Unspoken

were problems with her mother, so they didn’t always come. Majvor can’t keep away from the bottle.”
    “How well did you know Fanny?”
    “There was a big age difference between us, so we didn’t really have anything in common. She was a little girl who sometimes came to visit with her mother. She never said anything. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more silent girl.”
    “You own a horse at the stable where Fanny worked. Didn’t you ever see each other there?”
    “That old nag is practically useless. It costs a lot more to keep her than she ever brings in from racing. But of course I do stop by the stable once in a while. Occasionally Fanny was there at the same time.”
    “Did you sometimes give her a lift home?”
    “Not very often.”
    “Which car did you drive?”
    Stefan Eriksson shifted uneasily in his chair. A frown appeared on his face.
    “What are you getting at? Am I under suspicion?”
    “Not at all,” said Knutas dismissively. “I’m sorry if I seem pushy, but we have to talk to everyone who knew Fanny.”
    “I understand.”
    “So which car did you drive?”
    “The BMW that’s parked outside.”
    “You knew Henry Dahlström, too, didn’t you?”
    “Yes, I was an apprentice for him eons ago when I was still in school. After I graduated I sometimes filled in for him at GT , and I also worked as a temp at Master’s. I mean, Master Pictures, his company.”
    “How did you happen to meet him?”
    “I’m interested in photography, and he was teaching a course that I attended when I was in high school. And then, as I mentioned, I was an apprentice for him.”
    “Did you keep in contact over the years?”
    “No. When the business folded, he went completely downhill.”
    “Do you still take photographs?”
    “When I can. I’m married and have children and we moved out here. The café that I own in town also takes up a lot of my time. It’s Café Cortado, on Hästgatan,” he added.
    Knutas detected a note of pride in the man’s voice. Café Cortado was one of the most popular cafés in town.
    Suddenly the dogs rushed for the door and began barking. Knutas gave a start. Eriksson’s face lit up.
    “That’s my wife and kids. Just a minute.”
    He got up and went out to the entryway. The dogs were barking wildly and jumping around.
    “Hi, sweetheart. Hi, kids. How are you?”
    Eriksson’s voice took on an entirely different tone. It was suddenly filled with love and warmth.
    His wife and children had clearly been out celebrating Lucia. Maja Eriksson came in to say hello. She was dark and sweet and soft-spoken. Knutas noticed the tender way in which Eriksson looked at his wife.
    No , he thought. It can’t possibly be him .
    He thanked the man for his time and left.
    The discovery of Fanny’s body caused a big stir in the media. The evening papers devoted a great deal of attention to the news, as did Regional News and the local media on Gotland. There was much heated debate about what could have happened to the girl. The newspapers printed maps that allowed their readers to locate exactly where Fanny was found. The farms that were closest to the site received visits from reporters and photographers. The newspapers were filled with speculations and hunches about what the motive behind the murder might be, and the TV and radio stations broadcast interviews with the stable staff as well as with the girl’s neighbors and classmates.
    Without talking to Johan, Max Grenfors had called Majvor Jansson and persuaded her to agree to an interview. Grenfors was very pleased with his success in getting the mother to tell her story as an exclusive on Regional News. But he encountered quite a different reaction from Johan, who refused to interview her, which prompted Grenfors to give him a real tongue-lashing.
    “I’ve managed to get her to agree to an exclusive interview, so of course we’re going to talk to her!”
    Johan was standing out in a field near the place where the body had been found. He was with Peter and a farmer who thought he had seen car headlights in the area late one night a couple of weeks earlier.
    “I’m not interviewing someone who’s in a state of shock,” said Johan firmly. “The woman doesn’t know what she’s doing. She can’t see the consequences at the moment.”
    “But she wants to do it. I talked to her myself!”
    “Exactly what do you want me to ask her, one day after her daughter was found murdered? How does it feel? ”
    “Damn it,