Blue Blue Eyes: Crime Novel by Helena Anderson Page B

care of it.”Displeased, Katerina looked at the wet shoe-prints since she knew that she would be the one doing the scrubbing.
    ”Do what?” Sam chimed when he passed the reception with a bunch of papers in his hand. His aftershave left a spicy scent and he was completely unaware of the effect he had on the opposite sex.
    ”I’ll check if there’s somebody who has been reported missing who fits the description of the victim they found in the dam today. You’ll hear more at the briefing I suppose.”
    ”Gather in the conference room in two seconds”, Carlos shouted when he came out of his office. Thoughtfully he lit a cigarette in the reception and continued out to the shade in the backyard. Two murders in just a few days. We haven’t bloody had a murder for I don’t know how long. Why right here and now? Carlos inhaled a final time dropped the cigarette and put it out with the heel of his high, black boot. He left the butt as usual in the grey dusty gravel before going in to the reception again.
    ”Will you bring in coffee, tea and something to go with it”, he said making it sound more like an order than a request. ”We need new energy in there.” The Chief took out his old embroidered handkerchief and wiped off the sweat from his forehead for the umpteenth time before realizing he had actually blown his nose in it by the dam. Disgustedly he put the handkerchief back in the pocket of his trousers and made a mental note to change it as soon as he got home.
    The Chief of Police groaned when he felt the sweat pouring down his fat back. He pulled at the blue uniform shirt to get in some air, but it was so tight it didn’t make any difference. With heavy steps he went into the conference room.
    ”What the hell, has nobody put on the air conditioning?” Angrily he grabbed the remote control which was hanging on the bare wall inside the door, put it on fifteen degrees and pulled the door shut with a bang.
    ”Has something happened, or what?”
    Carlos furiously stared at Sam and Daphne. ”You can damn say that. This bloody heat is killing me and none of you had sense enough to put on the air conditioning in there either.” Carlos opened his uniform shirt at the neck and grunted loudly.
    ”Maybe you could have thought of that yourself since it’s you making the rules about how we should use electricity in this house. I quote: The air conditioner can only be on when we are in the conference room.” Ostentatiously they opened the brown stained laminate door and went in to sit down by the oval conference table.
    ”If I decide to save on electricity it will be valid until I say something else. Understood?” Drenched with sweat Carlos went up to the new white board shining clean and white on the greyish wall. ”OK, let’s focus. Two bodies the same week. Some spontaneous thoughts, Daphne?”
    ”Apart from the eyes both bodies seem to have been tortured. Sten Arvidsson was filled with concrete, had some fingers broken and was also missing a finger. Today’s victim had a rope around his feet and some broken fingers. I think the missing eyes and the burn-marks on the bodies indicate the same offender.” Daphne poured some tea in her mug and put a ripe grape in her mouth.
    ”What else do we have then?” Carlos turned to Sam with the pen raised.
    Sam thought about the question and shook his head before answering:
    ”I actually can’t think of anything else they have in common. We know that Sten Arvidsson was from Sweden, maybe today’s victim is also Swedish.” He took a sip from his coffee mug and continued thinking.
    Carlos took off the lid on the red felt-pen, put up a picture of Sten Arvidsson, wrote his name on the left side and victim unknown to the right. He continued stacking cause of death, relations, professions, next of kin and known facts under each name. Then he took a step back and looked at the board.
    ”What other known facts have we got?” Carlos scratched his ear, analyzed the bright