Murder at the Savoy by Sjöwall Maj & Wahlöö Per

Author:Sjöwall, Maj & Wahlöö, Per [Sjöwall, Maj & Wahlöö, Per]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery & Detective, thriller, Mystery, police procedural, Fiction, Crime, General
ISBN: 9780007439164
Google: t8VRnQ1UdvoC
Amazon: 0007439164
Barnesnoble: 0007439164
Goodreads: 12574967
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Published: 1970-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

14

Lennart Kollberg had to wait slightly more than an hour for the information from the Vice Squad. Meanwhile he sat, heavy, inert and sweaty, at his desk out in Västberga. What had looked like a simple matter to dispose of that morning – talking to two witnesses – had somehow developed into hot pursuit.

Hampus Broberg and the mystifying Helena Hansson suddenly emerged as two people wanted by the police, while Kollberg sat clinging to the threads of the dragnet like some kind of spider. The remarkable thing was that he still didn't know why he was out to get these two people. No charge had been filed against either of them; they had already been questioned by the police in Malmö, and common sense seemed to indicate that neither could reasonably have had anything to do with the murder of Viktor Palmgren.

However, he couldn't shake off the feeling that it was important to get hold of them as quickly as possible.

Why?

It's only the policeman's occupational disease creeping up on you, he thought gloomily. A total wreck after twenty-three years of service. Can't think like a normal human being any more.

Twenty-three years of daily contact with police officers had made him incapable of maintaining sensible relations with the rest of the world. In fact, he never felt truly free, not even with his own family. There was always something gnawing at his mind. He'd waited a long time to build this family, because police work wasn't a normal job but something you committed yourself to. And it was obvious you could never get away from it. A profession involving daily confrontations with people in abnormal situations could only lead in the end to becoming abnormal yourself.

Unlike the overwhelming majority of his colleagues, Kollberg was capable of penetrating and analysing his own situation clearly. Which he did, surprisingly and unfortunately, with unclouded vision. His problem lay in being both a sensualist and a man of duty, in a profession where sentimentality and personal involvement were luxuries which in nine cases out of ten you couldn't allow yourself.

Why do policemen associate almost exclusively with other policemen? he wondered.

Naturally because it was easier that way. Easier to keep the necessary distance. But also easier to overlook the morbid camaraderie in the force, which had flourished, unchecked, for many years. Essentially that meant that policemen isolated themselves from the society they were supposed to protect and, above all, be integrated with.

For example, policemen didn't criticize other policemen, with rare exceptions.

A recent sociological study had shown that policemen on holiday, finding themselves more or less forced to mix with other people, were very often ashamed to admit that they were officers of the law. This was a result of the definition of their role and of the many myths that surrounded their profession.

Constantly encountering fear, distrust or open contempt could make anyone paranoid.

Kollberg shuddered.

He didn't want to be a fear-monger and he didn't want to be distrusted or despised. He didn't want to be paranoid.

However, he did want to get hold of two people whose names were Hampus Broberg and Helena Hansson.

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