“To me you can say anything whatsoever,” said Johansson with an authoritative expression. “It stays in this room, as you know.”
“So she knows Chief Inspector Söderberg well. He was the one who took care of the government and Palme, as I’m sure you recall. He’s always had an eye for my mother.” Who didn’t at that time? she thought.
“Of course,” said Johansson. “Who hasn’t? She’s an elegant woman, your mother. Though Söderberg has never really been himself since the murder of Palme,” he added. I guess it would be strange otherwise, he thought.
“He seems to have taken it extremely hard in the beginning,” said Mattei. “Although the last time I saw him, at my mom’s sixtieth birthday dinner by the way, he was lively and happy. So what happened when Palme was murdered he certainly remembers in detail.”
“Sounds good,” said Johansson. “That’s what we’ll do,” he said, nodding. “Say the word if there’s anything practical I can help you with.
“Oh, and there’s one more thing,” said Johansson, who was suddenly struck by a thought. “Which one of the old Palme investigators was it, by the way, who had the same good idea as I did?”
“I really can’t say that,” said Mattei, shaking her blond head unusually firmly. Good Lord, she thought.
“I’m still listening,” Johansson repeated.
“Not even to the boss,” Mattei persisted. “I’ve promised all of them anonymity. You can get a list of the ones I’ve interviewed, but I can’t go into what this one or that one said.”
“I understand,” said Johansson. “How’s Melander doing, by the way?” he added with an innocent expression. “We worked together at the bureau ages and ages ago.”
“Good,” said Mattei. “He said to say hello, by the way.” You didn’t manage that corner, she thought.
“I can imagine that,” said Johansson contentedly.
18
What does he really mean? thought Holt, when she had returned to her office the day before and started reading the papers Lewin had given her.
There was a total of ten pages, and at the top was a tip form that had been filled out on Saturday the first of March 1986, the day after the murder. That day a young woman succeeded in getting past the Stockholm police department’s seriously overloaded switchboard and evidently made such a strong impression on the officer who took the call that he asked her to come down to Kungsholmen so they could hold an interview with her.
The interview with the young woman, Madeleine Nilsson, born in 1964, took place at the duty desk on Kungsholmen late on Saturday evening. The interview was transcribed in summary and took up no more than one letter-size page. It had been done by an officer unknown to Holt, someone by the name of Andersson, who sent it on to the homicide squad for any follow-up and other actions.
“Nilsson states the following in summary. She spent Friday evening at a pub down on Vasagatan where she saw acquaintances with whom she had a beer. Nilsson does not remember the name of the place, but states that it is diagonally across from the Central Station in the direction of Kungsgatan.
“After her companions went their separate ways about 11:00 p.m. she made her way on foot in the direction of her residence at Döbelnsgatan 31. She took Kungsgatan in an easterly direction, crossed Sveavägen, and then took the stairs on the left side of Kungsgatan up to Malmskillnadsgatan. Then she continued on Malmskillnadsgatan and Döbelnsgatan north home to her residence where she arrived at about 11:30 p.m.
“About halfway up the stairs from Kungsgatan to Malmskillnadsgatan she encountered a solitary man walking at a rapid pace down the stairs toward Kungsgatan. Nilsson is uncertain about the time but thinks it was about 11:20.
“The man was about six feet tall, broad-shouldered, neither heavy nor thin. He gave the impression of being in good condition and did not seem intoxicated in any way. He had short dark hair, and Nilsson estimates his age at about 35-40. The man had no head covering, was dressed in a half-length dark coat or longer jacket with turned-up collar, plus dark pants (but not jeans). Information about his footwear is lacking. Nilsson cannot talk about his appearance in more detail as the man held his hand in front of his face, as if to blow his nose, as he passed her. At the same time she has a general impression that he was good-looking with regular features, dark eyes, and short dark hair.
“During the walk between the intersection of Sveavägen and Kungsgatan and her residence on Döbelnsgatan, she has not made any further observations of interest. She states in conclusion that according to her definite understanding it was calm in the city. She saw only a few people during the walk on Döbelnsgatan, and none of them acted strange in any way. When she was walking on Döbelnsgatan she encountered a police bus that drove in the direction of Malmskillnadsgatan. The bus was driving at a moderate speed and without flashing lights or sirens. She remembers this because they blinked the headlights at her.”
I see then, thought Holt. So far everything seemed well and good, apart from the fact that the investigation’s chain of witnesses had suddenly broken already at the second link. If this does add up, she thought.
Wednesday the fifth of March, the week after the murder, another interview had been held with Madeleine Nilsson at the homicide squad in Stockholm. A dialogue interview that was seven pages in transcript. The interview leader was also named Andersson, unknown to Holt, but judging by the first name a different Andersson than the one the witness had met at the duty desk a few days earlier, and with a completely different attitude toward her.
First she had to repeat the same story she had told a few days earlier. Then she was asked whether she could provide the name of the individuals she had been with at the pub on Vasagatan. She didn’t want to do that, and she didn’t want to talk about why either.
The subsequent questions were straight to the point and left no room for any doubt whatsoever as to what direction the interview had taken.
What had she really been up to down in City on Friday evening the twenty-eighth of February?
She’d been doing what she already said. Nothing more, nothing less.
Had she in reality been in the block around Malmskillnadsgatan to “pick up a john”?
Or to “buy a few downers”? Or maybe even a few “uppers”?
She did not even want to comment on this. She had been doing what she said. Nothing more, nothing less. She had called the police because she wanted to help them. If it was going to be like this, she didn’t want to cooperate anymore.
After a few more questions on the same theme, the interview was concluded. The handwritten notes that her interview leader made on the interview transcript also meant the end of witness Madeleine Nilsson.
“Witness Nilsson is not credible. Appears in the police record under five different sections (theft, fraud, shoplifting, narcotics offenses, etc.). Is a known addict and prostitute.”
The chief inspector at the homicide squad who reviewed the various witness statements specifically related to observations of the perpetrator drew the same conclusion about the value of her testimony. According to the photocopy of his decision to withdraw the witness’s statement from the file, the story lacked “relevance.” “It is most likely that the witness passed the scene before the murder of OP.”
His signature was completely legible, and Holt knew very well who he was. When she first starting working with the detective squad in Stockholm, a few years after the assassination of Palme, she had run into him on numerous occasions. One of the old legends at the homicide squad, Chief Inspector Fylking. Nowadays both retired and deceased.