forth on his feet. “I had to move here last week, when my girlfriend threw me out. It was her apartment,” he said morosely.
“So now you live here. What kind of work do you do?”
“Collect unemployment. Out-of-work painter.”
“Well, Daniel, we need to speak to Robert in private. Do you have any objection to taking a little walk?”
Daniel gave a start and then straightened up. His eyes narrowed as he snarled, “I sure do! No witnesses, huh? So you can work him over and make him confess to anything!”
Irene and Tommy sighed at the same time. In an exaggerated pedagogical tone Tommy said, “My dear Daniel, you really ought to stop watching those American movies. We just want to talk to your brother. He’s an important witness in a very serious case that we’re investigating.”
A gleam of curiosity appeared in Daniel’s suspicious gray eyes. Obviously he had no idea what it was all about.
Tommy continued, “Another option is that we take him downtown and question him there.”
“You can’t do that!”
“Yes, we can.”
Uncertainly the brothers looked at each other. Robert nodded and motioned with his head toward the door. Daniel gave up. He took his jacket from the coat hook, put on a cap, stuffed his feet in a pair of heavy jogging shoes, and went out. The look he sent over his shoulders was brimming with distrust.
Irene turned to Robert Skytter.
“How old is your brother?”
“Eighteen.”
“Eighteen years old, and already living with a girl?”
“It didn’t even last two months.”
“Why doesn’t he move back home to Mamma, then?”
“He doesn’t get along with Mamma’s new man. So that’s why he moved in with me last week. But I’m trying to find him a small apartment somewhere. Although he probably can’t afford it.”
“So it was because of him that you and Charlotte chose to meet at her house?”
Robert’s gaze wandered, and then he turned abruptly to lead the way down the narrow corridor and into a small living room, furnished with “Balder” the sofa, “Runar” the coffee table, and “Diplomat” the bookshelf. Irene recognized them from her studies in home decorating: the ’96 IKEA catalog.
Robert motioned them to the sofa. He chose “Tobbe,” the armchair, for himself. But he got up just as quickly and asked nervously, “Would you like something to drink? Ramlösa? Light beer? Strong beer?”
“Ramlösa, thanks.”
“A light beer, thanks.”
He vanished down the hallway and into the kitchen. They could hear him clinking bottles and glasses. Through a half-open door Irene glimpsed an unmade bed. Two rooms and a kitchen. And his little brother. That was Robert Skytter’s living situation for the present. Not great for inviting over his married lover from Örgryte. Again the familiar “why” popped up in her mind. Why did Charlotte need this sweet little boytoy? The object in question appeared with bottles and glasses in a precarious grip. Robert set his burden down on the table before he began to speak uncertainly and tentatively.
“So you were the ones at Charlotte’s house this morning?”
Irene nodded. “It was after ten o’clock. Yes, it was us.”
“It’s like you said. There’s not enough room here, and with Daniel ... you know.”
“Was it Charlotte who wanted you to come to her house?”
He looked down at the table and then nodded.
“How long have you and Charlotte been together?”
He looked up and seemed genuinely surprised. “We’re not together! Well, okay. Last night.”
“You’ve never slept with each other before?”
Now his hands were shaking and he picked sulkily at the label on his beer. Tommy repeated the question. Finally he said, extremely reluctantly, “I’ve already told you what happened last week when she picked up the car. What is she accused of, anyway?”
“She’s not accused of anything. Possibly suspected of giving incorrect information regarding the murder of Richard von Knecht. We don’t know for sure yet. That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Tommy said in his best police tone of voice.
Irene decided to bring up what had been nagging at her subconscious. Jonny’s flat tire had brought it to the surface. Sternly she said, “Robert, nobody ever cares about checking the spare tire. Nobody! Least of all Charlotte. What actually happened?”
Tommy looked very serious and stared right into Robert’s eyes before he added, “Robert, if you lied about what happened that Tuesday afternoon, then you can be indicted for abetting a criminal. That can result in several years in prison. Is she worth it?”
Robert kept picking at the beer label and seemed completely absorbed by its artistic design. He swallowed several times before he replied. “She’s