”Of course”, Sam said and took the folded paper out of his back pocket.
”I also think that Nikki and I have to visit the accountant again. Keep us updated please if you find out something important.” Daphne had to shout the last sentence to overpower the bike’s noise.
With a sinking feeling Nikki stood under the parking’s magnificent tree, eating figs matured in the sun. The sweet flavour melted in her mouth and without wanting to she came to think of her mother’s delicious fig dessert. She hadn’t heard from Linn all day. Should she be worried? Nikki didn’t think there was any danger, after all she had been in her very best mood so far. And as she herself had said, she wanted to participate in her husband’s disappearance.
Thursday June 13th
Nikki fanned the notebook in front of her face but it didn’t help much since the breeze was hot. Her hair on her neck was damp despite the fact that she had tied it up on top of her head in a ponytail. She had always been fascinated by flowers and well kept gardens and the Hofvenskold family’s garden was really something above the normal. Even if she loved beautiful gardens she would never waste her life by standing with her bottom up weeding the flower beds. Life was too short for that. She’d rather stay with her face to the sun, reading a good book or looking through a magazine on cooking. While Nikki went around sniffing the different spice plants Daphne put her finger on the Hofvenskold family’s doorbell. A pleasant ringtone sounded both through the walls and outside. It took only a few seconds before the massive door was opened. Barbro stared at the two detectives with a suffering expression without saying anything.
”Sorry for bothering you but I promise this will not take too much time. We just have a few questions which we need answers to.” Nikki gave the elegant woman an exaggerated big smile.
With slight hesitation Barbro nodded and took a step back to allow them to come in. Once again she showed took them to the back of the house and politely asked them to sit in the hacienda.
”It’s calm and quiet here”, Nikki started carefully and looked around.
”Yes, Anders and Therese took a trip to Coral Beach for a dip. You know the pool is not that cool now when it’s so hot outside.” Barbro sounded tired and worn. Even her dress seemed to need changing. Nikki looked with sympathy at the woman in front of her. It couldn’t be easy for the family. Nikki noticed how Barbro poured ice water in the glasses before looking down to the beach which reminded her of Tofta Strand in Gotland. There were many people swimming in the shimmering sea. Nikki thought that the people so far away looked like a big group of seals. She smiled inside and once again focused.
”You and Olof Stenvall. What kind of relationship do you actually have?” She studied the old woman carefully and saw how Barbro stiffened.
”What do you mean?” Barbro’s surprised face showed that this was a question she had not expected at all. She thought the question was already finished.
”Answer the question.” Nikki’s voice sounded harsher than she had wanted and she compensated this with a warm smile.
The old woman quickly put her hand over her mouth and her eyes started darting here and there. There was a rustling on her thin wrist when all the bracelets moved along and Nikki knew that they were worth a large fortune. Barbro opened her mouth to say something but just as quick as she had opened it her mouth became a straight line again. She swallowed and swallowed and then took a sip of the water.
”As I told you on the phone Olof is...he is the chairman of Mountain Hills where I and my husband are members or were or I am but Karl...well you get my point.” She quietly turned around and sadly looked out over the colourful garden.
”Sorry, but can you then explain why Olof has called you so many times lately? What I mean is…it’s not just once or twice but frequently.”
”He has?”
”You know that very well.” Nikki smiled with her whole face but then put on a more serious face.
Barbro put her hands together and once again turned her gaze away. Her cheeks were flushed and her chin was trembling slightly.
”Olof is a very caring man and has only been in touch for one reason.” She paused and worriedly turned her diamond studded wedding rings. Then she made an extra effort and finished her sentence. ”To find out how I was doing considering the circumstances.”
”So you want me to believe that he called you, some days three or four times, to ask how you were doing?”
”You don’t know Olof.” Barbro made a gesture with her hands and her voice became shrill. ”You can’t find a more warm-hearted person.”
Nikki almost burst out laughing and wondered if she really had got it right.
”That’s unfortunately not my impression of him.”
”Ah, he is only pretending. But if you get inside his shell he is a good person. Humorous, talkative and sociable.” Her sad eyes had been replaced by a little shimmer and she smiled a little.
Nikki’s eyes narrowed, she didn’t really know what to think. ”But why was Olof worried about how you were doing? I mean, he has called you a lot since your husband died.”
Barbro sighed deeply. ”I got dizzy. Fainted on the green last time Karl and I were out playing golf.”
Nikki argued with Barbro for another fifteen minutes without getting any more information about Olof Stenvall’s behaviour. However much she tried Barbro only showed herself as a fragile and clumsy person. The detectives finally chose to leave the house with a feeling that the whole truth had not come out.
There was a lot of traffic going in to the Old Town. By the large parking lot next to the fruit market they saw how Sam and Maria were standing gesturing wildly next to the all too familiar red rental car. Daphne backed the police car up next to Sam’s motorbike, jumped out of the Land Rover and went up to kiss her cousin on the cheeks in greeting. With a heavy lump in her stomach Nikki crept under the tape and went up to the rental car and noticed that the window on the driver’s side had been smashed in. Splinters of glass were covering the ground under the car door like a blanket. Different memories of Patrik quickly flooded back to her and she felt dizzy. With unsteady legs she leaned against the car with tears in her eyes.
”How are you doing?” Sam looked down at Nikki and carefully put a hand on her bare shoulder.
”Ah, never mind me.” Nikki tried smiling behind her tearful eyes. ”Patrik and I are very close friends and the only thing I want is for us to find him. For the sake of his family. They need him a lot right now.” And me too, Nikki thought and dried a tear which had found its way down to the left side of her mouth.
Sam gave her an understanding look and hugged Nikki. They were standing close to each-other for a while. Nikki felt the masculine scent of her colleague and leaned her head tiredly against his shoulder. He carefully put a hand on her cheek and Nikki met Sam’s friendly dark eyes when she finally looked up.
”We’ll find him.” Sam’s voice was decisive and he gave her a hopeful smile.
”Thanks.” Nikki tried smiling but it only worked a bit. She didn’t want to do anything else but to stay in his big safe embrace but then she noticed that Daphne and Maria were looking at them in wonder. They obviously thought that she had some interest in the most handsome detective in town, but oh were they wrong.
Around the rental car there was a group of curious people. Sam tried answering all their questions patiently before he kindly but firmly asked them to leave. Nikki knew that she should tell Maria that they would find her fingerprints in the car but didn’t quite know how to say it. Filled with anguish she hesitatingly went up to the technician and asked to speak to her.
”I’ll get straight to the point. My fingerprints are in this car. Patrik and I rented the car together at Larnaca airport.” Nikki felt caught out and knew that her face gave her away. But she had to ignore that. Finding Patrik well was the most important thing right now.
Maria nodded in understanding. She wrote down Nikki’s words and didn’t show at all what she actually thought about the information. Then she thanked her and went back to Stavros and the red Mercedes.
”What do you think, should we go to Petros again and question him?”
Daphne opened a button on her uniform blouse and smiled inquiringly at Nikki. ”Couldn’t we take Maria with us so she could take his DNA?”
”Sounds like a brilliant suggestion”, Nikki said with a satisfied smile on her face.
Nikki, Daphne and Maria slowly walked up the old stone steps to Petros’ elegant office. On the last step Maria stopped and looked a bit sceptical.
”Just a thought. But isn’t Patrik’s car a bit close to Petros’ office?”
Nikki felt her pulse increase. ”But what if that’s why he was going to Pafos last Saturday, to meet up with Petros again. Then something at the meeting went wrong…”
”Good observation Maria”, Daphne interrupted and felt proud of her cousin.
”The car is still here but Patrik has been swallowed up by the earth. Do you think Petros has something to do with his disappearance?” Daphne asked and looked at both of them.
Nikki couldn’t bear speculating anymore. It hurt her soul too much. Shrugging she rang the door bell instead. Maybe the truth was there inside?
Petros’ well dressed secretary opened and welcomed them in with a stern look. They were just about to sit down on the leather couches when the accountant came into the reception. He was dressed in a fancy black suit and looked as though he’d just had a hair-cut.
”So, what do you want this time?” he looked bothered and put one arm to the side.
”We just have a few questions we need to ask and this is Maria from Forensics. She will take your DNA”, Nikki explained while smiling sweetly.
Petros stiffened. He was completely stunned by Nikki’s reply. ”DNA? Am I suspected of something?”
”Absolutely not. We just need to exclude you from the investigation.”
”I’m sorry but I don’t quite follow. What investigation?” Nikki signed to Maria who opened her bag and took out a test tube with sterile cotton buds.
”Hang on a minute, I haven’t actually accepted giving my DNA yet?” Petros looked scared and defended himself with his hands in front of his face.
”Not necessary”, Nikki said in a firm voice and showed him a paper. ”We have the permission from the attorney here.” Nikki hoped the accountant wouldn’t see through her. Since the paper was the call list from Olof Stenvall’s mobile.
Petros stiffened like a statue and his gaze froze at some point in space. Nikki could see how his thoughts were whirling around in the little man’s brain. Maria took the opportunity to approach the accountant and pinched his chin decisively. Automatically he opened his mouth like a school boy while she smeared the cotton bud along his cheek and throat. A minute later she was satisfied and disappeared out of the door again.
”OK then. Could we ask a few questions in your office please?” Nikki took Petros under the arm and started going with him down the corridor. Daphne, baffled, followed after them with her mouth wide open and surprised at her colleague’s frankness. They went into the well kept room and Nikki could recognize the scents from their last visit. Luxurious man’s perfume mixed with smoke. Petros had collected himself together and pulled out the elegant office chair and hung his jacket over the back of it. He asked the women to have a seat in the black visitors’ armchairs while he lit a cigarette.
”Do you own a Can-Am?” Daphne asked while opening her notebook.
”No, why?” Petros looked cool and inhaled deeply.
Daphne looked at Nikki before replying. ”Maybe these names mean something to you instead. Sten Arvidsson and Karl Hofvenskold?” Petros turned his head and looked Daphne in the eyes. He pushed his hand through the toupee and put the cigarette in his mouth.
”They are my clients, why?”
”Two of your clients are dead and one is missing. Don’t you think that’s an unusual coincidence?”
”I have hundreds of clients so if…who are dead you said?” Petros looked in surprise at Daphne and leaned over the black desk.
”Sten Arvidsson and Karl Hofvenskold”, Daphne curtly replied.
A change in Petros’ face passed by like a shadow and Nikki only just about noticed it. He flicked off some ash and was quiet for a long time.
”Dead? But what does that have to do with me after all?” He smoked nervously and drummed with a few fingers on the armrest.
”We thought maybe you could tell us.”
”Me...why should I know anything about their deaths?” His tone was dry and full of contempt.
”We could think it’s a strange coincidence that Patrik Kroona simply has vanished and that two of your Swedish clients are dead.” Nikki snapped her fingers and she was tired of Petros’ attitude. She only wished for him to make a mistake but he was hard as flint and carefully chose what to say. ”You don’t happen to know where Patrik is?” The same change again. Just for a second but Nikki noticed it.
Petros laughed a mirthless laughter and stumped out his cigarette hard in the ashtray. ”Are you joking with me now or what? Why should I know where he is?”
”Now you listen bloody carefully Petros. This is no game, believe me. My gut tells me you are hiding something.” Nikki would have preferred to shake the accountant but knew that it was a bad idea. She had to control herself and swallowed hard. ”We need your alibi for these days.” Nikki told him the three dates and times when the three victims had been murdered but didn’t have much hope that the little man would co-operate.
”But are you out of your minds, how can I remember that?” Petros was upset and sank back into the chair.
”Start by looking at your calendar, the one in front of you maybe?” Daphne sarcastically suggested.
With cold sweat on his face Petros started turning the calendar back to the preceding week. ”Let’s see…last Saturday I was in Limassol the whole day, busy with clients. In the evening I had dinner. I came home at around eleven and went straight to bed.
”Could anybody verify this?” Daphne asked and jotted down the answers in her notebook.