“What do the police think happened?” she forced herself to ask.

Per looked at his watch.

“I’ll know that in ten minutes, and I’m sorry, but I really have to go now. I’ll talk to you later, okay? And I don’t mean in a few months.”

Jana nodded.

“Oh, and,” he said, pointing to her chest, “you have something on your shirt.”

Jana looked down and saw the green spot on her blouse. She wiped it with a napkin but it stubbornly remained.

Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

GUNNAR ÖHRN KNOCKED on the table with his pointer finger and looked at the team sitting before him in the conference room. Henrik, Mia, Ola and Anneli were all looking at him and the whiteboard on which he had written three points.

“It seems that...” Gunnar began before he was interrupted by Per Åström coming into the room.

Per made an apologetic gesture and sat down at the table.

Gunnar rubbed his hand over his hair. “It seems,” he said, “that someone we have yet to identify was able to, without any witnesses, enter the young man Robin Stenberg’s apartment and take his life. Judging from the injuries, the perpetrator used a knife, though no murder weapon has been found in the apartment or the surrounding area. But the technical investigation is still in progress.”

He flipped through the report on the table.

“The victim was found dead in his apartment this morning. The call came in at 8:34, and officer Gabriel Mellqvist arrived on the scene at 8:55. We have no leads at this time,” Gunnar said, looking up from his glasses.

“None at all?” Per asked.

“No,” said Anneli. “Not because the apartment had been cleaned, but because we still haven’t found any reliable trace of any other person. Whoever did this was a very methodical killer.”

“The perpetrator leaves the apartment and disappears without anyone having seen or heard anything,” Gunnar said. “There’s a cellar door to the building that could have been used as an escape route, but that assumes that the perpetrator had a key.”

“But is there anything that suggests that door was used?” Henrik asked.

“No, but as I said, the technical investigation is still in progress.”

“And what do we know about the victim?” Per asked.

“He was a student, taking some courses at the university here in Norrköping,” Henrik said.

“Does he have a record?” Per asked.

“Yes,” Henrik said. “Possession of a controlled substance.”

“And he lived in Navestad,” Mia said, “where we’ve had to straighten out a few things. They seem to have their own justice system.”

“Who are ‘they’?” Henrik asked.

“The gangs. Threats and extortion are routine out there. And you said yourself the victim may have known the perpetrator.”