After an almost ten-minute run, two nautical miles from the harbor and even with the cape outside La Fortaleza, Esperanza corrected course twenty degrees port in the direction of the tip of Cap de Formentor. To port and starboard is land, the steep cliffs of north Mallorca, almost impossible to ascend from the sea. Straight ahead is only the sea. The same sea that awoke after a calm night and breathes with a slowly heaving swell. The sea. Esperanza. The sun quickly climbing up the pale blue wall of sky. The haze letting up. Then the sea under Esperanza. Just as deep as the spiny heights in the reflecting water. The keel, hull, plating, the five feet between that carries her over the deep below her. Alone on the sea. Esperanza, a beautiful boat with a beautiful name.
11
Seven weeks earlier, Wednesday, August 22.
Headquarters of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation on Kungsholmen in Stockholm
“Our colleague Flykt has a valid excuse,” said Johansson, smiling at Holt, Lewin, and Mattei. “He suddenly has a lot of tips to take care of.
“I thought you could start, Jan,” he continued. “Tell us ignorant people what happened that unfortunate Friday evening the twenty-eighth of February 1986.”
“I’ve written a little memo about it,” said Lewin with his obligatory, cautious throat clearing. “It’s in your e-mail. You have it in front of you too. I suggest we take ten minutes so you can all read it in peace and quiet.”
“Excellent,” said Johansson, getting up. “Then I can get coffee for us and take the opportunity to stretch my legs.”
Johansson seems pleased and satisfied, thought Holt. Suspiciously pleased and satisfied, she thought, taking Lewin’s memo out of the plastic folder in front of her. What’s this? she thought. Twenty pages of text plus another ten pages with some kind of index at the end. The latter listed almost two hundred individuals, with full names and social security numbers, each name accompanied by one or more reference numbers.
“The witnesses who were interviewed about the various sections as reported in my memo,” Lewin explained, having evidently noticed her wonder. “The numbers reference the interviews in the Palme material where the information is reported.”
“I see,” said Holt and nodded. What’s wrong with Jan? she thought. He’s not the type who tries to call attention to himself. Pull yourself together, Anna, she thought, starting to read.
“Prime Minister Olof Palme (hereafter designated OP) left his office in the government building Rosenbad (address Rosenbad 4) approx. 18:15 on Friday, February 28, 1986. As far as is known-no information of a different import has been reported in the investigation-he walked the shortest route home to his residence at Västerlånggatan 31 in Old Town.
“OP passes through the main entry to Rosenbad, turns left down to Strömgatan approx. 55 yards, then turns left up Strömgatan to Riksbron approx. 66 yards. After that OP turns right and, on foot, passes Riksbron, Riksgatan, and the bridge across Stallkanalen up to Mynttorget, a total of approx. 220 yards. From Mynttorget OP continues up Västerlånggatan in a southerly direction, approx. 270 yards. He arrives at his residence about 18:30 or right before that. The total walking distance of just over 650 yards corresponds to an approx. ten-minute walk at a normal pace, and this time period is thus compatible with the times and other circumstances as stated above.
“OP walked home alone and does not appear to have spoken, or had other contacts, with anyone during that time. Right before 12:00 the same day he explained to his bodyguards that he would not need them anymore that Friday. His two bodyguards state in interviews that he told them he was going to spend the afternoon at his office and the evening and night in his residence together with his wife, Lisbeth Palme (hereafter designated LP), and that therefore he would not need them anymore that Friday.
“One of the bodyguards then contacted his immediate superior at the secret police bodyguard squad by telephone, who in an interview states that he, ‘based on what the surveillance object himself stated, ordered them to suspend guarding for the remainder of the day.’”
Classic Lewin, thought Lisa Mattei. Jan Lewin-hereafter designated JL-she thought, and to cover her smile she held her right hand over her chin and mouth in a meditative gesture before she turned the page and continued reading. Lewin hadn’t noticed. He seemed completely absorbed in his own text.
“OP spent the time between approx. 18:30 and right after 20:30 in his residence together with his wife, LP. No other persons were present or visited them during that time. OP spoke on the phone with three individuals, party secretary Bo Toresson, former cabinet minister Sven Aspling, and his son Mårten Palme (hereafter designated MP), and had dinner with his wife, LP. It was also during this time period that the Palmes decided to go to the cinema that same evening. After the conversation with MP it was decided together with MP and his then girlfriend (later wife) to see the film The Mozart Brothers (directed by Suzanne Osten) at the Grand cinema on Sveavägen, situated approx. 350 yards northwest of the scene of the crime at the intersection of Sveavägen and Tunnelgatan. This decision was only made at approx. 20:00 according to what has emerged in the interviews with LP and MP.
“Right after 20:30 OP and LP leave their residence on Västerlånggatan in order to go on foot to the subway station in Old Town. OP and LP turn left on Västerlånggatan and then right on Yxsmedsgränd. The total walking distance between the residence and the stairs down to the subway station is approx. 275 yards, and the estimated time expenditure approx. three-four minutes…”
It must be angst, thought Holt. Only strong inner anxiety can explain this manic interest in details. She was forced to change her way of reading. A whole page of text and our victim isn’t even on the subway in Old Town yet, and damn you, Jan Lewin, she thought. Then in six short sentences she summarized a full two pages of Jan Lewin and located the Palmes in their seats at the Grand.
“Gets on the subway in Old Town approx. 20:40. Rides three stations and gets off at Rådmansgatan approx. 20:50. Enters the cinema right before 21:00. Talks with their son and his fiancée. OP buys tickets for him and LP. In their seats in the theater approx. 21:10,” Holt noted on the back of one of Lewin’s many papers.
“The screening was over right after eleven o’clock, and once they were out on the street the prime minister and his wife talked with their son and his girlfriend for a few minutes. Then they went their separate ways. The Palmes in the direction south toward the city center on the west side of Sveavägen and now the time is approximately a quarter past eleven. The temperature is twenty degrees Fahrenheit, wind speed of six to seven meters per second, and many people are moving about. A number of witnesses observed the prime minister and his wife. They walk at a rapid pace, side by side, he on her left side, closest to the street. At Adolf Fredriks Kyrkogata, the cross street before Tunnelgatan, they cross to the other side of Sveavägen. Stop a minute or two at a display window and then continue in the direction of the city center. This side of the street is deserted for the most part.
“As they pass the intersection to Tunnelgatan, with only a few yards left to the stairs down to the subway, the perpetrator suddenly appears behind their backs. He raises his weapon, and with only a few inches between the mouth of the barrel and his victim he fires the first shot at Olof Palme. It hits him in the middle of his back, at the level of his shoulder blades, and the prime minister falls headlong onto the sidewalk. His wife sees him suddenly lying there, looks at him, the murderer fires his second shot at her just as she twists her body and sinks down to her knees beside her husband.