Free Midnight In Malmö: The Fourth Inspector Anita Sundström Mystery (The Malmö Mysteries Book 4) by Torquil MacLeod Page A

She’d only say that it was a straightforward suicide. End of story.’
    ‘Oh, Klas. I know you’re upset, but going to the police! You just make yourself look daft. Especially in front of someone like Alice Zetterberg.’
    They both sank into a sullen silence. Kevin entered with a tray with three mugs of tea. He passed the milk-free ones to the Swedes.
    ‘Did I miss anything interesting?’ Anita flashed him a filthy look. She didn’t want to start Lennartsson off again.
    Lennartsson took a sip of his tea and reverted to English. ‘Albin Rylander made a remarkable claim. It’s one that can’t be proved.’
    ‘What’s that then?’ asked Kevin trying to lift the subdued atmosphere he’d walked into.
    ‘He reckons that his father saved Lenin’s life. In Malmö.’
    Anita’s amazement was mirrored by Kevin’s.
    ‘I didn’t realize Lenin had ever been to Malmö,’ Kevin said in a tone of disbelief.
    ‘I must admit, I took it with a pinch of salt when he first mentioned it. Until he produced the old red handkerchief. He was clutching that when Moa found him, by the way.’ He took another gulp of tea.
    ‘What was Lenin doing in Malmö?’ asked Anita, whose lack of historical knowledge had already been exposed by Kevin’s questions on their trips out.
    Lennartsson grimaced. ‘Long story.’
    ‘Short version please.’
    ‘When the Revolution broke out in 1917 and the Tsar was deposed and Imperial Russia collapsed, the provisional government that took over was still committed to fighting what was the First World War against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was important to their allies: France and Britain. It meant that the Germans were still fighting on two fronts – in the West against the French and the British, and eventually America – and Russia in the East. However, the hard-line revolutionaries such as Lenin, Sokolnikov, Zinoviev et cetera, who had been living in exile for many years, were stuck in neutral Switzerland, and obviously couldn’t have much impact on events back in Mother Russia. Of course at the time, there were lots of revolutionary groups, each with its own agenda, but many still supported the war that was being carried on by the Kerensky-led government, which was largely made up of liberals and moderate socialists. The one group that was totally committed to withdrawing Russia from the war was the Bolsheviks. They were small, but had a dynamic leader in Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov.’
    ‘Lenin,’ Kevin put in helpfully. The First World War was a subject that had always fascinated him. His great-uncle’s name was engraved on the Thiepval Memorial for those who had died in the Somme but whose bodies had never been found.
    ‘Exactly. Of course, the Germans were keen to take Russia out of the war so they could concentrate all their forces in the West. Through a German Social Democrat called Alexander Helphand, known to history by his pseudonym of Parvus, channels were opened up with Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Eventually, an agreement was made with the German Foreign Secretary, Arthur Zimmerman, in Berlin. The Germans would facilitate Lenin’s journey across their country from Switzerland to the Baltic coast, where he and his followers could then travel on their own through neutral Sweden and on to Finland and then Petrograd.’
    ‘Where’s Petrograd?’ asked Anita.
    ‘Saint Petersburg. The name was changed in 1914 to get rid of the German “burg”. Anyway, the Germans backed up the transport of these revolutionaries with huge amounts of money for the Bolshevik cause to allow them to make an impact on their return to Russia. It was ironic that an absolute monarch like the Kaiser was bankrolling a communist venture. Anyway, a train was arranged to take Lenin and about thirty companions.’
    Kevin asked: ‘Couldn’t Lenin have gone through France and reached Russia via England to Scandinavia? Wouldn’t it have been safer through the Allied