stuffed the pieces into three suitcases. Then he threw the suitcases in a big Dumpster at a building site in the area.”
“Did it take a long time to catch him?”
“Four days. He drank like a pig after the murder and went crazy. He stood on his balcony and shouted, ‘I was the one who cut her up! I was the one who did it!’ After about an hour, the neighbors got tired of it and called us. It was just a matter of driving there and picking him up. He hadn’t even cleaned up properly in the bathroom and the hooker’s clothes were still lying on the floor.” Andersson chuckled at the memory. “But this is something else. Something much worse,” he said and suddenly became serious again.
“What do you mean?”
“To murder a human being and then take apart the body piece by piece like a . . . roasted chicken. It’s damned disgusting!”
“I agree with you. But we don’t know what happened yet. Is this a case of murder or of a necrophile who came across a body and dismembered it for the sake of excitement. . . .”
Irene stopped herself when she became aware of Andersson’s faint moaning.
“Goddamn it! Goddamn it!” he said emphatically.
Irene nodded and decided to drop the subject. Even if both Irene and her boss had worked with murders and murderers for many years, there were still some things that were worse than others.
B Y CHANCE Irene had happened to see the announcement in GP a week or so earlier: “Welcome to the Hair Center at Frölunda Torg! We’re now open until 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday evenings!” She had pounced on the phone and made an appointment. Finally a hairdresser who understood when people had time to do their hair! She had gotten an appointment at six thirty, which suited her. She would have time to make it home and walk Sammie first.
The twins had their own activities after school. Jenny was very musical and played both guitar and flute. She also sang in two choirs. Today, flute practice was on the schedule. Katarina had a good chance of winning this year’s Junior National Championship in judo since she had won the year before. Irene herself had become European Champion almost twenty years ago. At that time she was the only woman in Scandinavia who had a black belt, third dan.
Sammie was sitting just inside the door and welcomed her with big leaps of joy. That was the advantage of having a dog, thought Irene. It was happy no matter what time of day you came home.
She barely had time to take off her jacket before the phone rang.
“Irene Huss here.”
“Hi, Irene. This is Monika Lind. Do you remember me?”
It took a second for Irene to go through her memory bank to find Monika Lind, but she managed in the end.
“Of course. We were neighbors for a few years. But hasn’t it been four or five years since you moved to Trollhättan?”
“To Vänersborg. Five years ago.”
Monika Lind’s daughter, Isabell, was one year older than the twins. The girls had played together when they were younger, but when the Lind family moved all the way to Vänersborg the contact faded and finally stopped completely. Irene wondered what her former neighbor might want from her.
“It’s about Isabell. The police don’t care and I have to speak with a sensible police officer!”
Monika’s voice broke at the last sentence, and Irene realized, to her consternation, that Monika had begun to sob. Irene tried to use a calming tone of voice. “What is it that’s happened? Has Isabell gotten into trouble with the police?”
“No, but she’s gone! I’ve looked for her . . . but no one cares!”
Heavy weeping could be heard again.
“Monika, please. Try and start from the beginning.”
It was quiet for a while. Irene understood that Monika was making a real effort to calm down. She started speaking in a shaky voice. “Isabell started her second year in the social studies program in the fall. But she didn’t get on well. She has always had a hard time finding her place at high school. She won a beauty contest last summer and after that she wanted only one thing . . . to become a photo model. A photographer here in the city took some very nice pictures of her that cost a fortune . . . but she really wanted it.”
Monika Lind became silent again. Irene could hear her breathing and she knew how difficult