At first he got teased in school, but he wanted it long.”
“His friends?” prompted Anna-Maria.
“I’d like to think the family were his closest friends. He and Sanna were very close. And he idolized the girls.”
“Sanna’s daughters?”
“Yes.”
"Kristina," said Sven-Erik.
Kristina Strandgård jumped.
“Is there anything you’d like to add? About Viktor,” he explained when she looked at him questioningly.
“What can I say,” she said uncertainly, glancing at her husband. “I haven’t really got anything to add. I think Olof described him perfectly.”
“Have you got an album of clippings about Viktor?” asked Anna-Maria. “I mean, he was in the papers quite a bit.”
“There,” said Kristina Strandgård, pointing. “That big brown album on the bottom shelf.”
“May I borrow it?” asked Anna-Maria, getting up and taking it off the shelf. “You’ll have it back as soon as possible.”
She held on to the album for a moment before putting it on the table in front of her. She was desperate to get another image of Viktor into her head, instead of the white lacerated body with its eyes gouged out.
“It would be very helpful if you could write down the names of people who knew him,” said Sven-Erik. “We’d like to talk to them.”
"It’ll be a very long list," said Olof Strandgård. "The entire population of Sweden knew him. And more."
"I mean those who knew him personally," said Sven-Erik patiently. "We’ll send somebody to pick up the list this evening. When was the last time you saw your son alive?"
“On Sunday evening, at the Songs of Praise Service in the church.”
“That would be the Sunday evening preceding the murder, then. Did you speak to him?”
Olof Strandgård shook his head sorrowfully.
“No, he was part of the intercession group, so he was busy all the time.”
“When was the last time you met and had time to talk?”
“On Friday afternoon, just about two days before—” Viktor’s father broke off and looked at his wife.
“—You’d cooked some food for him, Kristina; it was Friday, wasn’t it?”
“Definitely,” she replied. “The Miracle Conference was just starting. And I know he forgets to eat, always puts others before himself. So we went round to his house and filled up the freezer. He thought I was being a mother hen.”
“Did he seem worried about anything?” asked Sven-Erik. “Was anything bothering him?”
“No,” answered Olof.
“He obviously hadn’t eaten for some considerable time when he died,” said Anna-Maria. “Do you have any idea why that might be? Could it have been because he’d just forgotten to eat?”
“Presumably he was fasting,” replied his father.
I’ll need to find the bathroom in a minute, thought Anna-Maria.
“Fasting?” she asked, concentrating on not wanting to go. “Why?”
“Well,” said Olof Strandgård, “it says in the Bible that Jesus fasted for forty days in the desert and was tempted by the devil before He appeared in Galilee and chose the first disciples. And it says that the apostles prayed and fasted when they were choosing the elders for the first churches and handing them over to God. In the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah fasted before they received God’s revelations. Presumably Viktor felt that he had an important role during the Miracle Conference, and wanted to sharpen his concentration beforehand through fasting and prayer.”
“What is this Miracle Conference?” asked Sven-Erik.
“It started on Friday evening and finishes next Sunday evening. Seminars during the day, and services in the evenings. It’s all about miracles. Faith healing, wonders, prayers being answered, various spiritual gifts of grace. Wait a minute.”
Olof Strandgård got up and went out into the hall. After a while he came back with a shiny colorful folder in his hand. He passed it to Sven-Erik, who leaned toward Anna-Maria so that she could look at it.
It was an invitation in folded A4 format. The soft-focus pictures showed happy people with their hands raised. In one picture a laughing woman was holding up her child. In another, Viktor Strandgård was praying for a man who was on his knees, his hands raised toward heaven. Viktor’s index and middle fingers rested on the man’s forehead, and his eyes were closed. The text explained that the seminars would be dealing with topics including “You Have the Power to Demand That Your Prayers Are Answered,” “God Has Already Conquered Your Illness,” and “Release Your Spiritual Gifts of Grace.” There was also information about the evening services, where you could dance in the spirit, sing in the spirit, laugh in the spirit and see God work miracles in your own life and the lives of others. And all for four thousand