”Well, I’ve spoken to the Post office. Sten Arvidsson is forwarding his mail”, Anja said when coming into the kitchen. ”To Cyprus, apparently since April 4th this year.”
”Well, well. Then he was up to something down there, something which cost him his life.” Goran was twisting his goatee between his fingers while humming noisily.
”The mail is being forwarded to Coral Bay. Here’s the address. I also printed out a picture from Google Maps so you know where Coral Bay is.” Anja tore out the leaf from her notepad and gave it to Fredrik.
”Thank you” Hogstrom said stiffly. ”Could you please fax all this information to the police in Cyprus? I’m not so sure they know he’s got an address there.”
Friday June 7th
Nikki took a deep breath, grabbed the white towel and dried the sweat away from her bright red face. She left the towel around her shoulders while taking off the black training gloves.
”Thanks for the round.” Nikki was panting heavily and took some cooling swigs from her sports bottle.
”Don’t mention it”, Rick, also panting, replied and took off his wet training vest. ”It was fun having some company.”
Nikki followed a drop of sweat running from his broad neck, down over his athletic, bare chest and on to the quite visible six pack. It was almost impossible tearing her eyes away from him. Rick’s body was really well-trained.
”It’s been some time since I did tabata intervals, I could really feel it.” Nikki put her trainers in the beach bag and stuck her feet in the sandals instead.
”I didn’t notice”, Rick said and gulped down the rest of the drink in his water bottle.
”You’re really well trained. What rounds do you usually do?”
”Mixed. Quite a lot of Krav Maga and then I work with my personal trainer a few days a week.” She took a bite of the banana and dried off some sweat with her towel.
”Krav Maga? Do you really do that? I’m a Krav Maga instructor here at Pafos.” Rick was smiling widely with his whole face and saw how surprised Nikki was. He pulled the towel over his blond hair and sat down on the bench.
”What, is that really true? How long have you been training?”
”I started when I was 16 and have been an instructor for the past five years.”
”Cool. The best practice ever, right?”
”There’s nothing better.”
They continued speaking for a while with the same intensity about their shared interests in training and then Nikki picked up the bag from the floor and put it over her shoulder.
”As I said, nice training with you but now I’m longing for a much needed shower.”
”You’re welcome to come and train with us some time.” Rick ran ahead of Nikki and got a business card from the reception. ”Take my card, here’s the address to the club and my phone number.”
”Thanks, I’d love to but unfortunately I’m going home this week-end.”
”That’s a pity”, Rick disappointedly replied.
Nikki looked into his strong cornflower coloured eyes and gave him a sparkling smile as an answer.
The night was warm and Nikki slowly walked back to her hotel. The palm trees were swaying slowly in the sea breeze and the sun was about to set in the shimmering sea. She stopped, enjoying the serenity for a while, looking out over the bay. The sky was painted in different shades of purple and she noticed how there were still people on the beach despite the late hour. On the way to the hotel she passed a small orange grove and Nikki couldn’t help picking a few oranges and brining them to her room. After a cooling shower she sat down on the balcony and started peeling one of the oranges. The sun-ripe juicy fruit melted in her mouth and the flavour was both sweet and refreshing at the same time. After the last piece she dried her hands on a wet one, picked up her mobile phone and called her sister. Charlie was feeling down, not knowing how to deal with the situation. She felt violated and dirty. Nikki tried comforting her and promised once again to do everything she could to find the man who had raped her. After the conversation Nikki felt that she had picked up on her sister’s low energy and just wanted to go home to her children. She pressed Gustav’s number and felt relieved when he answered.
”Hi, it’s Mum, how are you?”
”Hi Mum, I am super stressed. Could we talk a bit later?”
”Are you studying?”
”Yes, I’m still at school. I’ve been here since eight this morning.”
”Poor soul, I just wanted to see how you were doing and how you’re feeling before the exam.”
”I think I have it under control, but now my friends are calling me. I have to go, we’re in the lab you see. We’ll talk after the exam on Monday, I’ll have more time then, OK?”
”Take care and good luck for Monday. Love you.”
Nikki hung up and felt a forlorn feeling enveloping her. She really missed her boys. To distract herself she took out the iPad and started looking for a flight to go home. She found a seat for the following day since Sunday was hopelessly fully booked.
Maybe it’s for the best, Nikki thought. She opened the fridge, poured herself a glass of sparkling wine and sat down on the balcony. Then she dialled room service.
Saturday June 8th
His large stomach got in the way when he bent down to open the squeaky desk drawer. Five packages of Nutella-filled croissants were hidden under the plastic folders. He carefully took out a pack and opened it. The sweet scent was mixing with the aroma from the newly brewed coffee and Carlos sighed contentedly. Relaxed he leaned back on the shabby office chair and took the first bite. As usual the Chief of Police pushed a piece of dough up into his palate with his tongue and let it melt slowly. Then he had a sip of coffee, another bite and let the Nutella marry with the hot drink. With his eyes closed he leaned his big body toward the desk and stroked the soft, shaggy fur of the cat.
”Hi Panther, how are you? Do you feel like a cuddle? Come up on my lap and let’s snuggle a bit.” Carlos bent down, picked up the pitch black cat and started scratching his heart shaped head. The cat was purring, content, and settled down on his lap.
”Carlos, hurry up!” Daphne screamed at her boss and quickly hung up the dirty phone.
Carlos audibly sighed and carefully put down the Panther on the floor. With heavy steps he went out to reception.
”What’s up?”
Daphne on her way out of the door turned around and yelled:
”We’ve got ourselves another body.”
Despite his overweight Carlos was sitting behind the wheel before Daphne had even had the chance to open the door on the passenger side of the white Land cruiser. With a child’s smile he put on the sirens and the blue lights and started up the engine.
”Brief me.” Carlo’s voice was tense and full of expectation. He put on the taped sunglasses and quickly drove out of the police station.
”Go to the dam”, Daphne intensively answered and put on her seatbelt. ”A young boy has found a body which apparently is floating in the water.”
With screeching tires he turned right down the hill and out on the main road toward town.
”Promise me you won’t screw it up this time, will you?” Daphne was looking challengingly at her boss and crossed her arms.
”What the hell do you mean?” Carlos gave her an angry look before staring at the road.
”You know exactly what I mean. Do you think I didn’t see what you were doing when we found Sten Arvidsson? We are bloody police and have to behave like ones. Police don’t steal. You might have forgotten that you are my boss and that you should be my role-model?”
”Honey, I was a policeman while you were still in nappies, so don’t bloody tell me what to do.”
”Bloody act like one then.” Daphne sighed with irritation and pulled out the mobile from her front pocket. ”I’m calling Maria, Forensics have to get to the dam ASAP.”
Five minutes later he stopped abruptly in front of the white-washed stone house by the deserted dam where a sun-bleached pickup truck was parked. The dam was Cyprus’ second largest water reservoir and belonged to Coral Bay municipality, being used to collect fresh water daily from the mountains during the winter months. Carlos climbed out into the stuffy air, stretched his legs and looked around with interest. With creaky steps he authoritatively approached the young boy sitting on a red plastic stool in the shade leaning against the warm wall. His face was pale and his forehead glistered with sweat. The ground was full of cigarette butts and Carlos supposed he had been smoking nonstop since he had called the alarm central. The Chief stood with his legs far apart, crossing his arms, while Daphne chose a little softer approach.
”So, you were the one calling the police?” Carlos asked authoritatively.
The young man nodded nervously while flipping the cigarette pack.
”There is a dead man in the water out there”, the guy stuttered. He pulled out a lighter from his jeans’ pocket and lit a cigarette. Then he got up, pointing to the dam below the dry slope.
”Come on, Daphne, let’s go down and have a look. Open the gate will you, kid?”
They saw how the witness took out a clattering bunch of keys from the front pocket of his worn out jeans while approaching the gate on shaky legs. After a few mistakes he finally managed to hold his hand steady enough for the lock to budge.
”You can stay here until we’ve finished.” Daphne put a re-assuring hand on the boy’s shoulder and felt how confused he was. She also saw the relief on his face when he didn’t’ have to go down to the water again. ”We’ll need to question you so please don’t touch anything, but just stay right where you are.” Daphne’s voice was calm and motherly and she smiled at him kindly.
The boy nodded again, inhaled deeply and blew out a few smoke-rings that were barely visible in the strong light. Carlos and Daphne followed the gravel road for a while before stopping and trying to see if something was floating in the water.
”I’ll be damn, there really is something down there. The boy seems to be right.” Carlos was mumbling and put a cigarette in his mouth. ”Damn, it’s hot. I really hate summer, the bloody sun is killing me.” Carlos took out the embroidered handkerchief from his front pocket, blew his nose and then wiped his sweaty forehead with it before sliding unsteadily down the slope. Stones and clods of earth in different sizes and colours were rapidly rolling into the water.
Two meters before the dam the stopped. A naked body was floating face up in the green murky water. The grey hair had made a wreath around the victim’s head, almost like a wreath of death. The scene looked ritual, as though a Water sprite was lying there, but without his violin. The smell wasn’t that intrusive somehow, of course there was a musty smell of algae, but not like when they had found Sten Arvidsson. The flies were there on the other hand, flying around the corpse in big swarms, feasting on the left-overs in the different wounds.
Daphne gave Carlos a pair of rubber gloves with a pointed look.
”Put these on and take out the cigarette from your mouth.”
”Excuse me, is it you or me being in charge here?”
Daphne pretended not to hear and gave her boss a hard stare before gliding down to the shore.
”We’ll try getting him up on land, I’ll take the feet and you the shoulders.”
”Do you want Maria to strangle you, or what? You know very well we have to wait for Forensics. But we can enter and have a look, but just a look.” Daphne felt how the black boots were getting filled with cold water while she waded out to the dead man. Carlos swore and hesitated until the last. He folded his blue uniform trousers legs up but soon realized there was no point. He hesitantly paced to and fro leaving a number of big shoe prints.
”Come on now. Look how you are messing up for the technicians with your enormous feet. How hard can it be? Nobody has died of a little water”, she said and looked at the corpse and realized it was a bad choice of words. She smiled ironically and found that she actually had been a little funny for once.
Carlos picked up some courage and carefully went out into the murky water.
”Hell, its cold.”
”Are you never satisfied? Enjoy getting cooled down instead of complaining.”
”Do you see the same thing as me? Just like the previous victim. Do you think there is any connection?”
”Damn it, what kind of lunatic is poking out the eyes of people?” Carlos pulled out yet another cigarette from his breast pocket.
”Maria will kill you if you throw the butt in the water.” Daphne looked at her boss sternly and made a ”chop your neck off” sign with one hand over her own neck.
”Damn it you’re nagging, sweetie. Take a few pictures and I’ll go to the car and get the tape so that I can seal off the area. It would be good if you could interview the kid after that.”
”Nope, I’ll get the tape and you’ll take care of the interview.” Daphne slowly waded back to the shore. She wrung her trousers from the knees down before climbing up the slope with her dripping shoes. It didn’t take her long to get to the police car while Carlos was making his way up to the kid standing by the gate chain-smoking.
”How are you actually doing?” Carlos asked out of breath when he saw the pale, green face of the witness.
”So so. It’s not every day you find a dead person at work.”
”Tell me, what happened?” He took out the handkerchief and dried his face. Putting it back in the front pocket of his drenched, dark blue uniform trousers.
”I got to work as usual around seven thirty in the morning. Parked the car where it is now and went into the control room inside the house. When I went out to the slope to pee I saw something floating in the water.”
Carlos hummed a bit before starting to speak again:”And you didn’t touch anything, did you? You know that it’s forbidden, don’t you?” He grabbed the boy’s shoulders and gave him a stern look with his eyes black like oil. ”It’s very serious if you have touched the corpse, have you done that?” The kid shook his head, scared, and backed off vehemently.
”Fine, then I don’t need to report you. How many people have passed here since morning?”
”Nobody.”
Carlos jotted down what the witness had told him in his black notepad and continued: ”What about the bloody tourists? Have any rented cars or other vehicles passed by here the past few days?”
The boy was kicking the dry soil and gave the Chief of Police a look full of doubt.”No more than usual. Some rented cars and of course a few four-wheelers, they always find their way here. But I don’t know how many have actually passed, maybe some 10-15 a day.” The young man nervously pulled his hand through his limp hair and threw the butt on the ground.
”Hey, you’ll pick up that cigarette butt right now. How the hell do you think we’ll be able to find DNA and other stuff if you are standing here throwing butts left, right and centre?”
”Sorry, I wasn’t thinking”, he said and bent down to pick up the cigarette butt.
”Here is my business card”, Carlos said and put back his wallet in the back pocket.
”If you think of something which could be important you’ll get in touch as soon as possible of course, get it?”
The boy nodded feebly and put the business card in his worn-out jeans.
”At least I’ve kept an eagle eye on Carlos this time and he hasn’t stepped in it yet anyway. Touch wood”, Daphne quietly whispered in Maria’s ear when she hugged her cousin.
”Thank God for that. I don’t know if I have the strength to fight with the bloody man today.”
”How are you then, Stavros?” Daphne asked when she kissed his cheek in greeting.
”Well, not bloody much to complain about.” He ground his heel into the dry soil and his boots immediately took on a red colour.
It was Stavros training Maria once upon a time and he had taken her under his protective wings. He looked like a small professor with his starched white hair and eye-brows. The steel framed spectacles were hanging as usual on his crooked eagle nose and his eyes were both peering and curious.
While the technicians were putting on the rustling overalls and masks Daphne was filling in about the day’s find:
”We have a man, between fifty-five and sixty-five years old, floating with his face upward down in the dam. A coarse rope is wound around his feet and he has a number of injuries all over his body. The eyes…” Daphne swallowed hard and closed her eyes, ”are gone…”
”Like the corpse in the natural reserve”, Stavros stated surprised. ”Have you found anything which can help us identify the victim?”
”No, nothing. Follow me and I’ll show you.” Daphne slid down the brown dry slope, carefully went to the edge and pointed out the victim in the water.
Down by the beach Maria and Stavros secured the area and photographed everything interesting before they carefully pulled up the corpse on the shore.
”Poor sod”, Stavros said and put his glasses straight since they had slid down on his sweaty nose.
”Where is Carlos by the way, is he afraid of showing up?” Maria quietly asked while taking out small plastic bags from one of her bags.
Daphne pointed to the police car. ”Don’t wake the sleeping bear. Call me when you’ve finished, OK? It would also be great if it was Neo taking care of the autopsy since this murder most likely is connected to the previous one.”
”Of course, I’ll take care of it. I’ll give you a ring when we’ve finished, you go ahead.” Maria crept back under the black and yellow cordon tape, to start the fine combing of the area.
Fifteen minutes later Carlos and Daphne stepped in through the Police station’s creaking front door and were met by Katerina’s curious look.
”What did you find this time?”
”An older man. Could you be so sweet and look in the computer registry if there are any people who have been reported missing here in Cyprus? We didn’t find anything to identify the victim with.” Daphne continued to the bathroom. ”You’ll have to excuse me but I’m wet through, I need to change before doing the briefing.”
”Me too”, Carlos said and went into his office.
”Of course, I”ll take care of it.”Displeased, Katerina looked at the wet shoe-prints since she knew that she would be the one doing the scrubbing.
”Do what?” Sam chimed when he passed the reception with a bunch of papers in his hand. His aftershave left a spicy scent and he was completely unaware of the effect he had on the opposite sex.
”I’ll check if there’s somebody who has been reported missing who fits the description of the victim they found in the dam today. You’ll hear more at the briefing I suppose.”