Still Waters (Sandhamn Murders Book 1) by Viveca Sten

could go in and clean, but there was no answer, and room four was the only one left to do.”
    “Was the door locked?” Thomas asked the woman in the chair.
    She nodded. “Yes,” she whispered. “I had to use my own key.”
    “Do you have any other guests at the moment?”
    The manager nodded. “We’re full, but there’s no one in at the moment. They’re all staying for the weekend. They’ll be back this evening.”
    She was wearing a brightly colored striped apron. It looked as if she had been in the middle of making bread, because her arms and apron were covered in flour. Through a half-open door with a heavy, old-fashioned handle at the far end of the room, Thomas could just see the kitchen.
    He decided to go upstairs and take a look around before continuing to question either of the women. Might as well get it out of the way. He turned to his colleague, who appeared to be in his thirties. “Could you show me the way to the room?”
    The officer led the way up the stairs; the bedrooms were located along a narrow corridor. The door to number four was ajar.
    As he walked in he saw the back of a person who was curled up and unnaturally still. There was an unpleasant, sweetish smell in the air—the smell of blood and death that had not yet turned into a stench.
    Thomas looked around. The room was decorated in an old-fashioned, romantic style, with pine-clad walls and lace curtains. There was a small vase of flowers on the chest of drawers and a gold-framed painting of a sailboat on the wall.
    The sun poured in through the window.
    The contrast between the B&B and the dead woman on the bed could not have been starker.
    He went over to the body and noticed that there was a large swelling above the right temple; the skin was heavily discolored with blue-and-red lines. There was a small amount of dried blood above the ear and in her hair. He moved around the bed to look closer at the face.
    Suddenly he realized who it was.
    Kicki Berggren, Krister Berggren’s cousin, was lying dead in front of him.
    He bent down. Her unseeing eyes stared up at him. She wore only a pair of red panties. Her slack breasts rested on the mattress. The covers had been pushed aside, and her clothes were strewn around the room. There was no sign that anyone else had stayed or even been in the room.
    In a denim purse on the floor he found a wallet containing a driver’s license, which confirmed the woman’s identity as Kicki Berggren. He quickly took out his cell phone and called the station.
    “It’s Thomas. I’ve looked at the body, and forensics has to give this top priority. We also need to reconsider Krister Berggren’s death. The victim is his cousin, and she was badly beaten.”
     
    It was midday by the time the investigative team arrived at the Mission House. In the meantime, the area had been cordoned off. Thomas had obtained a list of all the other guests from Krystyna and had even managed to conduct brief interviews with some of them. None had had anything significant to tell him.
    The manager had been less than happy when she was informed that the whole building was now regarded as a crime scene and would be subject to a thorough examination. She was not allowed to touch anything, and the room where Kicki Berggren had been found was definitely not to be cleaned.
    Since then, the day had passed at breakneck speed. The investigative team had done their best to secure as much biological evidence as possible. Since the door had been locked with the body inside and there were no signs of a struggle inside the room, there were many questions. Among other things, this could mean that Kicki Berggren had been murdered elsewhere, but Thomas always tried not to draw hasty conclusions.
    He had spoken to the officer in charge of the local station and arranged to set up a temporary office there. It was obvious they needed a base on Sandhamn at this point. The investigation had moved into a completely different phase.

C HAPTER 18
    Fuck,