The Fire Witness: A Novel

  “I’ll arrange for you to question the girls at the hotel in one hour from now,” Susanne says.

  “Great, thanks,” Joona says and he starts across the yard.

  The professor is by his van, taking off his jumpsuit and putting it in a garbage bag. He closes the bag tightly.

  “The blanket is missing,” Joona says.

  “Finally I get to meet the famous Joona Linna in person,” the professor says with a smile. He’s opening a new package of disposable clothing.

  “Were you just in Miranda’s room?” asks Joona.

  “Yes, I was. I’m done there now.”

  “There’s no blanket in it.”

  Holger stops what he’s doing and wrinkles his brow. “You’re right.”

  “Vicky must have hidden Miranda’s blanket in the wardrobe or under the bed in her own room,” Joona says.

  “I’m going there now,” Holger says, but Joona is already on his way.

  The professor looks after him and remembers hearing that Joona Linna is so stubborn he’ll stare at a crime scene until it opens before him like a book. He tucks the new jumpsuit under his arm and follows.

  Before opening the door to Vicky’s room, they both pause to put on their protective clothes and their shoe covers and latex gloves.

  “It looks like there’s something under the bed,” Joona says.

  “One thing at a time,” says Holger. He puts on a mask.

  Joona waits at the door while Holger photographs and measures the room with a laser. They will mark all their discoveries in a three-dimensional coordinating system.

  A poster of Robert Pattinson, with his pale face and dark eyebrows, covers a painted Bible scene. On a shelf, there’s a bowl of security tags from H&M.

  Joona follows Holger as he covers the floor bit by bit with black plastic film, presses it down with a rubber roller, lifts it carefully, photographs it, and packs it. Holger works methodically from the door to the bed and then over to the window. This time when he lifts the film from the floor, a weak print of a running shoe shows on the yellow gelatin layer.

  “I have to get going soon,” Joona says.

  “You want me to look underneath the bed first?”

  Holger shakes his head at Joona’s impatience but then spreads protective plastic on the floor by the side of the bed. He gets on his knees, reaches in, and catches the corner of some fabric shoved up against the wall.

  “It probably is a blanket,” Holger says, stretching his arm farther.

  Holger carefully drags the heavy blanket onto the plastic sheet. It’s twisted and soaked in blood.

  “I think Miranda had the blanket around her shoulders when she was killed,” Joona says in a low voice.

  Holger folds the plastic sheet over the blanket and then pulls a large sack over the bundle. Joona glances at the clock. He can stay for just ten more minutes. Holger is doing a new test. He’s using damp cotton swabs on the smears of dried blood on the bed sheet, letting them dry a second before he packs them.

  “If you find anything that indicates a place or a person, call me immediately,” Joona says.

  “Sure, sure.”

  Around the hammer beneath the pillow, Holger uses one hundred and twenty swabs, which he packs individually and marks. He tapes hairs and fibers onto clear plastic film and carefully folds white paper around tufts of hair. He has tubes for tissue scraps and skull fragments. These will be chilled to prevent bacteria growth.

  38

  At the hotel where the girls are staying, the conference room is occupied, so Joona has to wait in the breakfast room. Susanne Öst is talking to the nervous hotel manager about another room they can use for questioning. Joona rings Anja Larsson back in Stockholm and is connected to her voice mail. He leaves a message requesting information on a good forensic doctor in Sundsvall. Anja may be eccentric, but she is good at her job. Even though she knows her love for Joona is hopeless and she can’t quite let go.

  A television is suspended from the ceiling on metal wires. The lead story on the news tonight is about the murders at Birgittagården. They’re giving up-to-the-minute dramatic reports. There are pictures of the police tape, the red buildings, and the sign at the end of the driveway: BIRGITTAGÅRDEN, HVB: A HOME FOR YOUTH WITH SPECIAL NEEDS. The probable route of the killer’s flight is marked on a map, and a reporter is standing in the middle of Highway 86 talking about the kidnapping and the failed roadblocks.

  Joona stands up and walks closer to the television when the news anchor says that the mother of the kidnapped child has asked to plead with the kidnapper on live television.

  The screen now shows Pia Abrahamsson sitting at a kitchen table and holding a sheet of paper. Her face looks tortured.

  “If you can hear this,” she starts, “please listen to me. I understand that you’re the victim of injustice. But, please, Dante doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

  Pia looks directly into the camera. “Please bring him back,” she whispers, her voice shaking. “You are probably a kind person at heart. Dante is only four years old, and I know how frightened he must be. He is so…”

  She looks down at the sheet of paper and tears start running down her cheeks.

  “Please don’t hurt him. Please don’t hit him or…” She starts to sob and turns her face away from the camera.

  The news returns to the studio in Stockholm. A forensic psychologist from Säter Hospital explains to the news anchor how dangerous the situation is.

  “I have not seen the girl’s medical records and I do not want to speculate on whether or not she is guilty of these two murders, but just considering where she has been placed, she is most likely psychologically unstable. Even if—”

  “What kind of threat does she pose to the child?” asks the anchor.

  “It could be that she’s not concerned about the boy at all. She might have forgotten about him entirely. He’s just four years old, though, and if he starts crying or calling for his mother, she could become angry and dangerous.”

  Susanne smiles as she arrives to get Joona. He follows her to the elevator and they ride to the top floor and enter a gloomy bridal suite. The minibar is padlocked and there’s a Jacuzzi with golden feet in the bedroom.

  Tuula Lehti is lying on a king-size bed covered with bolsters. She’s watching the Disney Channel. The person from the Office of Victim Services nods as they enter. Susanne closes the door and Joona pulls out a chair with red plush cushions and sits down.

  “Why did you tell me that Vicky was meeting a man named Dennis?” Joona asks.

  Tuula sits up and clutches a heart-shaped pillow to her chest.

  “I thought she was,” she replies.

  “Why did you think that?”

  Tuula shrugs and looks back at the television.

  “Did she tell you about a man named Dennis?”

  “No.” Tuula smiles.

  “Tuula, I really need to find Vicky.”

  Tuula kicks the bedcover off the bed and turns her gaze back to the television.

  “Do I have to be stuck here all day?” she asks.

  “No, you can return to your room whenever you want,” the support person says.

  “Sinä olet vain pieni lapsi,” Joona says in Finnish. “You’re just a small child.”

  “Ei,” she replies and looks him in the eye.

  “You shouldn’t have to live in institutions.”

  “I’m fine here,” she says flatly.

  “Don’t bad things happen to you?”

  She turns red and her white eyelashes flutter.

  “No,” she snaps.

  “Miranda hit you yesterday.”

  “That’s right.” Tuula holds the pillow even tighter.

  “Why was she angry?”

  “She thought I went to her room and was messing around.”

  “Did you?”

  Tuula licks the pillow. “Yeah, but I didn’t take anything.”

  “Why were you messing around in her room?”

/>   “I mess around in everyone’s room.”

  “Why?”

  “For fun.”

  “But Miranda thought you’d taken something from her room.”

  “Yeah, she got mad.”

  “Why did she think you’d taken something?”

  “She didn’t say,” Tuula says, and smiles.

  “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know. Usually people think I take their pills. Lu Chu pushed me down the stairs when she thought I’d taken her freaking uppers.”

  “If it wasn’t pills, what did Miranda think you’d taken?”

  “Who cares? Makeup, earrings.”

  Tuula moves until her legs are dangling off the edge of the bed and then flops backward. She whispers something and Joona catches the words “rhinestone necklace.”

  “What about Vicky?” asks Joona. “Did Vicky like to hit people?”

  “No.” Tuula smiles again and sits up.

  “What does she do?”

  “I can’t say because I don’t know her. She hasn’t said a single word to me. But…” The girl shrugs and stops talking.

  “Why didn’t she talk to you?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “You must have seen her angry at some point?”

  “She cuts herself … You can…” Tuula shakes her head.

  “What were you going to say?”

  “You can forget about her. She’ll kill herself soon enough, then you’ll have one less problem.”

  Tuula looks at her fingers, says something inaudible, then gets up abruptly and leaves the room.

  39

  Caroline, who looks somewhat older than the others, enters the room with the support person. She’s wearing a long, baggy T-shirt with a picture of a kitten on it. There’s a tattoo of runes along one of her arms and there are old injection scars on the insides of her elbows.

  As she greets Joona, she smiles shyly. Then she sits down in the armchair next to the brown desk.

  “Tuula says that Vicky usually sneaks out at night to meet a guy,” Joona begins.

  Caroline laughs. “No, she doesn’t.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I know she doesn’t.” Caroline is smiling.

  “You’re absolutely sure?”

  “Tuula believes that we’re all sluts.”

  “So Vicky doesn’t sneak out?”

  “No, she does.” Caroline looks serious.

  “What does she do when she sneaks out?”

  Caroline looks him briefly in the eye and then looks out the window.

  “She goes behind the brewery and calls her mother.”

  Joona knows that Vicky’s mother died before Vicky arrived at Birgittagården. He decides not to confront Caroline with this information. Instead, he calmly asks, “What did they usually talk about?”

  “Well, the thing is, she just leaves messages on her mother’s voice mail. I don’t think her mother ever calls her back.”

  Joona nods and thinks that perhaps no one has told Vicky that her mother is dead.

  “Has she ever mentioned someone named Dennis?” he asks.

  “No.”

  “Think back.”

  She looks at Joona, and jumps when Susanne Öst’s cell phone rings. Susanne checks it for a message.

  “Who would Vicky run to for help?” asks Joona, although he realizes the energy has gone out of the interview.

  “I think the only person she’d run to is her mother.”

  “No friends or boys?”

  “No,” Caroline says. “But I really don’t know her. We’re both ADL and so we meet often, but she never talks about herself.”

  “What is ADL?”

  “It sounds like a diagnosis but it means All Day Lifestyle. It’s for those who behave. They let you go with them to Sundsvall to go shopping for groceries and stuff. Exciting, isn’t it?”

  “But you’d have the chance to talk?”

  “Yes, but we didn’t say much.”

  “So whom did she talk to?”

  “Nobody,” Caroline says. “Except Daniel, of course.”

  40

  Joona and Susanne walk back to the elevator in silence, but she laughs when they both hit the button simultaneously.

  “When can we question Daniel Grim?” asks Joona as they ride down.

  “The doctor thought it was too early yesterday, which is understandable,” Susanne says, giving him a brief glance. “This is not an easy case, this one. I’ll give them a reminder call and let’s see what they say.”

  Gunnarsson is waiting for them on the ground floor.

  “Oh, right, I got a text message while you were talking to Caroline. The autopsy is under way,” Susanne says to Joona.

  “Good. When will we have the first report?” asks Joona.

  “Go home,” says Gunnarsson angrily. “You are not supposed to be here. You are not supposed to read any reports, you are not to—”

  “Calm down,” says Susanne, surprised.

  “We’re so damned slow on the uptake that we’ve let a damned observer come and take over the entire investigation just because he’s from Stockholm!”

  “I’m only trying to help,” says Joona. “Since there’s—”

  “Shut up!”

  “This is my preliminary investigation,” Susanne says, glaring at Gunnarsson.

  “Then I have to inform you that Joona Linna has the Internal Review Board after his ass—”

  “Is it true? Have you been reported to the Internal Review Board?” Susanne asks.

  “Yes, but my case hasn’t gone to any prosecutor—”

  “And I let you into the investigation?” She purses her lips. “This is about trust. You lied to me.”

  “I’m still formally on duty, and I don’t have time for this,” says Joona. “I have to question Daniel Grim.”

  “That’s my job,” Gunnarsson says.

  “You have to understand how important it is,” Joona says. “Daniel Grim may be the only person who—”

  “I am not going to work with you,” Susanne interrupts.

  “We’re cutting you off from the investigation,” says Gunnarsson.

  “I’ve lost all trust in you,” Susanne says, and turns on her heels and heads for the exit.

  Gunnarsson takes off after her.

  “If you talk to Daniel, you have to ask him about Dennis!” Joona calls after them. “Ask Daniel if he knows who Dennis is, and ask if he knows where Vicky would go. We need a name or a place. Daniel is the only person Vicky talked to and he—”

  “Go home!” Gunnarsson waves without turning back.

  41

  Commissioner Gunnarsson has a fresh cigarette in his mouth as he leaves the elevator. He’s headed for Ward 52A in the psychiatric unit at Västernorrland provincial hospital.

  A young man in a buttoned-up lab coat walks over to greet him. They shake hands and Gunnarsson follows him down a hall painted light gray.

  “As I said on the phone, I don’t believe that questioning him will be useful at this time, so soon after—”

  “You’re right, but I want to have a little chat with him anyway.”

  The doctor stops and turns to look at Gunnarsson. “Daniel Grim is in a traumatic state of stress that we call arousal. It is activated by the hypothalamus and the limbic system—”

  “I don’t give a shit,” said Gunnarsson. “Just tell me if he’s been stuffed with so many drugs he’s on Mars.”

  “He’s able to talk, but I won’t let you near him if you—”

  “We’re dealing with a double murder—”

  “You know very well who has the last word in this building,” the doctor says calmly. “If I believe that the patient’s recovery will be hindered by a talk with the police, I will forbid it.”

  “I understand.” Gunnarsson sighs.

  “However, the patient himself has said that he would like to help the police, so I will allow you to ask a few questions in my presence.”

&nbs
p; “Thank you.” They start along the hall again, turn a corner, and pass a row of dormer windows that overlook a courtyard. A few moments later, the doctor opens a door to a single-patient room. There’s a sheet and a blanket on the small sofa, but Daniel Grim is sitting on the floor with his back to the radiator. He looks serene and he doesn’t even glance at them when they come in.

  Gunnarsson moves a chair near Daniel and sits down. Then he swears, gets off the chair, and squats in front of him.

  “I have to talk to you,” Gunnarsson starts. “We are searching for Vicky Bennet. She’s a suspect in the murders at Birgittagården, and I—”

  “But I…” Daniel murmurs.

  Gunnarsson stops talking as Daniel keeps whispering. Finally he says, “Sorry, I can’t hear you.”

  The doctor stands by the door listening to them.

  “I don’t believe she did it,” says Daniel. “She’s much too nice.”

  He wipes the tears from his cheeks and from beneath his eyeglasses.

  “I know that you are bound by patient confidentiality,” Gunnarsson says. “But is there any way you can help us find Vicky Bennet?”

  “I’ll try,” Daniel says, but then presses his lips firmly together.

  “Does she know anyone who lives near Birgittagården?”

  “Maybe. I’m having trouble collecting my thoughts right now.”

  Gunnarsson groans and decides to change tactics. “You were Vicky’s counselor,” he says. “Where do you think she went? We don’t give a shit whether she’s guilty. We don’t know anything yet. But there’s one thing we do know—she’s kidnapped a child.”

  “No,” Daniel whispers.

  “Who is she trying to find? Where is she going?”

  “She’s afraid,” Daniel says. His voice is shaking. “She crawls beneath a bush and tries to hide … it … it … What did you ask, again?”

  “Is there a hiding place you know about?”

  Daniel starts mumbling about Elisabet’s heart and how he thought she’d died from her heart problems.

  “Daniel,” the doctor says, “you don’t have to do this unless you want to. I can ask the police to come back later after you’ve had a chance to rest.”