sake?’
Peder interrupted him.
‘When was this?’
‘A while before she went missing.’
‘How long?’
‘Three or four months.’
‘Did you use protection?’
Håkan squirmed. ‘I didn’t, but she did. She was on the pill.’
‘So she didn’t get pregnant?’ Alex asked.
‘No.’
Håkan refused to meet Alex’s gaze as he answered.
Was he lying?
‘Are you sure?’
A silent nod. Still no eye contact.
‘From a purely hypothetical point of view,’ Alex went on, ‘if she had got pregnant, what would you have done?’
At last, Håkan raised his head.
‘We’d have kept it, of course.’
‘Of course?’ Peder repeated. ‘You were both very young; no one would have blamed you if you’d decided on a termination.’
‘Out of the question,’ Håkan said. ‘It would never have happened. Abortion is murder if the child has been created within a loving relationship. I despise people who think differently.’
‘Did you and Rebecca agree on that?’
‘Of course we did.’
Håkan’s expression darkened and his voice grew hoarse.
‘We would have been excellent parents, if she’d lived.’
INTERVIEW WITH FREDRIKA BERGMAN, 02-05-2009, 15.30 (tape recording)
Present: Urban S, Roger M (interrogators one and two). Fredrika Bergman (witness).
Urban: So at that point you believed Håkan Nilsson to be the guilty party?
Fredrika: There were a number of indications to support that view. He had a motive and the personality traits that led us to believe he was capable of murder.
Roger: Had you discovered the link with the writer Thea Aldrin at that stage?
Fredrika: At that stage we barely knew who Thea Aldrin was; she still hadn’t come up in the investigation.
Urban: So you hadn’t identified the film club?
Fredrika: Absolutely not.
Roger: OK, back to Håkan Nilsson. What about his alibi?
Fredrika: It had been checked during the previous investigation and deemed valid. We reached the same conclusion. He had spent the whole evening at a social event for mentors and students, and witness statements confirmed that he had been there from five o’clock until midnight.
Urban: But you didn’t write him off completely?
Fredrika: No, definitely not. No alibi is one hundred per cent reliable.
Roger: How was Peder Rydh at this point?
Fredrika: I don’t understand the question.
Urban: Was he stable?
Fredrika: Yes. He was feeling better than he had for a long time.
Urban: So you’re saying that there were occasions when Peder Rydh had been feeling under par and had acted injudiciously?
(Silence.)
Roger: You must answer our questions, Fredrika.
Fredrika: Yes, there have been times when he was unstable.
Urban: And acted injudiciously?
Fredrika: And acted injudiciously. But as I said, he was in a good place throughout the investigation, and . . .
Roger: We’re not there yet. It’s too soon to talk about the investigation as a whole. We’ve only got as far as Håkan Nilsson.
(Silence.)
Urban: What happened next?
Fredrika: Next?
Urban: What happened after that first interview with Håkan Nilsson?
Fredrika: The team who were working on the scene of the crime called Alex. They’d found something else.
THURSDAY
7
As usual, morning coffee was served in a blue mug with her name on it. She couldn’t decide whether she found it childish or humiliating, or both. The nurse padded discreetly around her, setting out bread, butter and marmalade. A soft-boiled egg, a plain yoghurt. The nurse was new; she stuck out like a sore thumb. The new ones were always so stressed around Thea; sometimes, she would hear them whispering in the tiny kitchen area.
‘They say she hasn’t said a single word for nearly thirty years. She must be completely barking.’
As time went by it had become increasingly easy to ignore that kind of talk. It wasn’t the young people’s fault that they didn’t understand. They had no mechanism for understanding Thea’s story, nor were they under any obligation to do
Peder interrupted him.
‘When was this?’
‘A while before she went missing.’
‘How long?’
‘Three or four months.’
‘Did you use protection?’
Håkan squirmed. ‘I didn’t, but she did. She was on the pill.’
‘So she didn’t get pregnant?’ Alex asked.
‘No.’
Håkan refused to meet Alex’s gaze as he answered.
Was he lying?
‘Are you sure?’
A silent nod. Still no eye contact.
‘From a purely hypothetical point of view,’ Alex went on, ‘if she had got pregnant, what would you have done?’
At last, Håkan raised his head.
‘We’d have kept it, of course.’
‘Of course?’ Peder repeated. ‘You were both very young; no one would have blamed you if you’d decided on a termination.’
‘Out of the question,’ Håkan said. ‘It would never have happened. Abortion is murder if the child has been created within a loving relationship. I despise people who think differently.’
‘Did you and Rebecca agree on that?’
‘Of course we did.’
Håkan’s expression darkened and his voice grew hoarse.
‘We would have been excellent parents, if she’d lived.’
INTERVIEW WITH FREDRIKA BERGMAN, 02-05-2009, 15.30 (tape recording)
Present: Urban S, Roger M (interrogators one and two). Fredrika Bergman (witness).
Urban: So at that point you believed Håkan Nilsson to be the guilty party?
Fredrika: There were a number of indications to support that view. He had a motive and the personality traits that led us to believe he was capable of murder.
Roger: Had you discovered the link with the writer Thea Aldrin at that stage?
Fredrika: At that stage we barely knew who Thea Aldrin was; she still hadn’t come up in the investigation.
Urban: So you hadn’t identified the film club?
Fredrika: Absolutely not.
Roger: OK, back to Håkan Nilsson. What about his alibi?
Fredrika: It had been checked during the previous investigation and deemed valid. We reached the same conclusion. He had spent the whole evening at a social event for mentors and students, and witness statements confirmed that he had been there from five o’clock until midnight.
Urban: But you didn’t write him off completely?
Fredrika: No, definitely not. No alibi is one hundred per cent reliable.
Roger: How was Peder Rydh at this point?
Fredrika: I don’t understand the question.
Urban: Was he stable?
Fredrika: Yes. He was feeling better than he had for a long time.
Urban: So you’re saying that there were occasions when Peder Rydh had been feeling under par and had acted injudiciously?
(Silence.)
Roger: You must answer our questions, Fredrika.
Fredrika: Yes, there have been times when he was unstable.
Urban: And acted injudiciously?
Fredrika: And acted injudiciously. But as I said, he was in a good place throughout the investigation, and . . .
Roger: We’re not there yet. It’s too soon to talk about the investigation as a whole. We’ve only got as far as Håkan Nilsson.
(Silence.)
Urban: What happened next?
Fredrika: Next?
Urban: What happened after that first interview with Håkan Nilsson?
Fredrika: The team who were working on the scene of the crime called Alex. They’d found something else.
THURSDAY
7
As usual, morning coffee was served in a blue mug with her name on it. She couldn’t decide whether she found it childish or humiliating, or both. The nurse padded discreetly around her, setting out bread, butter and marmalade. A soft-boiled egg, a plain yoghurt. The nurse was new; she stuck out like a sore thumb. The new ones were always so stressed around Thea; sometimes, she would hear them whispering in the tiny kitchen area.
‘They say she hasn’t said a single word for nearly thirty years. She must be completely barking.’
As time went by it had become increasingly easy to ignore that kind of talk. It wasn’t the young people’s fault that they didn’t understand. They had no mechanism for understanding Thea’s story, nor were they under any obligation to do
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