“I thought Nisse should sit in on this,” Larsson said. “We are the ones in charge of the investigation.”
Lindman stood up to shake hands. The man who’d joined them was reserved and serious. He spoke very softly and Lindman had difficulty gathering that his surname was Rundström. Larsson seemed to be affected by his presence. He sat up straighter in his chair, and his smile disappeared. The mood had changed.
“We thought we ought to have a little talk,” Larsson said, cautiously. “About this and that.”
Rundström had not sat down, although there was a spare chair. He leaned against the door frame and avoided looking Lindman in the eye.
“We received a call this morning,” he said. “From a man who reported that a police officer from Boras was conducting an investigation in the region of Linsell. He was a bit upset, and wondered if the local police had handed the investigation over to outsiders.” Before going on he paused to examine his hands. “He was quite upset,” Rundström repeated. “And it would be fair to say that we were upset as well.”
Lindman had broken out in a sweat. “I can think of two possibilities,” he said. “The man who phoned was either Abraham Andersson—he lives in a farmhouse called Dunkärret—or it was the owner of the shop in Linsell.”
“I expect it was Lundell,” Rundström said. “But we don’t like police officers from faraway places coming here and poking their noses into our investigations.”
Lindman saw red. “I’m not conducting my own investigation,” he said. “I’ve already spoken to Larsson. I told him I’d worked with Molin for quite a few years. I’m on vacation, and so I came here. It doesn’t seem all that strange that I would have visited the scene of the murder.”
“It creates confusion,” Rundström said, in his soft, barely audible voice.
“I bought the local paper,” Lindman said, no longer bothering to conceal his anger. “I told the man who I was and asked if Molin did his shopping there.”
Rundström produced a sheet of paper he’d been holding behind his back. “You asked quite a few more questions as well. Lundell read them to me over the phone.”
This is lunacy, Lindman thought. He looked at Larsson, but he was staring down at his stomach.
For the first time Rundström looked him in the eye. “What exactly do you want to know?” he asked.
“Who killed my colleague.”
“That’s what we want to know as well. Needless to say, we’ve given this investigation top priority. It’s been a long time since we’ve set up such a broadly based investigative team as this one. We’ve had some pretty violent crimes up here over the years. We’re not exactly unused to it.”
Lindman could see that Rundström was making no attempt to disguise the fact that he resented his presence, but he could also see that Larsson was upset by the approach Rundström had adopted. That gave him an escape route.
“It goes without saying that I’m not questioning the way you are working.”
“Have you any information you can give us that would be of use to the investigation?”
“No,” Lindman said. He didn’t want to tell Rundström about the tent site until he’d discussed it with Larsson. “I have no useful information to give you. I didn’t know Molin well enough to be able to tell you anything about the life he led in Borås, never mind here. No doubt there are others who would be better at that than I am. And in any case, I’ll be leaving soon.”
Rundström nodded and opened the door. “Any news from Umeå yet?”
“Nothing so far,” Larsson said.
Rundström smiled curtly at Lindman and was gone. Larsson stretched out an arm apologetically.
“Rundström can be a bit abrupt at times. But he means well.”
“He’s within his rights to complain about my poking my nose in your business.”
Larsson leaned back in his chair and eyed him speculatively. “Is that what you’re doing? Poking your nose in?”
“Only in the sense that sometimes you can’t avoid stumbling over things.”
Larsson looked at his watch. “How long are you thinking of staying in Ostersund? Overnight?”
“I haven’t decided anything.”
“Stay overnight, then. I’ll be working here tonight as well. Come here sometime after seven. With a little luck, everything will be quiet here then. I have to be on call tonight, because so many officers are out sick. You can make yourself at home in my office.”
Larsson pointed to some files on a shelf behind him.