Blue Blue Eyes: Crime Novel (3 page)

”I’ve finished here and have taken all the pictures I’ll need. How long do you need before I can send a car to pick up the corpse?”

Maria and Stavros looked at each other.

”Give us five, six hours” Maria said. ”I’ll call when we are getting close to finish and meanwhile you could prepare the forensics in Nicosia. I really hope that Neo will take time to do this autopsy. He is the most competent of them all. And handsome as well”, Maria admitted and winked.

Stavros and Maria worked systematically and finely combed through every square millimetre of the crime scene. They wrote numbers on all the bags of evidence and put them in their shoulder bags. The sweat was pouring down her back while Maria was trying to process three different shoe prints. She could swear one of the prints belonged to Carlos.

”Unfortunately I can’t find any documents”, Stavros said with his calm, deep voice. He had searched through the victim’s clothes twice. ”No mobile phone either, just a pair of broken reading glasses and in the front of the shorts there was a gold coloured key with the letters LXCVP.”

”He doesn’t have any visible tattoos or an unusual birth mark?”

Stavros shook his head. ”Not that I can see, let’s see what Neo finds out when he takes care of the body. I did find a golden ring on the victim’s left ring-finger, but unfortunately there was no inscription inside. Isn’t that strange, as it does look like a wedding ring?” He continued scraping away blood from the victim’s head, smearing it on a thin sheet of glass.

Maria was crawling around looking for the smallest lead which could get them one step closer to know how and when the victim had died. Every little find could be decisive. Among other things she had found strands of hair, blood-spots and a few shoe prints. They had obtained the DNA from the victim and they had also found several different fingerprints. After another half an hour of working they dismantled the tent, collected their equipment and carried it all down to the car as they saw the ambulance approach.

Wednesday June 5th

”But how did you get rid of him?” Nikki was scratching her leg where there was a big red mosquito bite.

”As soon as we hung up he came back from the bathroom. I said that you were on your way to me and somehow I managed to mention you were with the police.” Charlie’s voice sounded thin. Almost fragile.

”Thank goodness. Did you manage to take a picture of him?”

Charlie audibly breathed in the phone. ”Sorry. It went so fast. All of a sudden he was gone and the next minute Goran was calling at the door.”

”Thank goodness he was close-by.” Nikki had a strong feeling that her earlier conversation with Charlie had been decisive. What would have happened if she had tried to reach her when they were still on the plane? Nikki shook the unpleasant feeling off, leant her head back and looked up at the stars.

”Goran drove me to Mum and Dad’s and I’ll stay here for a while. I still feel like shit and am a bit dizzy.”

Nikki didn’t really want to know if she had been raped but knew that she had to ask.

” What did the gynaecologist say?”

Charlie burst out crying and Nikki had her worst fears confirmed. Bloody pig.

In the evening Nikki and Patrik went to the fashionable restaurant Cicero. There were an enormous amount of lanterns with candles around the terrace and the dark sea was pounding the shore, reverberating through the restaurant. The blue and white checked table-cloths were swaying faintly in the evening breeze and on the table there was a small, glass oil-lamp spreading a comfortable glow around them. Patrik surprised Nikki by ordering mixed meze containing different small dishes with a mixture of meat, fish, shell-fish and vegetables. The waiter in tuxedo poured champagne into their flutes, put the bottle in the wine-cooler and left unobserved.

”Cheers.” Patrik smiled and expectantly raised his glass.

Nikki toasted and was enjoying the bubbly drink as she looked into Patrik’s warm eyes. She liked what she saw. His glittering eyes were shimmering in different blue shades and Nikki thought they were beautiful, even though she actually preferred dark, dangerous eyes. His blond, well-cut hair with a Tintin fringe and sideburns made him look younger than his 49 years. She appreciated the fact that he was fashionable. His red shorts fell well over the hips and the matching shirt sat like a glove over his broad shoulders and flat stomach. Nikki stretched out her slender arm and caressed his newly shaved cheek while he caught her hand and kissed it tenderly.

”What a place.” Nikki smiled and saw how Patrik’s eyes were reflected in the glow of the lamp.

”Mm, there’s something special about this restaurant. The food is supposed to be superb.”

”I’m really hungry and it will be wonderful to have some authentic Cypriot meze”, Nikki answered.

”By the way, I need to see my accountant tomorrow morning at ten. I hope it’s OK for you to be by yourself for a couple of hours?” Patrik well intentionally blinked with his long light eyelashes while he thought of the letter. The letter which had appeared at his office some months ago. The content had shocked him and he knew every single line by heart.

”Hello, my name is Anna Fransson. I’ve just found out that I have a father. A father whom I thought was dead while growing up. Twenty-eight years later my mother chooses to tell me the truth about you….”

Patrik had been so frightened he almost jumped out of his skin the first time he read the letter and then he had hidden it in the hope that it would go away by itself. A couple of days later he had read the letter over and over again until he knew it by heart. Naturally without mentioning it to anybody until he knew how to deal with the unpleasant situation. First of all he had to find out if it was at all true. That was one of Patrik’s plans while being in Cyprus. Anna had mentioned in the letter that she was working as a guide in Ayia Napa and Patrik had the intention of finding her without Nikki knowing about it. But what on earth would Linn say if it was true? And the kids? How would they receive a new big sister? Patrik buried the thought of his potential daughter and gave a start when he heard Nikki’s voice again.

”There is something bothering you.” Nikki leaned over the table and stroked his arm.

”Ah, it’s cool”, he answered and moved his gaze to the flickering flame.

”Sure?”

”But stop scrutinizing me like that, everything is cool”, Patrik assured in a tone which was a tiny bit too sharp.

”OK, I believe you”, Nikki said and leaned back in the chair. ”For me on the other hand it feels like shit that my sister’s been raped. Do you know what the worst thing is? That I’m not physically there with her. ”

”At least you’ve been talking to her several times during the day. And she knows you care.”

Nikki struck out her hands with resignation and then took her glass.

”Sure, and I’m bloody pleased she’s alive. We had some cases the other week-end that turned out completely different. How can it be a pleasure to drug a girl, just to grab the power and rape her? What kind of sick bastard is that?”

Patrik shrugged helplessly and then smiled when he saw a number of waiters approaching their table with trays filled with delicacies.

”Imagine Hogstrom giving you free time for a few days and with such short notice, it’s not like her.” Patrik changed the topic on purpose and happily put a piece of stifadon in his mouth. He wound one of his legs around Nikki’s under the table and rolled his eyes when he felt the flavours marrying each-other. Cinnamon, garlic, tomato, vinegar and the most tender lamb ever.

”It’s not strange at all”, Nikki countered. ”Hogstrom wanted me off the investigation”. She fidgeted, a little embarrassed, and continued with a friendlier tone of voice. ”Looking back I actually deserved being suspended, my first suspension ever.”

Patrik looked closely at Nikki and noticed how she was suffering. ”But was it really a suspension? Didn’t she just give you some free days?”

Nikki thought about it. Twisted and turned it all, as bad experience had taught her to do. ”No, I see it as a suspension.”

”But…don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ll see it will work itself out. ”

”Anyway, it fits perfectly since you had to go to Cyprus. What could be better than a change of scenery?” Nikki tried smiling but it seemed more like a forced grimace. ”Thanks once again for letting me tag along, but…” Nikki never finished the sentence but put her fringe behind her ear again and took a sip of the cooling champagne.

”What do you mean with but? Don’t you want to be here, or what?” Patrik frowned and put down his cutlery on the plate.

Nikki looked into the candle’s flame and all of sudden she looked troubled. Her face was shadowed with the bad conscience she always had when thinking of her childhood friend. Linn had no idea that Nikki was having an affair with Patrik. At least she thought so. For over a year she had been meeting him in secret. It all started with an innocent flirt at Patrik and Linn’s in Marstrand. Linn had a glass too much and gone to bed before the others. Nikki had worn a white, low-cut lace dress going well with her tanned skin and Patrik had carefully flirted with her, given her quiet compliments during the evening which nobody else could hear. Of course Nikki had always found Patrik attractive, but she had never imagined the barbecue to lead to this, or herself capable of it. Nikki was definitely not proud of having an affair with her best friend’s husband and she had planned to end it several times. But one meeting led to another and after a while, without knowing it, she was stuck. And while she herself had been enjoying the secret meetings, Linn had gone ever deeper into the wine bottles.

”You know what”, Nikki whispered seriously. ”You and I….” She hesitantly put her hand over Patrik’s and felt ridiculously false. How the hell could I accept this trip? Am I really so stupid? Obviously she grimaced while slowly shaking her head at her fatal mistake. ”This trip…I have to admit that it was a mistake on my side... I am sorry….I should have told you before but Cyprus sounded so tempting and fitted so perfectly that…” Nikki’s words were hanging in the air while she mustered up more courage to finish her sentence. ”I want us to end it. You have Linn and your children to consider and I don’t want to be the other woman any longer, even though it’s been perfect for me up to now. But no more…”

”Eh, what?” Patrik thought he had made a mistake and stared in surprise at Nikki. ”Over?”

Nikki hesitated a moment. ”I can’t have a bad conscience for Linn any more. I still want her in my life, as you can understand, she is my bloody best friend, or at least she was…” Nikki took another sip of the bubbly drink and hoped it would help her relax. ”In addition I’ll never find the love of my life if I have you.” Her heart felt like breaking but Nikki knew she could push that out by working. She took a deep breath to stay calm and then put an olive in her mouth.

Patrik wiped himself with the linen napkin before clapping his hands together and leaning over the table. ”You really mean that it’s over?” His cheeks went red and he got really angry. ”How the hell did you have the guts to follow me here when you knew your intentions?”

Nikki didn’t know what to reply but felt deeply ashamed. She didn’t know if it had been pure selfishness on her side to escape the workplace or if it was to have some last wonderful memories with Patrik. She actually didn’t know but Nikki could really understand his uneasy feeling.

”I am sorry. I wanted us to spend a few days together without having to do it in secret as always. I am sorry.” Nikki got up so suddenly that her chair turned over. The waiter quickly arrived and put it back in its place but she went to Patrik and crouched in front of him. ”You have to view it from my side as well. You have it all already. I’ve been single for many years with Axel and Gustav. I don’t want it to be this way anymore. I am 46 years old and haven’t dared let a single man into my life since Stefan. It’s about time I changed this pattern now.”

Patrik didn’t want to understand. He thought that he had found the perfect solution. ”When we land at Landvetter and I’ve dropped you off at the Aveny, we’ll not meet anymore?”

”Of course we’ll meet, but under different circumstances. What we’ve had has been wonderful but I need to go forward. Turn the tables. How would you have enjoyed being the other man?” Nikki stood up and returned to her seat on wobbly legs. She emptied her glass and felt how tired she was. The alcohol was affecting her more than she wished.

”I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it in that way.” With pressed lips Patrik grabbed her hand and squeezed it hard. They were both quiet for a while before Nikki continued:

”You should concentrate all your energy on Linn. She has to get the care she needs. At least for the sake of the kids. And for her of course, or rather for both of you.”

”Thanks a lot for giving me a bad conscience” Patrik spat and fixed his gaze on the star-filled heaven.

1975

The brothers, eight and ten years old respectively, looked at each-other with surprise and looked worriedly at their mother.

”But how will you get into the boat when we go fishing?” The younger brother wrinkled his freckled nose and looked like a living question mark.

”Boys, you’ll have to go fishing with Daddy from now on.” The brothers looked at each-other with open mouths.

”So you mean you’ll never go fishing again?”

The mother sadly shook her head and tied her scarf to hide the thin hair.

”Daddy will go with you instead. Come on now, let me have a rest and then I’ll prepare you some rhubarb compote. ”

It was the summer of 1975 when everything changed. The boys had to experience living with a mother who got more and more pain in her joints. She tried her best to keep it up in the presence of the boys but the kids were not stupid, they could figure it out and first and foremost they could see how she was hurting. But it wasn’t only the mother changing, something happened with the boys’ father as well. His look became deeper and the colour of his soul went black. The evil eye came to life during this summer.

The little brother pretended to be sleeping when the father stealthily came into the boys’ room on the second floor that star-filled night in June. The first time he didn’t understand what was happening and nicely waited for his turn in the bed. To be on your own with Daddy, could it get any better? The little eight-year old longingly had been thinking. Then little brothers chin had been shaking as he was lying there in his narrow, hard bed, alone and scared of the dark.

He didn’t understand why his stomach was like a hard knot and why his chest felt like lead. He didn’t quite know either what the father was doing with his big brother in the nights, but he had heard the sound. The moaning painful howls which were dampened by a sock in his mouth. Little brother closed his ears with his hands but the painful cries for help from his big brother were echoing in all of his thin body and head. He had even tried putting a pillow on either side of his head and hum loudly. It helped for a while before his memory had brought back the painful sounds from the white barn. The horrible thing always took place during the night. There was darkness and ghosts and then there was Daddy.

It was this summer that Daddy stopped sitting with the boys on his lap in the evenings to tell them stories from his childhood. And it was this summer that Big brother learned what pain and fear is all about. A ten-year-old little boy who was not allowed to remain a boy.