The Disciple (27 page)

‘It looks so soft. I wouldn’t mind betting that it smells good too.’

Vanja looked at the skinny man sitting opposite her, with his thin hair and his watery eyes. What did he want?

Fourteen years.

Locked up for fourteen years.

She assumed that Hinde hadn’t met very many women during that time. One of the psychologists he saw might be a woman, perhaps a member of staff in the library. But the idea of touching one of them was out of the question. So she could understand his request. His longing. But how strong was it? Could she use it to her advantage? She decided to take things one step further, at least.

‘What do I get if I let you touch my hair?’

‘Pack it in,’ Sebastian said again, still with that sharpness in his tone. ‘Don’t talk to him.’

Without breaking eye contact with Vanja’s challenging expression, Edward ran through the situation. This time there was something more than anger and impatience in Sebastian’s voice; there was something protective. Were they lovers? She must be more than twenty years younger than him; the Sebastian Hinde had got to know in the late nineties had usually stuck to women his own age. But that could have changed, of course. However, there was nothing in their behaviour towards one another to suggest that they were in a relationship. On the contrary, Vanja exuded a certain coldness towards her colleague. There was no empathy in the looks she gave him, and her body language was negative. Perhaps they were just very good at hiding it? Worth finding out.

‘Are you sleeping together?’

‘We most certainly are not,’ said Vanja.

‘That’s got nothing to do with you,’ Sebastian said at the same time.

Edward was satisfied. Sebastian’s answer, an anti-response in order to retain control. Vanja’s answer, direct and prompted by emotion. Genuine. They weren’t sleeping together. So why that protective tone? Was there more to gain here? He spoke to Vanja again. ‘If you could just lean forward and lay your hair here . . .’

Edward turned his manacled hand upwards like a little bowl and squeezed his fingers together in a gesture which, when he did it, seemed almost obscene.

‘Will you answer my questions if I do it?’ Vanja pushed back her chair as if she was about to get up.

‘For fuck’s sake!’ Sebastian spat out the words like an order.

‘Sit down!’

Definitely disturbed by the possible scenario. Time to raise the stakes.

‘Your hair, one answer. To any question you like.’ Edward looked at her, his face shining with total honesty. ‘Your breast, three answers.’

Sebastian got up with such force that the chair tipped over as he hurled himself across the table and grabbed hold of Edward’s upturned hand. He squeezed the shackled fingers. Hard. It hurt, but Edward showed nothing. Pain was nothing new for him. He could control pain. The joy he felt at having gained a stranglehold on Sebastian’s emotions was more difficult to conceal.

‘Didn’t you hear what I said?’ Sebastian hissed. Close now. That dark glare just centimetres from Hinde’s face. Hinde could feel his breath, feel the sweat on the palm of Sebastian’s hand. He had won.

‘Yes, I heard.’ Edward relaxed his hand, which made Sebastian loosen his grip. Hinde leaned back. Satisfied. A little smile playing around the corners of his mouth. He met Sebastian’s gaze with triumph in his eyes.

‘Even if you weren’t playing, you just lost.’

Vanja and Sebastian walked through the secure unit in silence. Sebastian’s outburst had put an end to the session with Hinde. Edward hadn’t said another word; he had simply sat back with that contented little smile on his face. Refused to take his eyes off Sebastian. They were now heading for the exit, escorted by a guard.

‘I can look after myself.’ Vanja broke the silence.

‘Really? It would be nice if you demonstrated that.’ Sebastian didn’t slow down. He was still furious. Edward was right. He had lost. No, Vanja had made him lose. That was no less annoying, but different. Just because she didn’t understand that you never gave Hinde anything. You didn’t even bargain with him. There was an ulterior motive behind every suggestion he made, a betrayal behind every promise. Perhaps it was Sebastian’s own fault. He hadn’t prepared her properly, that was very clear. And that annoyed him too.

‘I didn’t get much of a chance, did I?’ Vanja had practically broken into a run to keep up with Sebastian. ‘The great Sebastian Bergman rushed in to protect the defenceless little woman.’

They had reached the exit, a heavy steel door with a small window in the centre. No lock or handle on the inside. The guard accompanying them did his best to appear uninterested in their conversation as he knocked on the door. On the other side a face appeared at the window and scrutinised them closely to establish that they were entitled to leave the unit and that there was no kind of threat involved.

Sebastian turned to Vanja for the first time since they had left the interview room and Hinde. ‘Do you seriously think we would have found out anything if you’d let him touch your tits?’

‘Do you seriously think I would have let him touch me?’

The door buzzed and then opened. Sebastian and Vanja left the secure unit and continued along the corridor. Vanja didn’t know what annoyed her the most. There was a great deal to choose from, all relating to Sebastian. There was the fact that he’d underestimated her, that he had used the word ‘tits’ like some football hooligan, that he thought she needed protecting, that he was walking so bloody fast, that he had no confidence in her.

‘I was playing along.’ She caught up with Sebastian again. ‘If you hadn’t come charging in like some fucking knight in shining armour, it might have led somewhere.’

‘No, it wouldn’t.’

‘How do you know? You jumped in straight away.’

‘You can’t play along with Hinde.’

‘Why not?’

‘He’s much cleverer than you.’

Vanja slowed down, let him go on ahead. She watched him go and decided not to bother with any kind of rank order; she would simply hate everything about Sebastian. End of story.

Annika Norling had done her best to get Sebastian and Vanja to sit down on the sofas by the coffee machine while she went and told the governor that they wanted to speak to him, but without success. Sebastian marched past her desk, went straight up to the door and flung it open without knocking.

Thomas Haraldsson jumped in his chair. He felt as if he had been caught out, which surprised him. He looked up and immediately recognised the man who had stopped in the doorway; the expression on the man’s face made it very clear that he couldn’t make any sense of what he was seeing. His first words confirmed this.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’

Haraldsson gave a small cough and sat up straight. Tried to regain something of the initiative, even though he had never had it. ‘I’m working here now.’

Sebastian processed this information and quickly reached the only possible conclusion. The Västerås police had finally come up with a way of getting rid of Thomas Haraldsson, and had given him the boot. Whatever had happened, he now appeared to be working as a guard at Lövhaga. Haraldsson wasn’t the first police officer to have followed that path. A change of career was often imposed because the individual in question was too violent, had acquired too many official warnings, or had proved unsatisfactory in some other way. It was rare for sheer incompetence to be the reason behind a step down, but if there was going to be a first time, Haraldsson had to be the prime candidate.

‘Oh well, the police service isn’t for everyone,’ Sebastian said as he walked into the room. Vanja followed him, nodding a greeting to Haraldsson. A greeting which he didn’t even notice. What did Sebastian mean, the police service wasn’t for everyone? What did he think Haraldsson was doing there?

‘Where’s the boss?’ Sebastian asked, settling down in one of the armchairs.

‘What?’ Haraldsson was even more confused now, if that were possible. He was sitting there behind his desk, wasn’t he?

Vanja realised that no one had told Sebastian that Thomas Haraldsson was now in charge at Lövhaga, and that such a development was clearly beyond the bounds of his imagination. This could be interesting.

‘So what are you up to?’ Sebastian asked with a meaningful nod at the computer in front of Haraldsson. ‘Surfing a few porn sites under his log-in? Was that how they got rid of you in Västerås?’

Haraldsson wasn’t following this at all. There was obviously some kind of misunderstanding here. Apparently Sebastian didn’t know who he was, or rather what he was.

‘I work here,’ said Haraldsson with a clarity which would have insulted a five-year-old.

‘Yes, you said.’

‘I work
here
.’ Haraldsson patted the surface of the desk with the palms of his hands. ‘This is my office. I’m the governor.’

Sebastian stiffened. ‘You’re the governor?’

‘Yes. It’s my first week.’

‘How did that happen? Did they raffle the job?’

An entirely justified question, in Vanja’s opinion, but even though she didn’t think much of Haraldsson and his abilities, she knew that he was in a position to make their investigation considerably more difficult – which was the last thing she wanted now that she was certain Hinde was somehow involved in the murders. However, just like the last time they had worked together, Sebastian seemed completely oblivious to the fact that they needed to remain on good terms with certain people. She saw Haraldsson’s expression darken at Sebastian’s last comment, and decided to change the subject before Sebastian said something that would really offend him. Perhaps it was already too late.

‘We’ve just spoken to Hinde,’ she said, sitting down in the other armchair.

Haraldsson switched his attention to her and was met by a smile. ‘I know. I approved the visiting order.’

‘And we’re extremely grateful for that; it made our work so much easier, but we need a little more information about Hinde.’

Vanja kept on smiling at Haraldsson, and saw his shoulders drop slightly as he relaxed. If Sebastian just had the sense to keep quiet now . . . He didn’t seem to have fully recovered from the shock yet.

‘I’m sure we can help you there,’ Haraldsson said, ‘but in that case I do have to ask what you’re investigating.’ He kept his eyes fixed on Vanja, attempting to look as determined as possible. He had no intention of putting a spanner in the works as far as Riksmord was concerned, but nor was he prepared to be treated as if he had no say in the matter. They might have been able to do that in Västerås, but it wasn’t going to happen here.

His institution, his rules.

No, you don’t, Vanja thought, keeping the smile in place. You don’t need to know anything at all. She quickly ran through the options in her mind. Either she left Lövhaga with the information she wanted, or she would have to submit an application in order to get hold of it. This would take time and create unnecessary hassle. Vanja decided to give Haraldsson something, show willing.

‘We are fairly certain that Hinde is involved in several murders we are investigating.’ She could give him that. After all, it was only a matter of time before the press made the connection, she was sure of it.

‘How could that be?’ Haraldsson looked highly dubious, with good reason. ‘He never leaves the secure unit.’

‘We didn’t say he committed the murders,’ said Sebastian, who had recovered from the shock and had realised to his delight that he was now even more annoyed than he had been before they walked into the room. In fact, he was bordering on furious. A fantastic surge of energy flooded his body. ‘We said he was involved; that’s not the same thing.’

‘May I ask what makes you think that?’

‘Yes, but you won’t get an answer.’

‘We think he’s had help from outside,’ Vanja replied, immediately going against Sebastian. She could feel her colleague looking at her. ‘Has anyone who was close to Hinde been released recently?’ she went on, ignoring Sebastian’s heavy, weary sigh.

‘I don’t know.’

‘You don’t know who’s been released?’ Sebastian got to his feet, too frustrated to sit still. ‘What did you say your job was? Governor?’

‘This is my first week in the post; I’m not fully up to speed with everything yet, that’s perfectly understandable.’ Haraldsson swallowed the rest of the sentence. He was defending himself when he had no reason to do so. Jenny was always telling him off about it, his bad habit of going on the defensive as soon as someone questioned him. The best thing was simply to ignore the unpleasant psychologist; he wasn’t going to tell Haraldsson anything anyway. Haraldsson turned back to Vanja. ‘I’ll find out.’

He picked up the phone and made a call on speed dial. Sebastian headed for the door.

‘Where are you going?’ Vanja wanted to know.

Sebastian left the room without answering. He came out into the little waiting room with the two sofas, the coffee machine and Thomas Haraldsson’s PA. She had introduced herself as Annika something-or-other. She looked up at Sebastian and smiled briefly before going back to her work. Sebastian gazed at her. Around forty years old, a few kilos overweight, emphasised by the tight top with a belt around the waist. Reddish hair, definitely not natural; the original mousy colour was beginning to reappear along her parting. Subtle make-up enhancing the roundish face, a pendant dangling between her breasts. Rings on two fingers, but no wedding ring. For once he didn’t feel tempted in the least. He really couldn’t imagine being interested in sex at the moment. However much he was actually trying right now.