she’d be back by the afternoon meeting. Birgitta was also absent, since Philip Bergman’s parents had requested that she come over at eight A.M . They wanted to leave town and travel to their summer cabin to avoid the stream of reporters. Last night’s headlines had been huge. TWO WELL-KNOWN FINANCIERS KILLED ! and GOLDEN CALF MURDERED !
Kajsa had mentioned to Irene that the press often called Philip Bergman “the Golden Calf.” His name came from his phenomenal ability to attract investors without needing to lift a finger. Everyone had fought to have the chance to dance around the Golden Calf.
Andersson stood up. “OK, gang, let’s get going.” He turned in the doorway, “I’m in some stupid meeting this morning, but you can reach me after lunch.”
Andersson did not look particularly pleased as he made this announcement. He despised meetings. No matter what the proposed topic of the meeting was, they all boiled down to the same thing: trimming expenses and ruining a well-functioning organization. He’d been a policeman now for more than forty years and everything had been better before, if you asked him.
Irene started by skimming through the witness reports from Långedrag’s small harbor one more time. Three men and two teenagers had seen the same thing at eight P.M .: Thomas Bonetti speeding into the parking lot in his BMW. He’d parked and taken two duffel bags out of the trunk. One of the men remembered that Bonetti had been speaking on his cell phone as he’d gotten out of the car. The police were not able to trace the call. Grumbling loudly, Bonetti had lugged the bags to his boat. All of the witnesses had the impression that the larger bag had been extremely heavy. Once he’d lifted the duffel bags onto the boat, he got on board, started the motor, and cast off. The five witnesses had watched the boat until it disappeared out to sea.
Nothing in the five witness reports gave Irene anything more to go on. Too bad they hadn’t been able to trace the cell call.
The interviews with Bonetti’s parents hadn’t given them much, either. He’d only told them that he needed some peace and quiet to think things over. Neither of them had any idea what it was that Bonetti had to think over. At one point, Irene felt Antonio Bonetti was using an imperial tone when he’d said, “Thomas is involved with global business. In that realm, you can’t talk about what you’re working on. All great businessmen learn this fairly quickly. You only leak the information that you deliberately want to come out, and you make itseem as if it was given in extreme confidence. Since he didn’t tell us what he was up to, there was certainly something important going on.”
Well, getting ready to disappear off the face of the earth could certainly be classified as important
, Irene thought sarcastically.
And a great businessman?
As far as she was concerned, he was a swindler. She stopped her train of thought.
Didn’t Sanna also say that Philip Bergman was a great businessman? Did they actually take themselves for serious men of business?
There was one last witness. The same day that the police had made the disappearance known to the public, a woman had dialed 112 and reported that she wanted to speak to someone involved in the investigation. She had talked to an investigator Irene only knew by name. At the end of his report, he’d written his own comment: “The witness is slurring her words and is obviously intoxicated. Promised to contact her if we believe it will help the investigation.”
Nowhere in the material was any indication that the woman’s report had been followed up on.
Her name was Annika Hermansson. She was the nearest neighbor of the Bonetti summer cabin and recognized the boat as well as the sound of its motor. According to her report, the boat had passed her house at eight thirty P.M . and was tied up at the Bonetti dock. Ten minutes later, it started again, which surprised her and made her curious,
Kajsa had mentioned to Irene that the press often called Philip Bergman “the Golden Calf.” His name came from his phenomenal ability to attract investors without needing to lift a finger. Everyone had fought to have the chance to dance around the Golden Calf.
Andersson stood up. “OK, gang, let’s get going.” He turned in the doorway, “I’m in some stupid meeting this morning, but you can reach me after lunch.”
Andersson did not look particularly pleased as he made this announcement. He despised meetings. No matter what the proposed topic of the meeting was, they all boiled down to the same thing: trimming expenses and ruining a well-functioning organization. He’d been a policeman now for more than forty years and everything had been better before, if you asked him.
Irene started by skimming through the witness reports from Långedrag’s small harbor one more time. Three men and two teenagers had seen the same thing at eight P.M .: Thomas Bonetti speeding into the parking lot in his BMW. He’d parked and taken two duffel bags out of the trunk. One of the men remembered that Bonetti had been speaking on his cell phone as he’d gotten out of the car. The police were not able to trace the call. Grumbling loudly, Bonetti had lugged the bags to his boat. All of the witnesses had the impression that the larger bag had been extremely heavy. Once he’d lifted the duffel bags onto the boat, he got on board, started the motor, and cast off. The five witnesses had watched the boat until it disappeared out to sea.
Nothing in the five witness reports gave Irene anything more to go on. Too bad they hadn’t been able to trace the cell call.
The interviews with Bonetti’s parents hadn’t given them much, either. He’d only told them that he needed some peace and quiet to think things over. Neither of them had any idea what it was that Bonetti had to think over. At one point, Irene felt Antonio Bonetti was using an imperial tone when he’d said, “Thomas is involved with global business. In that realm, you can’t talk about what you’re working on. All great businessmen learn this fairly quickly. You only leak the information that you deliberately want to come out, and you make itseem as if it was given in extreme confidence. Since he didn’t tell us what he was up to, there was certainly something important going on.”
Well, getting ready to disappear off the face of the earth could certainly be classified as important
, Irene thought sarcastically.
And a great businessman?
As far as she was concerned, he was a swindler. She stopped her train of thought.
Didn’t Sanna also say that Philip Bergman was a great businessman? Did they actually take themselves for serious men of business?
There was one last witness. The same day that the police had made the disappearance known to the public, a woman had dialed 112 and reported that she wanted to speak to someone involved in the investigation. She had talked to an investigator Irene only knew by name. At the end of his report, he’d written his own comment: “The witness is slurring her words and is obviously intoxicated. Promised to contact her if we believe it will help the investigation.”
Nowhere in the material was any indication that the woman’s report had been followed up on.
Her name was Annika Hermansson. She was the nearest neighbor of the Bonetti summer cabin and recognized the boat as well as the sound of its motor. According to her report, the boat had passed her house at eight thirty P.M . and was tied up at the Bonetti dock. Ten minutes later, it started again, which surprised her and made her curious,
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