Blue Blue Eyes: Crime Novel (17 page)

”I don’t have strength to empty this damn thing so it’s time for proof. Time to show your muscles, Daphne.” Nikki tried until her face was bright red and they managed to push it a few millimetres sideways.

”Damn it how heavy this thing is.” Daphne shook her arms to get rid of the cramp and made a face at the same time.

”I can’t do it anymore.”

”Let’s give it another try, if it doesn’t work we’ll ask for help.”

They pushed and panted and shouted until their muscles were burning with lactic acid. Finally the book-shelf gave in. Out of breath and with heavy arms they were staring at the lock shining at them on the white stone-wall. Nikki stretched her arms high up in the air.

”Yes! Give me your key, this must be it.” Daphne was jumping up and down with excitement.

”What?” Nikki asked tiredly.

”Give me the key, I’m going to work some magic.”

First Daphne put the gold coloured key in the cryptic lock behind the book-shelf. Then she took Nikki’s key and turned the lock they’d found behind the painting. The tension was rising in the room and their expectation was high. Nikki bit her cheek and stood all charged waiting for what was about to happen. She looked at Daphne with some doubt and noticed how tense her colleague was. Soon after they heard a sound behind and frightened turned around. Daphne automatically went for her gun and Nikki was prepared.

”I’ll be damn.” Daphne’s voice was both high and broken and she looked as though she’d seen a ghost.

Nikki couldn’t believe her eyes either and looked in surprise as the second book-shelf with glass doors was moving. Daphne who at first had been completely paralyzed drew her service weapon and carefully moved into the darkness. Methodically she felt with her hand along the wall until she found a light-switch.

”Hell!” Nikki shouted when the light came on. In shock she stood with her hand on her mouth staring through the open door.

”In the deepest water...”, Daphne said looking around.

Different kinds of automatic rifles were hanging in neat rows on the rough concrete and on the shelves there were smaller weapons of different makes. In addition the room was filled with wooden crates containing a range of rocket guns and ammunition.

”This is bloody insane. There are weapons just about everywhere.” Nikki pronounced the words slowly and put both hands on her hips. ”Here is Sten Arvidsson’s secret. He must have been a weapons’ dealer, or what do you think?”

”Absolutely, no doubt about it”, Daphne replied. She ran and got the station’s digital camera from her handbag and took pictures of all the weapons very carefully. Then she called and informed Carlos about their macabre findings while asking him to get some technicians to thoroughly go through the house.

”Have a look here”, Nikki shouted with pleasure as she lifted up the computer and the mobile she had found on a small corner table far inside the damp room.

”Look at that, perfect”, Daphne said in triumph and made a thumbs up. ”Let’s hope more secrets are found so we can figure out what actually caused Sten Arvidsson’s death.”

As Nikki left the secret room with the weapon’s she remembered that she hadn’t picked up the rubbish that had fallen out when she kicked the bin. Sighing she squatted and went through every bit of paper all mixed up on the green and white mat. An elegant letterhead with an emblem from the Mountain Hills’ Golf club caught her attention. She slowly read through the letter while her eyes grew wider.

”Daphne, come here. I think I’ve found something.”

”What?” Daphne came out of the secret room and stood next to Nikki. She pushed her fringe to one side and listened attentively.

”Sten Arvidsson, considering your behaviour at our latest members’ dinner I hereby demand your immediate resignation from Mountain Hills Golf club. If I see you again on my land it will hurt and if you ever come close to my wife again you can count on a personal revenge. Best regards, Olof Stenvall, chairman of Mountain Hills Golf club.

”I’ll be damn.” Daphne sat down on the sofa, thinking. ”So you mean that...”

”The letter is dated the 29th of May”, Nikki interrupted. ”Didn’t Sten die the 1st of June?”

Sunday June 9th

The picture of the enormous weapons’ arsenal at Sten Arvidsson’s was still in Nikki and Daphne’s eyes. All worked up they stopped by a restaurant in the street and ordered a chicken salad each with carrot juice which they took back to the station with them. Nikki was so hungry she drank the juice immediately while having a look at the out-door venues. The large TV-screens were showing a noisy football game as usual, and the English were alternating between shouting and booing. On the way to the police station they drove past a little man with a moustache on his creaking scooter, of course without a helmet and with a cigarette dangling in his mouth. Nikki smiled and thought of her youth with the scooter gang in Tel Aviv.

”It’s eight o’clock and I still haven’t found a place to stay.”

”Ah yes, but don’t worry. We’ll fix it in no time as soon as we get to a computer.”

Half an hour later they were happy and satisfied and were calling around for flats. Nikki had chosen different rental sites they’d found on the net.

”Great, we’ll be right there. Thanks a lot for your help.” Daphne finished the conversation and smiled at Nikki. ”Time to go for a ride again.”

”But is it OK to leave when we have so much to do here?”

”We’ll have time for this too. Half an hour more or less doesn’t make any difference. Come on. You must have somewhere to stay, have you forgotten that?” Daphne shook her head and took the car keys from the desk and went out the door.

When they were approaching the reception Nikki saw a familiar face with long, carrot red hair.

”Say Hi to Nikki, Stella”, Daphne said happily. ”Nikki is helping us with the cases with the Swedes.”

Stella looked up from her computer and checked out Nikki. ”What I’ve heard is that you’ll not be staying for long.”

”Get lost. You shouldn’t copy your uncle’s bad qualities, even if I know Carlos is your idol.” Daphne shot her a smile and pushed down the door handle.

Stella pretended not to hear and turned her attention to the computer screen, continuing:

”According to Carlos neither you nor the new one have any reason to be here.”

”Get a grip, Stella”, Daphne snapped. ”I can hear it’s time you and Carlos were sent on a charm course.”

Nikki had the print out of the flat in her hand while Daphne was driving. The flat had three rooms with a real kitchen and a large sitting room and was only ten minutes’ away from the station. The rent was only 50 Euros a week which was perfect for Nikki.

”I’ll take it”, Nikki said after they had spent five minutes in the flat. Daphne looked at her with approval while the landlord took out a standard contract and started completing it.

”I can help you”, Nikki said. ”What happened to your fingers?”

”An accident while at work. Thanks, could you fill out your information where I’ve put a cross?”

A couple of minutes later Nikki received the keys and felt happy that the issue of where to stay had finally been solved.

The sun had set over the sea and it was getting dark. The thermometer in the car still showed over 34 degrees and on the local radio they were talking about the lack of water on the island. Nikki and Daphne were hot and tired. The thought of going home, standing under a cool shower and then sleep was more appealing than spending hours within the walls of the station. Their energy was low when they arrived back again.

Daphne took the chance to update the whiteboard with all the new information that had come in during the day while Nikki brought all the evidence material into the conference room.

”Do you have a mobile charger?”

”Sure, it’s in my office. Why do you ask?” Daphne looked up in surprise with the felt pen all ready.

”Both of Sten’s phones are discharged.”

”Give them to me and I’ll take care of it.”

”I can’t get over the fact that we finally found out about Sten’s secret. We did well not to give up. Thanks for keeping at it. But what kind of person was he actually? What was he doing with all of that? I mean it was everything from a Magnum to an AK47 as well as rocket weapons, hand-grenades and an unhealthy amount of ammunition.”

”I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many weapons at once before. You hadn’t got a lot on him in Sweden, had you?” Daphne stretched both her arms over her head, yawned widely and put the mobile phones on charge.

”No, he was clean. Respectable. Never been in the police records. Strange.” Nikki stopped and looked out through the window. The sky was dark. The only things giving some light were the stars and the moon.

”Really, I hope forensics will find some traces we can follow up on. But you can really say that Sten’s death has taken on a new aspect after today.”

”Really”, Nikki answered and tried different kinds of passwords on the mobiles before sighing in a bored way. ”Oh, I get mad with this. My will to do this is gone. Do you have a hacker in the station?”

”A hacker?” Daphne stretched her back and felt how stiff she was.

”Yes, you must have somebody expert on this?”

”No, as a matter of fact we don’t.” Daphne shook her head and massaged her lower back. ”We seldom have cases where we need an IT-hacker. Don’t forget you are in Cyprus. There are not so many strange things happening here as it probably does in your country.”

Nikki checked the time and saw that it was just past ten in the evening. She activated the Wi-Fi on her mobile and asked for the station’s password. Once on the network she started up Skype and dialled the number to David in Tel Aviv.

”Please pick up”, she was praying impatiently. Nikki dialled the number again in pure desperation while turning on Sten’s and Karl’s computers.

”This is David.”

”Oh, David, you answered. This is Nikki. Sorry for disturbing you so late but I know from experience that you are a night owl.” She laughed quietly and smiled her best smile straight into the mobile.

”Nikki”, David said with a soft velvet voice. ”How are you?”

”I’m good although I’m so tired I could sleep standing up. By the way I’m in Cyprus working on a few cases.”

”Cyprus of all places. I’m working too. Suppose you need my help”

She smiled apologetically. ”Sorry for not keeping in touch more in other circumstances, David.”

”It doesn’t matter. The main thing is not losing each other. So tell me, what’s wrong?”

”As you can see I have two mobile phones here and they are password protected. I can’t get into them.”

”Nothing worse than that”, David grinned. ”Take out the SIM-cards and make sure you don’t mix them up.”

Nikki took out a small paper clip and straightened out one end of it, quickly put the point into the little hole by the white iPhone’s upper edge. Because of the large plastic gloves she was wearing she lost her grip a few times but after trying stubbornly Nikki had one of the SIM-cards in her hand. Then she repeated the procedure with the black iPhone.

”Well done”, she heard David encourage her in the background.

”Read me the numbers of the two Sim-cards please.”

Nikki read the small numbers to David while he was writing them down.

”Do you need help with anything else? I can see you’re sitting there with two Mac-book Air. Can you get into them?”

”I’ve just put them on but suppose I will. Hang on a second.” Nikki turned to the computers and touched the key-boards. Both screens lit up and they didn’t seem to be protected by a password. ”They’re OK. Can I come back to you if I hit a fire wall?”

”You know that, Princess. Give me half an hour and I’ll call you back. Hopefully I’ll have the two passwords for you then.” David winked while hanging up.

Daphne who hadn’t missed the conversation looked with curiosity at Nikki. She put both hands on her waist. ”So, who was that handsome man?”

Nikki smiled as she replied. ”That was my David.”

”Your David?”

”Exactly. David was my absolutely first love. We were neighbours in the diplomatic part of Tel Aviv. His dad worked with mine. He is the Israeli information services’ IT-manager and usually helps me every now and then.

Daphne whistled and looked at Nikki jealously. ”That sounds like a James Bond movie. He is good looking that David. Is he as kind as he is handsome or what?”

Nikki smiled as widely as possible in reply before getting her hands on Karl’s computer. She carefully went through the history of the web-sites he’d visited. When she didn’t find anything special she clicked on the icon for G-mail and got stuck. The login demanded both user-name and password. Nikki did the same with Sten’s computer and it showed exactly the same screen picture. Sighing she clicked on the icon looking like a stamp, hoping they both had activated their mail accounts there. Disappointed she pushed the office chair with the help of the desk and rolled in to the dirty white wall. Yawning she got out her mobile phone from her white shorts and dialled Kerstin’s number.

”I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

”No chance Nikki. I’m at the office. How are you doing?”

”It’s moving forward. Since we spoke Daphne and I have met Barbro Hofvenskold and her daughter Therese. We’ve also entered Sten Arvidsson’s house. Did you say that you didn’t find anything on him in your systems?”

”He’s as white as snow” Kerstin answered curtly.

”Now you could say he’s as black as soot.”

”What do you mean?”

Nikki chuckled. ”Well, our little friend had a false door in his fashionable house and what do you think we found there?”

”Have no idea, drugs?”

”There was a whole arsenal of weapons there. Everything from normal handguns to rocket weapons. You have no idea how it looks. And we’re talking hundreds of weapons and masses of ammunition.”

Kerstin gasped for air. ”Now I’m really surprised. I’ll have to put Goran on checking out this Sten a little closer I think. What is happening now?”

”Forensics are in the house. We also found a computer and two mobiles which probably belong to him.”

”Two mobiles?”

”He had a Swedish subscription on the one and the other had a Cypriotic SIM-card. I also got Karl Hofvenskold’s computer so I have a lot to do.”

”How was Barbro, by the way, could you get anything sensible out of her?”

”Well, maybe. We found out that Karl’s car has disappeared and that Karl was on his way to a meeting with somebody the same morning he disappeared. Tomorrow morning we’ll check out Barbro’s alibi but otherwise there was nothing special. On the other hand we found a threatening letter at Sten Arvidsson’s. The sender was a Swedish chairman of a local golf club.”

”Well done”, Kerstin said surprised. ”Check out that Olof, he sounds as though he has a few questions to answer. Here at home we’ve interviewed the sons of the Hofvenskold family and some of the staff at the head office. Anders, one of the sons, is on his way down to Cyprus now as far as I understand. We didn’t find anything worthwhile so continue with what you are doing and keep me posted. My bed is calling me now, talk to you later.”

Nikki hung up, yawned loudly and leaned back in the worn-out office chair, tired.

”I’ll go home when David has called me back. I feel faint from fatigue at the moment.”

”Would you like me to make some tea meanwhile”, Daphne asked yawning.

”Thanks, I’d love some. Is there anything to go with it?”

”Let me have a look.” Daphne went into the kitchen and looked around the drawers and cupboards.

Nikki had just started looking at Karl’s computer when her mobile rang.

”Are you ready with pen and paper?” David asked and told her the password he had managed to find.

Nikki wrote down the combination of numbers and hid a yawn behind her hand. ”Thanks David, you’re a treasure. Could I ask you one more thing, do you have time?”

David smiled in answer.

”I can’t access the victims’ G-mail. Do you have any idea of how to go about it?”

”Yes, I do. But first you have to follow my instructions so I can take control of the computers.” Nikki listened to David’s instructions carefully and did exactly as she was told. A moment later he could work freely in both the Macs. Nikki thought it looked funny seeing the cursor moving across the screen without her touching the pad.

”I’ll go and have a cup of tea, shout when you’re done”, Nikki said and went to find Daphne.

”So this is where you are hiding out. I was wondering where my cup of tea was.”

”I just had to check our systems to see if Carlos had reported Karl Hofvenskold’s car missing, and of course he hadn’t.” Daphne sighed and pulled a tired hand through her fringe. ”I think I’ll go bloody crazy soon. Everybody has to work like hell because that idiot is not doing his share of the work.”

”I can really understand that. Hey, let’s take five minutes’. The water should be ready for the tea now.” Nikki put a friendly hand on Daphne’s shoulder and they went into the kitchen.

”Oh, what a good fruit bar”, Nikki exhaled after taking a bite of the biscuit which tasted of apple and cinnamon. ”I love raw-food. Where do you buy these?”

”In the health store. I’ll show you the best health-store here in Pafos. We’ll probably pass there one of these days.”