Third Voice by Cilla Börjlind, Hilary; Rolf; Parnfors

He was rooted in the middle of the room. There was something in here that this was all about. What? Slowly his eyes wandered down onto the glass table. Towards the newspaper. His subscription. It was exactly where he’d left it, one side perfectly in line with the edge of the glass. He looked at it. Was it that?
    It was.
    What had to return slowly returned.
    Little by little.
    When everything was restored in his memory, he headed straight for the shower.
    First hot, for a long time, to emerge from his descent, then gradually colder. When it was freezing cold he’d caught up with himself and made a decision.
    The first thing he got out was the knives.
    Five Black Circus knives.
    Double edged.
    * * *
    Mette walked through the corridor very quickly, without nodding through the glass at any of her colleagues sitting in theiroffices. She was in a hurry. She turned the corner with a thick file under her arm and opened the door into the meeting room she’d chosen. Bosse Thyrén and Lisa Hedqvist, two of her favourite young investigators, were already in the room. For now she wanted to keep the group as tight as possible. She dumped the file on the table at the front and sat down in the chair behind it. She’d had the reply from forensics less than an hour ago: Bengt Sahlmann had been killed. There was no doubt about that.
    ‘He was dead before he was hung up. The murder was probably preceded by a scuffle, he had fragments of skin under his nails.’
    ‘DNA?’
    ‘It’s being dealt with.’
    Mette had also got door knocking underway in Rotebro and sent technicians to his house.
    ‘We’ve lost valuable time,’ she said. ‘Sahlmann was found hanged the night before last by his daughter Sandra and there was nothing at the scene to indicate that it was anything other than suicide. The preliminary report is impeccable. Which means that the murderer or murderers are more than thirty-six hours ahead of us. I’ve asked Lagerman to check Sahlmann’s finances. Elin is mapping out his social circle. His wife died in the tsunami. He has a sister-in-law who lives at Johan Enbergs Väg 8 in Huvudsta. Her name is Charlotte Pram. His daughter Sandra is with her now. She has not been informed that this is a murder inquiry. You take care of that, Lisa, but be careful. Bosse and I will go to Customs and Excise.’
    ‘So why are we dealing with this investigation?’ Bosse wondered.
    ‘I wanted it.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because there are links to an international drug trade. A large stash of 5-IT drugs recently disappeared at Customs and Excise. It was part of that massive drug raid earlier in the autumn, you know the one?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Lisa. ‘But what’s Sahlmann got to do with it?’
    ‘He was in charge of the internal inquiry at Customs and Excise that was trying to find out where those drugs had disappeared to. He eventually uncovered some information that put him in danger.’
    ‘Is that speculation?’ Lisa asked.
    ‘Yes. What’s less speculative is that Sahlmann’s laptop was stolen from his home the same night that he was murdered.’
    ‘How do you know that?’
    ‘From a source.’
    For some reason, Mette didn’t want to name her source, Olivia Rönning. Or Rivera. Both Bosse and Lisa knew Olivia since the Nordkoster case, she knew that. At that very moment she realised that they needed to speak to Olivia of course. She was at the murder scene just an hour or so after it had happened.
    So Mette took a step back.
    ‘Olivia Rönning was the source.’
    ‘And how did she know about it?’ Bosse asked.
    ‘She’ll have to tell you that herself. Why don’t you speak to her before we head over to Customs and Excise?’
    ‘OK.’
    Bosse and Lisa got up. Mette got out her mobile. Lisa took a couple of steps towards her.
    ‘So Olivia is back?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘And how is she?’
    ‘She’s going to change her surname. To Rivera.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘And she’s decided not stay in the