Free The Killing - 01 - The Killing by David Hewson Page A

forty-three. Sad, solitary bastard . . .’
    Lund listened from the adjoining office, sipping at a coffee in between talking to her son. She’d caught three hours’ sleep in a spare room. Didn’t feel too bad.
    ‘He’s got no plan,’ Meyer announced as if this were a given. ‘No bolt-hole. Sometime he’s going to come up for air. And then . . .’
    Meyer clapped his hands together so loudly the noise sounded like a gunshot.
    Lund stifled a laugh.
    ‘You’re not getting out of Swedish lessons,’ she told Mark down the phone. ‘How can you? We’re going to live there. Bengt can explain to the teacher why you’re late. You won’t be in trouble.’
    Meyer held up a new photo of Nanna. Still pretty. No make-up, no forced sexy smile. Not trying too hard.
    ‘We need to know everything about her. Text messages, voicemails, emails. Anything that connects her to Lynge.’
    Mark was getting sulky.
    ‘We’ll fly out tonight,’ Lund said. ‘I’ll let you know when I’ve booked the plane.’
    ‘Let’s move,’ Meyer cried and did the handclap again.
    Then, when the team had left, he came through and said, ‘Buchard wants a word before you go.’
    The old man had Lynge’s mugshot in front of him on the desk that was once hers. Meyer was going through what he’d learned from the files.
    ‘Thirteen years ago he was caught flashing children in a playground. One year later he raped a girl. Fourteen.’
    The chief listened. Lund stood in the door with her cold cup of coffee. She didn’t like the look on Buchard’s face.
    ‘Six years after that he was put in a psychiatric prison. Released eighteen months ago.’
    All this Meyer recited from memory, from a single look at the case records. Impressive, she thought. In a way.
    ‘So why’s he out?’ Buchard asked.
    Meyer shrugged.
    ‘Because he was deemed no longer dangerous?’ Lund suggested.
    ‘They always say that.’
    ‘Not always, Meyer,’ Buchard said. ‘Sarah?’
    ‘We have to talk to him.’
    Meyer threw up his hands in mock glee.
    ‘That’s the understatement of the year.’
    He was playing with the toy police car. Running it to make the blue light flash and the siren wail. Just like a kid.
    Buchard said, ‘Cut that out. I’d like to talk to her alone.’
    Meyer put the car back on the desk with exaggerated care.
    ‘If it’s about the case . . .’
    Something in Buchard’s face stopped him. Meyer raised his palms and walked out.
    The moment the door was closed Lund picked up her bag and said, ‘We’ve been through this. You know the answer.’
    ‘Things change.’
    ‘Chief! We don’t have anywhere to live. Bengt’s waiting for me in Sweden. Mark starts school tomorrow.’
    She went for the door.
    Buchard said, ‘I came from the lab. The girl was still alive when she went into the canal. It takes twenty minutes for a car like that to fill up. Add to that the time it takes to drown.’
    He was pulling out a file of photos.
    ‘It’s not my case,’ Lund said, messing with her bag, rearranging the things she’d rearranged once before.
    ‘She was raped repeatedly. In the vagina. In the anus. He wore a condom and took his time.’
    Lund watched him read this from the file and said, ‘Mark’s so excited about moving. No!’
    ‘She was abused like this for hours. All weekend probably. The bruises indicate she was held somewhere else before the woods.’
    Lund got her coat.
    ‘And then there’s this,’ Buchard said, holding up a small plastic evidence bag.
    Lund looked, couldn’t help it.
    ‘Meyer showed it to the mother. She says she’s never seen it before.’
    Buchard cleared his throat.
    ‘The girl was clutching it in her right hand when she died. My guess is he made her wear it. She ripped it from her throat when she was drowning. I can’t think of any other explanation.’
    Lund stood by the window, looking out at the bleak courtyard in front of the prison cells.
    ‘This isn’t the usual, Sarah. You know that. Rape a kid then