Blue Blue Eyes: Crime Novel (26 page)

”Now he has to bloody stop. Did he really give you a fine of 2000 Euros?”

”Are you surprised?” Nikki made a face, took her tea-cup and went into the stuffy conference room.

”Why isn’t the air-conditioning on in here as out there?” Nikki was irritated and felt it in her body.

”Saving energy. You know that Carlos has got the idea that we should save money.”

”You know what? I don’t give a damn. Carlos can say what he wants but let the bloody air-conditioner be on at least while we are working here. It can be switched off during the night but not when we need to use our brains.” She put down her tea-cup spilling some of the liquid over some documents on the worn conference table.

Daphne looked with large surprised eyes at her Swedish colleague.

”Don’t ask” Nikki said irritated.

Wednesday June 12th

”38 degrees and it’s only nine o’clock.” Daphne sighed loudly and took a drink from the water bottle.

”What do you think Carlos will say if I come along to the ME?” Nikki hesitated and put a foot on the foot-rest of the Land Rover.

”Nothing. He needs you even if he won’t admit it. Never mind him now and everything that he stands for, OK?”

Nikki jumped into the passenger-seat. She was tired and her head was aching. Last night had been anything but nice. Linn had once again become dead drunk and Nikki had found her lying in vomit on the bathroom mat. She leaned her head against the head-rest and closed her eyes for a second. She could easily fall asleep but the ring of her mobile broke into her thoughts.

”Have you found Patrik?”

”Sorry, but at least I can tell you that it wasn’t him lying in the sand-pit anyway.” Nikki heard how Hogstrom sighed of relief on the other end of the line and automatically did the same.

”Good news. Do you know who it is yet?”

”Nope, we don’t have an identity but it’s an older man of a bit over 80 years of age. Some psychopath washed him to death with a high-pressure wash. You should have seen him, his skin was completely gone.”

”What are you saying? Yuck, and the eyes?”

”They were gone too.”

”But what kind of sadist is doing all of this? Do you have any suspects?”

”Well, we have that Olof who’s the chairman of the Golf club. Then the shifty accountant and the Mafia of course. Did you know that the Russian Mafia is ruling in Cyprus?”

”Had no idea. But if you consider it the Mafia has taken over every country in the world. Did you get the list from me by the way?”

”Oh yes, thanks. I glanced through it last night. But as far as I remember there was no old 80-year old missing.”

”Hang on, I’ve got it here.” Kerstin paused a few seconds while Nikki looked at her reflection in the window. ”You’re right, there’s nobody in that age-group reported missing. How is Linn doing by the way?”

Nikki sighed deeply. ”She is drinking and mourning. The night was pure hell. Did you know by the way that Linn hasn’t told Patrik’s parents he’s missing?”

”Poor sods. I’ll take care of it. Send me their contact information in a message, and I’ll give them a ring right away.”

”Thanks. Listen, we’ve almost reached Nicosia, we’ll have a look at the old man’s body and talk a bit with Neo, the medical examiner.”

”Get in touch when you know something.”

Nikki hung up and looked out through the window. The highway in front of them was looking dark and wet but she knew it was the heat playing tricks with the eyes. She thought about it twice before dialling David’s number in Israel. Nikki knew that Hogstrom would freak out with the expensive phone-bill but she didn’t give a damn. Patrik was more important.

Ten minutes later Nikki had asked David a number of favours that she had come up with last night and he promised to come back to her as soon as possible. Suddenly the car in front of them slowed down fast and Nikki felt the adrenalin pumping. Daphne stood on the brakes and managed to stop before it was too late.

”Bloody idiot”, Daphne murmured and saw a cat crossing the road.

”Probably saved the cat’s life”, Nikki said and adjusted the tight seat-belt. She looked at Daphne and noticed that she still wore the signs of lack of sleep. Daphne parked the car outside the space-like building of the Medical examiner and started complaining loudly as she stepped out into the heat.

”It’s always hotter here in Nicosia but 42 degrees in the shade this early in the summer is too much even for me.”

”I understand why the tempo is slower in this heat. You can hardly breathe, much less chat.”

Nikki felt her dress sticking to her back and she supposed she had a big wet spot there. They hurried in through the door and sighed with relief when they came into the cool reception. Both nodded pleasantly at the pretty receptionist before taking the stairs up to Neo’s office.

My, my, two pretty girls visiting. What an honour.” Neo smiled and kissed them both politely on the cheeks.

”You were quick with the autopsy. I thought you weren’t going to start until this morning.” Daphne patted her brother appreciatively on his shoulder and smiled back at him.

”What don’t you do for pretty detectives needing quick answers. What do you say about me inviting you both to an early lunch, I take it for granted that you haven’t had time to eat yet?”

Daphne looked at Nikki who shrugged.

”Why not. We can’t refuse such an offer. But it can’t be a long lunch, we have a full day in front of us.”

”But first you’d like to see him, I suppose, the man without skin?” Neo adjusted his glasses and sent them a charming smile.

”Phew”, Nikki said and shuddered. She got goose-bumps on her arms and saw the little transparent hair stand straight up. She knew that she didn’t really want to look at a body which looked more like a raw meatloaf but since it was part of her job she just had to get on with it. Reluctantly she followed Daphne and Neo into the sterile refrigerator room. The sound of Neo’s clogs echoed between the white, tiled walls and she wished it would smell of disinfectant instead of this sweet rotten smell. Neo scratched his neck before pulling out a stainless steel drawer marked F:12. Both Nikki and Daphne were startled when they say the meaty body lying in front of them.

Half an hour later Neo took the girls to a local place across the street. They sat down at the last free table, ordered a Halloumi salad each and a large bottle of water. The restaurant was small and full of hungry guests. On the red and white checked tablecloths there were baskets full of home-made white fluffy bread. Daphne and Neo poured olive-oil and salt on a small plate each and started dipping the warm bread in this while Nikki was watching. She couldn’t understand why white bread was so important in the Mediterranean countries, it only contained wheat-flour. White poison.

”Do you think it’s the same offender killing all three of them?” Nikki asked and felt how the sun was burning although she was sitting in the shade.

”The way of removing both eyes is the same for all of them so my answer is probably yes. More yes than no.” Neo pulled two fingers through one of his side-burns and continued down to a black, well trimmed beard on his broad chin.

”Why does the offender pluck out the eyes? Does he collect them, or what?” Daphne poured more water in her glass and raised her marked eye-brows in a question.

”Unfortunately that’s your area, sis. But I guess we are dealing with a sick bastard who might keep the eyes for some reason. He or she, I have no idea if it’s a man or not. It could just as well be woman or maybe both. They might be more than one, what do I know.”

”Are there any more similarities between the last victim and the others?” Nikki asked as she drank some water.

Neo shook his head and put his hands under the thighs. ”The last victim died of blood loss while he was being power-washed to death. It seems like the offender wanted the last victim to suffer a bit more.”

Nikki took notes in her little book and between mouthfuls gave out some delighted noises. ”Just so you know, this is the best halloumi I’ve ever eaten. Jesus.”

Neo chuckled and Nikki couldn’t help but admire his beautiful smile.

”The cook’s mother makes the cheese. The family has a goat farm up in the mountains and she’s probably over 90. But I agree, the halloumi is wonderful here.”

Nikki raised her eyes in pleasure in reply and quickly had another bite.

”When did the victim in the sandpit actually die?”

”But haven’t you read the report Daphne?” Neo asked surprised.

”Of course but I can’t recall it right now. And just as we got a copy each of your report the boss had a fit and wanted to fire us all, or actually Nikki. But the rest of us put up a fight.

”That Carlos never stops surprising me. That he had the chance to step in for his brother at all is a mystery to me. Why didn’t they find somebody within instead of sending a half crazy Spaniard? What was the reason this time?” Neo asked and picked up the cutlery from the table.

”You won’t believe it but Nikki beat up Carlos really well the day before yesterday. By mistake of course. He lost all his manhood of course with all the injuries he got and that’s why he doesn’t want Nikki in our group anymore. You know Carlos.” Neo looked at Nikki enquiringly.

”You?”

Nikki, embarrassedly, nodded in reply.

”Nikki is great at Krav Maga, and that is hard to believe when you look at her, don’t you think?”

Nikki shrugged and quickly changed the subject. ”Can you tell us when the man without skin died instead?”

”Oh yes, that’s where we were.” Neo started looking through his papers. ”Let’s see. He died in the morning the day before yesterday, between four and six.”

A signal from Daphne’s mobile interrupted their conversation and after the fourth ring she got up and took the mobile from her tight front-pocket of the uniform trousers. She nodded in excuse to the company present and went away from the table. An awkward silence ensued. Nikki didn’t know what to say. She picked up her lip-gloss from her handbag and put some on her dry lips. Neo was studying her carefully.

”You are beautiful. But I have to admit that I can’t grasp how you could manage to beat up the Spaniard. You look so thin.”

Nikki looked seriously at Neo because she was quite tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. Then she smiled and knew that it wasn’t Neo’s fault. Maybe he didn’t know so much about martial arts. ”Everything is not in pumped up muscles.”

”Apparently not. Nice seeing you again.”

”Thanks. When do you think you’ll have found the identity of the man?”

”How long is a piece of string? Jokes apart, we have the victim’s DNA which just arrived at Forensics. Maria will put it through the common European DNA-registry, and then we’ll see the results. Until then I have to keep digging. I have made a print of the victim’s teeth if we need to go down that path.”

”But that could take ages.”

”Mm, it could take a little time. By the way, would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?” Neo’s voice was soft and he looked in a begging way at her.

Nikki’s confidence shot up in the air and she felt flattered. She looked into Neo’s velvet brown eyes a little too long, the full mouth and his manly hands. She liked what she saw.

”Sorry but it’s not a good idea…my life is a little complicated right now.” Neo groped and put his hand over Nikki’s. His gaze was deep over their hands.

”But it’s only a dinner…”

”Is it? Really?”

Slowly he pulled the hand toward himself and looked aside.

”My usual bad luck…”

Smilingly Nikki looked at him and at the same time felt shy.

”I appreciate your southern European straightforwardness, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Neo nodded in reply at the same time as Daphne interrupted them and sat down by the table again.

”That was Maria, our cousin from Forensics. She told me that they had found the same tire tracks from a four-wheeler by the sand-pit at Mountain Hill as where Sten and Karl were found.

There was a silence around the table.

”What? Did I miss something?” Neo and Nikki looked down at the table.

”What? Did I disturb?” Daphne tilted her head in question.

”No, not at all.” Nikki looked up and put her elbows on the table while clasping her fingers. ”Then it’s probably the same offender after all. But this time he must have chosen a victim he was bloody angry with, or what do you think? I mean considering how he did it.” Nikki pushed her sunglasses up on her head and squinted heavily when the strong light hit her eyes.

Neo was still quiet.

”They have also found a number of shoe-prints of which some are from trackers, about a size 43. The same as they found on the other sites. Unfortunately they haven’t been able to nail down the model yet. This indicates, correct me if I’m wrong, that our murderer is a man.”

1980

Big brother had finished the last and ninth year of elementary school and his grades had been as bad as the conditions at home. On the other hand he had become much better at stealing clothes and food from the shops in town so he and Little brother didn’t have to freeze or be too hungry. Little brother had started seventh grade and another hell had started, bullying and harassments. His asthma continued and with the money they got from the empty cans and bottles he had bought a new inhaler when the asthma had been at its worst.

At home Mother was lying dirty and drugged from all the valium tablets while Father drank up all the money.

This summer at Gotland had been the worst so far. Father had as usual invited his alcoholic friends to the farm like the previous summer. And as for Mother it had been more or less impossible to speak to her in her world of drugs.

One evening Father had brought the brothers and demonstrated to the drunk and homeless men how children should be disciplined. The applauses had been ringing out among the bottles while the brothers’ painful screams had echoed loudly in the night.

Father had also dragged an old worn bathtub to the large barn and found yet another way to abuse his sons. Little brother now knew how it felt to almost drown. He couldn’t remember how many times he had been close to passing over to the other side before his father grotesquely had left him to his own device.

Big brother had known the black bag again. Father had used one scalpel after another, cut away nails and made large cuts in his skin which he then had closed with a stapler.

Usually the brothers were free from their father’s grotesque actions during the nights. On certain occasions they had stolen the car and driven around the island to steal clothes and food for survival. One night when they came home there had been a right racket at the farm. Father had been black with anger and Mother had to stand defenceless and crying outside in the cool summer night in just her nightgown. Father then had forced the brothers to watch while he tortured their mother to death.