Closed Circles (Sandhamn Murders Book 2) (13 page)

M
ONDAY, THE SECOND WEEK

C
HAPTER
33

Going to the movies hadn’t been his best idea, Thomas thought as he made himself a cup of tea in the police station kitchen.

Once they’d arrived at the theater, he and Carina couldn’t agree on what movie to watch. Thomas wanted to see something uncomplicated, something that didn’t engage his brain. Carina, on the other hand, wanted to see a romantic drama with a famous American actress Thomas couldn’t stand.

By the time he finally gave up the argument, Carina was in a bad mood and there weren’t any good seats left. They had to sit in the back of the theater. Carina didn’t warm up until the movie was about half-done. Her hand sought out his, and she began to give him small kisses on the cheek.

Thomas felt silly, like a teenager necking at the movies. He shifted away a few times, and the atmosphere between them chilled again. After the movie, she said she wanted to go home. Thomas understood how he’d messed things up.

Now he walked to Margit’s office and sat in her visitor’s chair with a heavy sigh. She continued working on her computer for a few minutes before she hit “Save” and looked up.

“You look like something the cat dragged in,” she said.

Thomas dismissed her comment with a wave.

“A fight with Carina?” Margit asked. She closed a folder on her desk and set it on the bookshelf.

Thomas looked at her, surprised.

“What does Carina have to do with it?”

Margit looked at him as if he were dim.

“First Carina comes to work looking overcast, and then you come in twenty minutes later looking even worse. Did you see yourself in the mirror this morning?”

Thomas agreed that she had a point. He was tired and worn out, and it showed. But he still didn’t want any connection with Carina at work.

“What Carina does on her own time is her business,” he said.

“Cut it out, Thomas.” Margit sounded impatient. “The whole station knows you two have been dating for a while.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Our job is to investigate and draw conclusions from the evidence. Did you think we’d all gone blind or something?”

“Of course not.”

“Persson is probably the only one who’s clueless. Without doubt because he doesn’t want to know.”

Margit gave Thomas a stern look, but then she smiled.

“Isn’t she a bit young for you?”

Thomas hung his head. That was the problem in a nutshell.

“I thought I’d feel a little younger when I was with her,” he admitted. “Instead, I feel old, worn out.”

“Then perhaps it’s time you did something about it,” Margit said. She sounded like a schoolteacher.

She picked up a piece of paper that had escaped her wastebasket. Then she met his eyes.

“She is very much in love with you. Anyone can see that,” she said. “And I don’t want her to get hurt.”

Thomas agreed. He promised himself he’d deal with Carina as soon as the investigation ended.

“By the way, I talked to Sylvia Juliander again, this time about her husband’s drug use,” Margit said.

“Did she know about it?”

“Not one bit. She was shocked. Told me there had to be some mistake.”

“Another unpleasant surprise for her.”

“She’s getting a lot of unhappy information about her husband after his death,” Margit said. “First, all his mistresses. And now the drugs.”

“She must have had some idea . . .”

“Perhaps. But that’s not the same thing as
knowing
it for sure. Not to mention reading it in the headlines. I don’t envy her one bit.”

Thomas got up.

“See you at the meeting in five.”

“Carina has located the sender of the e-mail Eva Timell forwarded to us,” Persson began.

Thomas could see a hint of fatherly pride in Persson’s eyes.

“The message came from an accountant who’d performed some bookkeeping work for one of Juliander’s bankruptcies,” Carina added.

“Why was his address so strange?” asked Thomas.

Carina gave him a cold look. “The man was in the country without access to his work account, so he used his teenage daughter’s Hotmail address.”

“Why such a hurry?” asked Kalle. “He seemed desperate.”

“He needed payment before the end of the fiscal year,” Carina said. “They wanted to finish up by Midsummer, but Juliander had forgotten to pay.”

“He had other things on his mind, I guess, like his upcoming race,” Margit said.

“Perhaps. The accounting firm’s financial department had phoned to tell this guy to contact the client immediately to get payment. So he sent the message.”

“And Eva Timell interpreted it all wrong,” Margit said.

“A misunderstanding,” Carina added.

“How did you figure all this out?”

“I talked to the accountant. And then I called the company’s financial department to be sure. That’s it.”

“That’s it for that line of investigation, too,” Thomas stated. “Anything else?” Thomas looked at Carina.

She refused to look back. Instead she held up a bundle of paper.

“I’ve gone through much of his financial information,” she said.

“Your conclusions?” asked Persson.

“I know why he stayed married.”

“Let’s hear it,” Margit said.

“The Julianders had no prenuptial agreement.”

“Well, well, well,” Margit said.

“The houses, the cars, even the boats—everything belonged to both of them.”

“So if he wanted a divorce, half of everything would go to her,” Margit said. “That would be worth millions.”

“Was there a great deal of debt?” asked Thomas.

“The houses carry high mortgages, but he was able to make the payments, interest included,” Carina said. “He earned a high salary.”

“Any insurance?” asked Margit.

“One life insurance policy. And a great deal of retirement savings. His widow and children will certainly not starve.”

“His wife could still have killed him for the money,” Kalle said. “She might have tired of all his women and decided to put a stop to the spending.”

Carina looked doubtful.

“All the partners in the firm had identical pensions,” she continued. “I checked.”

“No life insurance policies taken out recently?” asked Margit.

“No, he’s had the same one for years—all through the law firm.”

“She could have simply asked for a divorce,” Margit stated. “She would certainly have been awarded a huge amount of money.”

“There’s only one thing that looks odd,” Carina said.

“What’s that?” asked Persson.

“I can’t figure out where he got the money for the
Emerald Gin
.”

“His boat?” asked Margit.

“It was brand new, right?”

“Yes,” Margit said.

“He didn’t take out a loan, and it must have cost a great deal. Where did the money come from?”

“He already had a racing sailboat,” Thomas said. “He probably sold it.”

“For twelve million kronor?” Carina replied.

C
HAPTER
34

“Is Margit in?” Thomas called out as soon as he opened the door to the department floor. He wore his leather jacket since the weather had shifted again. Outside, rain fell steadily. According to the weather report, it would clear up by evening.

“Margit!” he yelled. “Come here for a minute!”

Margit stuck her head out of a doorway. Her short hair was more wild than usual.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “Why are you yelling?” She yawned as she walked to the coffee machine for another cup of plain black coffee.

“Check this out,” Thomas said and ripped open a yellow padded envelope bearing the logo of Swedish state television. He pulled out a DVD and held it up.

“What’s that?”

“The video taken by the TV crew the day Juliander was killed. Kalle’s been bugging them for days to get it, but every time he called, they said they’d forgotten to mail it. So I picked it up myself. Let’s have a look.”

They headed for one of the conference rooms equipped with a TV screen and DVD player. Thomas put in the disc and found the remote before he yelled for the others. Kalle was still at lunch, but Erik and Carina came at once.

The screen filled with a panoramic view of the glittering sea. Thomas remembered the feeling of that day. Sunny weather. The water had been packed with boats, and everyone expected a beautiful start to the race. A perfect day for sailing.

The DVD continued with a number of close-ups of the large racing boats. They would all start at the same time: twelve noon.

The TV cameraman zoomed in to focus on the
Emerald Gin
with Oscar Juliander grinning behind the wheel of his elegant Swan. Beside him stood Fredrik Winbergh sizing up the other vessels.

Thomas noted that Winbergh was positioned slightly behind Juliander, just as he’d described during questioning.

“It feels weird looking at a man who’s about to die,” Carina mumbled.

The helicopter climbed higher to capture a broad view of the starting field. A puff of smoke rose into the air.

“That must be the five-minute warning shot,” Thomas said, mostly to himself.

“What was that?” asked Margit.

“That’s the five-minute warning shot,” Thomas replied. “They fire a warning from the starting vessel at ten minutes and then at five minutes before the race. It’s to allow the participants time to position themselves. They also do a countdown on the radio.”

They kept watching one boat after another. Thomas glanced at his watch. About five minutes had passed since the warning shot. It was time for the race to begin.

The helicopter flew closer to the starting line, making it easy to identify the participants. They formed a moving line between the two orange flags. Thomas could see the
Emerald Gin
closest to windward.

He watched the exact moment when Oscar Juliander jerked and fell. But was he sure?

“Did you see that?” Erik exclaimed. “Did you see how they caught that? That wasn’t on the news!”

“There’s something called ‘consideration for the family of the deceased,’” Margit said. “I assume you’ve heard of it?”

Erik looked down.

Thomas stepped closer to the screen to study the events as they unfolded. While the other boats swept forward, the
Emerald Gin
rounded up uncertainly, lost momentum, and finally stopped sailing. The camera swung away to follow the other competitors on their course toward the lighthouse at Almagrundet.

Thomas used the remote to reverse the action. Then he hit “Play.”

As the DVD started, they could see all the sailboats at the starting line again.

Thomas concentrated on the screen.

They could see the competing sailboats as well as a good part of the spectator craft. He could clearly spot the Bjärrings’ Storebro. About twenty more boats were nearby. To be on the safe side, he watched the scene again.

“We need to print enlargements of these,” he said. “Then let’s compare them to Fredrik Winbergh’s speculation about the direction of the shot. Dr. Sachsen from Forensic Medicine said the bullet entered the chest from the right and slightly forward, which gives another indication of the direction.”

A determined look came over his face.

“Now we are going to put the puzzle together,” he said. “This is how we’ll catch the devil that shot Juliander.”

“Are you asleep?” Nora whispered to Henrik.

It was eleven thirty at night, and they’d just had really good sex, the kind of intense experience made up of both familiarity and desire. For the first time in a long time, Nora had relaxed enough to hold nothing back.

Nora felt a contentment coming over her, and she knew she’d fall asleep any second now. Still, it was pleasant to lie quietly in the darkness and enjoy the moment.

Henrik was already out, and she listened to his light breathing beside her.

Earlier that evening, they’d taken their tiny boat
Snurran
and enjoyed a picnic dinner at Falkenskär, only ten minutes away from Sandhamn. She’d packed a basket with homemade minipizzas for the boys. For herself and Henrik, she’d made tortilla wraps filled with grilled chicken, Västerbotten cheese, and a little sweet chili sauce. She’d included a green salad and a bottle of good rosé. For dessert they’d shared a quart of raspberries and some dark chocolate. It had been a perfect summer dinner.

They’d sat on the warm, smooth rocks as they’d eaten. The silhouette of Sandhamn was barely visible to the north. The water was so still that even the seaweed didn’t move, and the only sound came from the small wayward waves gently rolling against the beach.

As twilight fell, they lit some tea lights that burned brightly against the dark-blue sky. The flames made the shale deposits in the hillside glitter like tiny stars coming out from hiding inside the gray rock.

In the darkness, Henrik had wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

Nora simply let go and enjoyed the moment. It had been a long while since she’d felt so content in her husband’s presence. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and a warm wave of happiness filled her.

After her conversation with Thomas, she’d made up her mind. She’d rent out the Brand house for two years to someone who could take care of it and perhaps even repair it a bit. She’d buy herself some time to think about what should come next.

If Henrik insisted that they buy a new and bigger house, they could always mortgage Signe’s house. As a bank employee, she’d have no trouble getting favorable loan rates.

In the darkness of her bedroom, Nora smiled.

She no longer worried about not caring for Signe’s house, and she was no longer upset with her husband.

Even her wretched mother-in-law could not object to this solution.

She snuggled closer to Henrik. Soon she slept like a baby.