Blue Blue Eyes: Crime Novel (39 page)

”I’ll get some tools”, Carlos said and left.

Sam dried the sweat off his forehead and shook his head sceptically.

”What is this anyway?” He lifted up the jar and tried looking through the blue colour but couldn’t see anything. He shook it and could feel that the jar was filled with something the question was- what?

”Here”, Carlos said and handed him a screw driver. ”Yes, it was the only thing I could find. Come on, try bending up the lid instead.” His voice was eager and the Chief almost looked like a little boy waiting for Santa.

Sam put the screw driver under the gold coloured lid and started bending but nothing happened. It was really sitting tight. After a few minutes he gave up. ”Has the damn man used super glue or what? Sorry, I can’t manage.”

A sigh of disappointment went through the room and they all started speaking at once.

”Let me try”, Daphne said carefully.

The others looked at her doubtfully but Sam waved to her to come.

”Come on.”

Daphne put the screw driver under the lid while the others held their breath. She tried for a long time before grabbing the bottom with one hand while twisting with the other one. The clicking sound went as a wave through the room and everybody started clapping their hands. Daphne bowed exaggeratedly and put the jar down on the desk again.

”Hell what a stench, somebody else will have the honour to see what it contains. Now I’ve done my part”, she said and went back to her place while making a face.

”Please, Carlos.” Maria went and sat at the table with the others while Carlos looked confusedly around the room.

”But I shouldn’t…”

”Open the lid properly now and see what is stinking so badly. You’re the bloody boss in this funny farm, so go ahead, the honour is all yours.” Sam got up to open all the windows widely.

Nikki held two fingers under her nose. The stench was disgusting. She saw how Carlos reluctantly screwed off the lid and then he backed off so quickly that the jar fell out of his hand. Somebody screamed and they all looked in astonishment at the contents rolling on the floor.

”But what the hell…”

”What is it?”

Maria took a pair of latex gloves from her pocket in her trousers and squatted in front of one of the objects.

”I’ll be damned”, she panted.

”What?”, Daphne asked impatiently. What is it?”

”Eyes, these are eye-balls.”

”So where do we start?” Nikki asked and swallowed another painkiller with a glass of water.

”I say the flash memories”, Daphne replied and dried some dry mascara from under her eyes.

Nikki put the black stick in the computer and a number of documents came up on the screen.

”But what the hell is this?” Daphne stared at the computer with wide open eyes.

”The Mafia didn’t fleece Theo of small money. How could he afford it?”

”Have a look here, damn what bastards they are. Vladimir and Oleg have even forced Theo to sell the Golden Coast at such a sickly low price.”

”What are you saying? Let me have a look.” Sam leaned over the screen. ”It’s probably time to interrogate Petros again. I think we’ve found our motive, at least one of them.”

”I have more good news. Forensics just called, they have found skin-samples, blood spots and loads of fingerprints on Theo’s four by four. We’ll get the report as soon as the lab has finished.”

Carlos who until now had been sitting quietly suddenly threw his hands up in the air and pouted. ”Perfect, hereby I declare that the cases are solved. If you excuse me I am going to celebrate this with a fresh chocolate croissant. Damn how good I am.” The Chief nodded smugly, got up and left the room while the others were left with a look of surprise on their faces.

Nikki started giggling hysterically and Daphne soon followed suit.

”Sorry, you’ll have to excuse me, but isn’t this the worst so far? There is so much left to do and he just stands up in the middle of a sentence and declares the cases solved. What about the rest?” Nikki continued giggling with her hands at her side.

”Well Sam, what should we say about our pet of a boss?” Daphne made different faces, then got up and started imitating Carlos’ way of walking. They all burst out laughing.

”Never mind him”, Sam said. ”He doesn’t do anything anyway. Pretty nice to work in peace, actually. Let’s look through the hard disc and then we can have a chat with both Theo and Petros.” Sam spoke fast, he almost stumbled on the words.

”Give me the hard disc”, Nikki said and stretched out her hand. She pushed the USB-cable into the computer and clicked on the first film which immediately started playing.

”Nobody can say that Theo wasn’t very crafty. Imagine him being so alert as to film the meeting with the Mafia when they forced him to sell the Golden Coast. Do you think he was planning a vendetta, or what?”

Nikki had to smile before meeting Sam’s gaze.

”Of course he’s been planning his revenge. He would never let these boys go free after what they did to him and his family. Don’t forget the recording on the yacht when they broke her fingers. I have to admit that he’s really been around quite a bit.” Daphne looked dead serious. ”I’m sorry, but this is really a controlled maniac we are dealing with. A skilled, calculating psychopath who has been killing people to get his will. Don’t forget the jar with the eyes and that you, Nikki, actually were tied up in the mountains just a few hours ago.”

”I know, I know he’s a maniac.” Nikki clicked on the next film. A collective shiver went through the room and everybody’s senses were sharpened.

”I’m sorry but I can’t watch anymore, it’s enough now.” Nikki felt sick and the hairs on her neck were standing straight up. ”What bloody psychopaths. At least now we have enough proof to get them both.”

Sam closed the film which showed how Theo and Petros together were torturing Karl Hofvenskold, Sten Arvidsson and their father until they died. A silence spread through the room and each one of them sat staring at nothing for a few minutes.

”Shall we go and show the proof to Petros so he starts talking?” Daphne broke the silence and wetted her dry throat with the drink of water next to her.

An hour later the police got to hear the story of how two little children had been transformed from innocent boys to revengeful murderers.

Monday June 17th

At the police station in Coral Bay the atmosphere was great. Even Katerina opened up and was laughing out loudly at Sam’s jokes. Nikki had brought finger food in the form of meze and was offering her colleagues a last meal before leaving for home.

”Have you tried the giant shrimps fried in garlic?” Daphne asked rolling her eyes.

”Yeah, they are great.” Nikki pierced one with her fork and put it in her mouth. ”Insanely good. I hope I can copy the recipe when I get back home.”

”It’s really easy, you just fry them with butter, garlic and chilli.” Sam smiled with his whole face and his eyes looking at Nikki were shining.

”It’s really been a pleasure having you here at our humble police station. Your help has been priceless.”

”Thanks, it’s been a real experience in many ways.” Nikki looked with approval at both Sam and Daphne and nobody was in any doubt as to what she felt about the Chief. She was happy Kerstin Hogstrom was her boss and not the mad Spaniard. Then she looked at Carlos but he was completely engrossed with the different dishes.

”I have to admit that I hadn’t imagined the nice landlord being one of the murderers when I received the keys to the flat the other night”, Nikki said and raised her eye-brows. ”I don’t get it that the bastard even went into my flat snooping around when I was out.”

”Damn how disgusting.” Daphne twisted and took the bowl with the Greek salad. ”And him being Petros’ brother on top of that...why didn’t we think of that before?”

”But what a sick operation they had. Petros first made sure he could buy the really profitable companies at a sickly low price and then abused the clients until they signed the deals.”

Sam had a bit of kleftikon and then put down the cutlery on the worn-out table.

”Yes, and then Theo stepped in and killed them so they wouldn’t be discovered. And it’s not just a normal death the poor victims had either. Theo must have been really crazy to be able to cut out people’s eyes.” Daphne licked a piece of feta cheese from the corner of her mouth.

”Did you notice that all the eyes in the jar were blue. Isn’t that strange considering that most here in Cyprus have brown eyes. I wonder whose eyeballs the other 15 pairs are? There’s another mystery to crack”, Nikki continued and draped her arm over the back support of the next chair.

”Don’t talk about that”, Daphne replied and asked for the plate with deep-fried octopus rings. ”So there are 15 other bodies somewhere on the island. How the hell are we going to find them?”

”I think that will be solved by itself when Theo and Petros are being questioned again.”

”To murder your father in that grotesque way, it’s damn sick.”

”Yes, but what a bloody tyrant of a father. Can you imagine their childhood?”

”Yes, but to follow in the foot-steps of your father…I don’t understand. I think you should be more humble after such a horrible upbringing. But maybe it’s hereditary?”

”Have you heard anything from Linn, by the way?”

”Patrik...It’s the way it is. His condition has not changed but at least he’s alive. Now they are just waiting for him to wake up and for his condition to be stable enough to move him to the hospital in Gothenburg”, Nikki answered and looked up with a sad face.

”And what about you? How are you really doing?”

Nikki couldn’t cope with her feelings but knew the shock would come once she was at home again. ”I will survive. My toes are still a bit meaty but as time goes by they’ll get back to normal again. At least that’s what the nurse changing the dressing yesterday promised me. I showed David one toe when I Skyped with him and you should have seen his face. He hates blood. As a means of saying thanks I sent him a large bouquet of deep red roses. I thought it was a fitting gift.”

”I wouldn’t mind having a David in my life”, Katerina said dreamingly. ”What a hero.”

Nikki laughed carefully and held her ribs. ”Yes, what can I say. If he hadn’t sent that spy message to my phone I’d probably be dead today.”

”Imagine him being able to send spy messages”, Katerina said dreamingly and dipped the white bread in the hummus.

”But now it will probably be some time before I open any messages from him.”

”What will happen to Olof or Bertil whatever his name is?” Daphne poured more water in everybody’s glasses and had a sip.

”As is proper he will be extradited to Sweden and serve his sentence there. I can’t understand why he didn’t keep a lower profile, with his background. I mean if Olof hadn’t behaved the way he did maybe he wouldn’t have been caught. Probably we’d have let him go. Imagine that he escaped to Cyprus with a false passport after emptying his company of 10 million Swedish crowns without his partner knowing it. And on top of that he almost managed to beat him to death. So now he’ll probably be locked up for quite some time .”

”Poor Olof’s wife, what a web of lies he’s told her.” Sam pressed the lemon wedge and squeezed out a few drops over his crispy squid rings.

”Yeah, she’s completely shocked poor soul. But I do feel more for Pauline. She’ll have to raise her kids completely by herself. What kind of upbringing will those kids have? Go visit daddy in jail a couple of bloody times a month.”

Nikki tried letting her thoughts go and leaned back in the old chair. She looked out over the worn-out conference table where most bowls and plates were empty. She saw the Panther coming stealthily in through the door with his nose up in the air. She gathered up some leftovers and put down the plate for the cat then she was surprised to see Carlos getting up from his chair.

”I’d like to propose a toast.” He lifted his glass and waited for the others to do the same. ”I’d like to thank Nikki for finally letting me use my service gun, it wasn’t yesterday to tell the truth. Thanks to you I found that my old knowledge of shooting is still good.”

Nikki couldn’t believe her ears but she wasn’t particularly surprised. Automatically she looked around her colleagues and could see how ashamed they felt.

”As a means of saying thank you”, the Chief continued proudly. ”I will hereby tear up the fine I gave you the other day. Congratulations, you’ve just earned 2 000 Euros.”

Daphne gave Carlos a tired look while knowing that Carlos was always Carlos. He wouldn’t become anybody else however much she wished. And it didn’t matter if she reported him. He had contacts and relatives who always made sure he landed on his feet. But there were only a few months left of his temporary position and then he would be going back to Spain. Daphne raised her glass at Nikki and in union they both smiled at the stupid man with the bushy moustache which looked like the tail of a squirrel. They both knew that Carlos would continue breaking every rule and that he would take the honour for other people’s hard work. Suddenly the land-line in the conference room rang a loudly and they all stiffened. Katerina faithfully got up and answered.

”It’s for you Nikki.”

Nikki was surprised and got up to take the call and heard Linn’s hysterical voice on the other end.

”Patrik is dead!”