Henrik’s voice was hard. He took a deep breath to calm himself, repeating to himself that he had to keep his emotions from controlling the conversation; had to refrain from showing that he thought Axel was a disgrace to the entire police force.

“What did he want to talk about?” Henrik asked.

“I don’t remember,” Axel said and looked down at the table.

“So you admit that you talked to him?”

“No, I just meant...”

“Robin wanted to report an attack, isn’t that right?”

“Yes...” Axel said slowly.

“Robin wanted to report an attack. So he gave an account of all of the details to you, went home and the next day was found murdered in his apartment. Maybe his murder could have been prevented if an affidavit had been filed. But you never filed one, did you, Axel?”

“Now, that’s quite a stretch,” Peter Ramstedt said.

But Henrik wasn’t listening. He was looking at Axel, who now looked scared. But it wasn’t the same fear that he usually saw in those who were taken in for questioning. Axel wasn’t scared of the letter of the law; he was scared for his life.

“How did you know?” he asked quietly.

“We found a numbered ticket with the Police Authority’s logo on it in his apartment. The receptionist at the station confirmed that he had been there, and that he had talked with you.”

Axel’s eyes darted around.

“What did Robin want to tell you? And why did you conceal the affidavit?”

“Maybe I was wrong, but I didn’t think it was important. I didn’t think he seemed trustworthy.”

“So you just ignored it?”

“It doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“You know that it does. All interactions have to be documented. Why didn’t you document his visit?”

“In the first place, it wasn’t an attack. He had seen a man and a woman fighting, and I thought he had too little information to be of use...”

Henrik leaned forward and clasped his hands on the table.

“Do you recognize this woman?”

He laid out a picture of Pimnapat Pandith.

“No.” Axel shook his head, looking at the picture again. “No, no, no. Who is she?” he asked, looking at Henrik.

“I want you to tell me that,” Henrik said.

“But I have no idea!” he insisted.

The room fell silent. Axel looked down at his hands.

“Right now, we’re searching your apartment,” Henrik said. “We will probably find a whole lot of answers to our questions there. But what do you say, isn’t it better to tell us everything yourself? Come on now, let’s take everything from the beginning. So you have ‘storage’ at Garvaregatan 6?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO