had a call while you were in the meeting, but I didn’t want to disturb you.’
    ‘What’s it about?’
    ‘A woman rang from Fårö. A Märta Gardell. She wanted to file a missing person report.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘Her brother Valter Olsson has been missing for several days. Maybe a whole week.’
    ‘Where does he live?’
    ‘He lives alone in a house in Hammars. He’s actually the closest neighbour to Ingmar Bergman’s house.’

KNUTAS IMMEDIATELY RANG Karin Jacobsson. She and Kihlgård were scheduled to go out to Fårö on the following day, so they could begin by paying a visit to Märta Gardell to talk about her brother’s disappearance. Knutas asked Karin to find out everything she could about the missing man, and try to see if there was some connection with the murder of Sam Dahlberg. Yet he knew from experience that most people who were reported missing usually turned up. People simply didn’t keep in very good touch with each other.
    Feeling dejected,