This Land is no Stranger by Sarah Hollister & Gil Reavill

Author:Sarah Hollister & Gil Reavill [Hollister, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LYS
Published: 2021-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

28.

They let her cool for forty-two minutes, sitting alone in the interview room at the local polisstation. Except for the Judas slot in the door with a Plexiglas pane behind it, the space was windowless.

Earlier, two uniforms and a kriminalinspektör named Linnéa Beck had marched her out of the dinner party. Ebba’s guests lined up and stared with unconcealed delight, as if they thought the whole thing might be a show put on for their entertainment.

In front of Lehtonen’s luxurious home a pair of police vehicles had pulled up, a van and a smaller sedan. In the back seat of the sedan sat a white-faced Krister Hammar, peering out of the side window. Brand tried to give him what she thought was a reassuring look but which probably read as a grimace of commiseration. The officers placed Brand in the van and Beck climbed into the front beside the driver.

Kriminalinspektör Beck treated Brand with pro forma officiousness. No, she was certainly not under arrest. They would simply like to ask a few questions of her down at the station house.

“Look,” Brand informed her. “I’m an NYPD detective lieutenant with fifteen years on the job.”

“Yes, Detective Brand,” Beck said. “By now I have often been informed of this fact.”

“I mean, of course I’ll cooperate,” Brand pleaded. “I can vouch for Mr Hammar, too. Do we really have to be put through this whole business?”

But they had brought her to the polisstation and held her there. The pace of the process felt agonizingly slow. She recognized the technique. The solitary waiting period represented a way to increase her tension. It was designed to break her resistance.

Something bothered Brand beyond the obvious awkwardness of the immediate situation. Once again she felt a nagging sense of hidden forces at work. A dynamic existed that she urgently needed to understand. It eluded her, always just out of reach. Some sort of puppet-master worked behind the scenes. When Brand tried to follow the attached strings to see who was manipulating her, the marionette apparatus melted into darkness.

Finally, a pair of Swedish cops entered the interrogation room. Both were male, both were in plainclothes, and neither one of them was Linnea Beck. The two introduced themselves as Detective Inspectors Edvin Larsson and Vincent Hult. They sat across the table from Brand. Larsson looked too young to carry much weight. They both came off as friendly and spoke perfect English. At first, they seemed not at all interested in the strong arm.

“Detective Brand,” Hult began.

“Oh, it’s Veronika, please.”

“Yes, Veronika,” Hult nodded.

“I mean, we’re all friends here, right?” Brand attempted a bright smile.

Hult gave a forced one. Larsson stayed silent and fiddled with note-taking. Brand wondered how differently the interview might have gone down had her duty pistol been somehow involved. She took back her curse of the pink-haired punk for stealing the Glock.

“What’s this about?” she asked.

“You indicated to Linnea that you have primarily stayed in the immediate Stockholm area during your visit to Sweden, is that correct?” Hult asked.

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