Unspoken

but there was a time and a place. Besides, he was in a foul mood after having a big fight with Lina that morning.
    It started with her complaining that clothes were scattered on the floor, that the cat hadn’t been fed, and that he hadn’t run the dishwasher last night, even though it was full and he was the last one to go to bed. Then she found out that, in spite of a solemn promise, he had forgotten to buy a new floorball stick for Nils, who had broken his old one, and he had a game to play tonight. That turned out to be the last straw. She blew up.
    The noise in the conference room forced Knutas to get up from his chair and clap his hands.
    “All right, could I have your attention?” he shouted. “Shall we get to work? Or maybe you’ve decided to devote the day to social activities?”
    “An excellent idea,” exclaimed Kihlgård. “Why don’t we stay in, rent a good video, and make some popcorn? It’s such awful weather today—I’m freeeeeezing.”
    His voice rose to a falsetto. He bent his forearms up and shook his palms at the same time as he wiggled his hips. Given the impressive bulk of his body, the dance was extremely funny. What a clown. Even Knutas couldn’t help smiling a bit.
    He started by telling them about the work Dahlström had done for payment under the table.
    “How did we find this out?” asked Kihlgård.
    “Actually it was that TV reporter, Johan Berg, who told me. The couple that lives on Backgatan didn’t want to go to the police since it was a question of unreported payments.”
    “It’s just amazing how people with money behave,” exclaimed Jacobsson, whose expression had darkened as Knutas talked. “It’s so damned wrong. People with high incomes who use illegal workers even though they could afford to pay them legitimately. And then when someone is murdered, they won’t even go to the police because they’re afraid of getting in trouble! That’s about as low as it gets.”
    Her eyes were blazing as she glanced from one colleague to another.
    “They can afford a lovely house and expensive vacations, but they won’t pay their cleaning woman legally so that she could get insurance and retirement points and everything else that she’s entitled to. They refuse to pay for that. They’ll do everything to avoid paying taxes, without giving a thought to whether it’s actually a crime. At the same time they expect free day-care centers to be provided for their children and a doctor to be available when they’re sick, and they want the schools to offer good food. It’s as if they can’t see the connection between one thing and the other. It’s so hopelessly stupid!”
    Everyone at the table was looking at her in surprise. Even Kihlgård, who usually had some witty remark, didn’t say a word. But maybe this was because his mouth was full of cinnamon roll, probably his third one.
    “Take it easy, Karin,” Knutas warned. “Spare us your diatribe.”
    “What do you mean? Don’t you agree that it’s damned wrong?”
    Jacobsson glanced around the room, looking for sympathy.
    “Do you have to turn everything into a political issue?” asked Knutas, sounding annoyed. “We’re in the middle of a murder investigation here.”
    He deliberately turned away from her and looked at his other colleagues.
    “So maybe we could go on now?”
    Jacobsson didn’t say another word, just sighed and shook her head.
    “How did this couple get in touch with Dahlström?” asked Wittberg.
    “Through friends of theirs who belong to the local folklore society. Apparently a number of people made use of his services.”
    “Maybe someone was unhappy with their garden shed,” said Kihlgård with a snicker.
    Knutas ignored his attempt at a joke and turned to Norrby.
    “How’s it going with the bank? Have you tracked down where the deposits came from?”
    “Well, we’ve come to a dead end there. It’s impossible to trace the money. Of course every bill has a serial number, but who keeps records of that? It’s also impossible to find out who gave him the money since he made the deposit himself.”
    “Okay, then right now the important thing is to find out who hired Dahlström illegally. He could have been doing that kind of work for years. Strange that nobody he knew has said anything about it.”
    As Knutas left the meeting he had the distinct feeling that the issues associated with the murder were going to get much more complicated.
    Johan’s next meeting with Emma was about