Detective Inspector Huss: A Huss Investigation set in Sweden, Vol. 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

library. She returned to Henrik, and they walked silently up the wide staircase together.
    On the upper floor the odor of cigars was very strong. They followed the railing up to the airy library. To the left Irene saw a corridor with several doors. This must be where the other rooms and the sauna were, she realized. The sauna . . . She slowed her steps and stopped. Underlying the cigar smell was a familiar fragrance.
    She took a deep breath and turned to Henrik. “Do you know what this smell is?”
    He sniffed the air and nodded. “Eucalyptus. Pappa took a sauna. That’s why he had on his dressing gown,” he replied with a slight quaver in his voice.
    She had a fleeting vision of the scene: the crushed body of Richard von Knecht dressed in a thick dressing gown of wine-red velvet terry cloth, his naked legs contorted and white in the floodlights, and the brown leather slippers lying a few meters from the body. She shuddered and concentrated on her colleagues standing by the door to the balcony.
    The three men silently faced the locked door. Slowly Superintendent Andersson turned around and said solemnly to Henrik von Knecht, “Unfortunately, I must prepare you for the fact that there are strong indications that your father was murdered. The balcony door is locked from the inside, the key is in the lock, the handle is pulled down. And there’s no handle on the outside.”
    This was too much for von Knecht. He dropped to his knees inside the balcony door with his hands to his face and broke into quiet, dry sobs.
    Irene called for help, for someone from a squad car to drive him home in his white Mercedes.
     
    BEFORE THE cruiser arrived, Inspector Huss asked him whether he could try to answer a few questions. He nodded affirmatively.
    She began neutrally, “Where do you live?”
    “The Örgryte neighborhood. On Långåsliden.”
    “Do you have anyone who could stay with you tonight, or would you like us to contact someone?”
    “My wife is home.”
    “Oh.”
    Irene could hear how stupid her remark sounded, but she was very surprised that von Knecht had a wife. She quickly tried to cover up her reaction.
    “Does your wife know about what happened this evening?”
    He shook his head without taking his hands from his face.
    She went on, “If I understand correctly, you and your mother were in the street at the time your father fell. You were getting out of a car, is that right?”
    For a long time he remained sitting silently in the same position. Irene began to wonder whether he even realized she had asked a question. She considered reformulating it when he removed his hands and looked straight at her. Again she saw the rigid mask. Even though his eyes were shining with tears, there was a layer of ice beneath the tears. He rubbed his face in a weary gesture.
    “Pardon me . . . What did you ask me?”
    Irene posed the question again. He took a deep breath before he answered.
    “We parked around the corner, on Aschebergsgatan. I didn’t notice that anything had happened as I hurried around to open the door for Mamma. Then I heard a scream. I could see that . . . something was lying on the ground, and people were running over to it. Mamma ran there. She started screaming. I called the police from my cell phone. Well, you know the rest.”
    “Where had you and your mother been?”
    “We had decided to meet at Landvetter Airport. She came in on a plane from Stockholm that landed fifteen minutes after my own flight from London. It was a pure coincidence that our flights were arriving at the same time. We discovered it last Saturday when we had a party here. Mamma and Pappa were celebrating their thirtieth anniversary . . .”
    He swallowed hard and fell silent. Huss realized that he wouldn’t be able to say much more.
    “We can postpone the rest of our talk until tomorrow. Would you like me to come to your house or will you come down to the station?”
    “I’ll come down to the station.”
    “How does eleven sound?