Читать книгу Roseanna - Хеннинг Манкелль - Страница 8

Motala is a medium-sized Swedish city in the province of Östergötland at the northern end of Lake Vättern. It has a population of 27,000. Its highest police authority is a Commissioner of Police who is also the Public Prosecutor. He has a Police Superintendent under him who is the chief executive of both the regular police constabulary and the criminal police. His staff also includes a First Detective Inspector in the ninth salary grade, six policemen and one policewoman. One of the policemen is a trained photographer and when medical examinations are needed they usually fall back on one of the city's doctors.

One hour after the first alarm, several of these people had gathered on the pier at Borenshult, several yards from the harbour light. It was rather crowded around the corpse and the men on the dredger could no longer see what was happening. They were still on board in spite of the fact that the vessel was prepared to make way with its port bow against the breakwater.

The number of people behind the police barricade on the abutment had increased tenfold. On the other side of the canal there were several cars, four of which belonged to the police, and a white-painted ambulance with red crosses on the back doors. Two men in white overalls leaned against a fender smoking. They seemed to be the only people who weren't interested in the group out by the harbour light.

On the breakwater the doctor began to gather his things together. He chatted with the Superintendent who was a tall, grey-haired man named Larsson.

‘There isn't much I can say about it now,’ said the doctor.

‘Does she have to remain lying here?’ Larsson asked.

‘Isn't that more your business?’ replied the doctor.

‘This is hardly the scene of the crime.’

‘Okay,’ the doctor agreed. ‘See that they drive her to the mortuary. I'll telephone ahead.’

He shut his bag and left.

The Superintendent turned and called, ‘Ahlberg, you're going to keep the area blocked off, aren't you?’

‘Yes, damn it.’

The Commissioner of Police hadn't said anything out by the harbour light. He didn't usually enter investigations in the early stages. But on the way into town, he said: ‘You'll keep me informed.’

Larsson didn't even bother to nod.

‘You'll keep Ahlberg on it?’

‘Ahlberg's a good man,’ said the Superintendent.

‘Yes, of course.’

The conversation ended. They arrived, left the car and went into their separate offices. The Commissioner placed a telephone call to the County Authority in Linköping who merely said: ‘I'll be waiting to hear from you.’

The Superintendent had a short conversation with Ahlberg. ‘We have to find out who she is.’

‘Yes,’ said Ahlberg.

He went into his office, called the Fire Department and requisitioned two frogmen. Then he read through a report on a burglary in the harbour. That one would be cleared up soon. Ahlberg got up and went to the officer on duty.

‘Is there anyone reported missing?’

‘No.’

‘No notification of missing persons?’

‘None that fit.’

He went back to his office and waited.

The call came after fifteen minutes.

‘We have to ask for an autopsy,’ said the doctor.

‘Was she strangled?’

‘I think so.’

‘Raped?’

‘I think so.’

The doctor paused a second. Then he said: ‘And pretty methodically, too.’

Ahlberg bit on his index fingernail. He thought of his vacation which was to begin on Friday and how happy his wife was about it.

The doctor misinterpreted the silence.

‘Are you surprised?’

‘No,’ said Ahlberg.

He hung up and went into Larsson's office. Then they went to the Commissioner's office together.

Ten minutes later the Commissioner asked for a medico-legal post-mortem examination from the County Administrator who contacted the Government Institute for Forensic Medicine. The autopsy was conducted by a seventy-year-old professor. He came on the night train from Stockholm and seemed bright and cheerful. He conducted the autopsy in eight hours, almost without a break.

Then he left a preliminary report with the following wording: ‘Death by strangulation in conjunction with gross sexual assault. Severe inner bleeding.’

By that time the records of the inquiry and reports had already begun to accumulate on Ahlberg's desk. They could be summed up in one sentence: a dead woman had been found in the lock chamber at Borenshult.

No one had been reported missing in the city or in neighbouring police districts. There was no description of any such missing person.