3

      A similar expression was used in the main police station on Kungsholmsgatan in Stockholm.

      ‘Well, they blew it,’ said Einar Rönn, sticking his sweaty red face through a crack in the door to Gunvald Larsson's room.

      ‘Which one?’ Gunvald Larsson asked absentmindedly.

      He was thinking about something completely different, specifically three unusually brutal robberies in the metro the night before. Two rapes. Sixteen fights. This was Stockholm, quite a different place. Even though there were no murders last night, not even a homicide. Thank God. How many burglaries or thefts had been committed, he didn't know. Or how many addicts, sexual offenders, bootleggers and alcoholics the police had taken into custody. Or how many policemen had worked over presumably innocent people in patrol cars and local stations. Probably too many to count. He minded his own business.

      Gunvald Larsson was a first assistant detective on the Assault and Battery Squad. Six foot three, strong as an ox, blond, blue-eyed, he was very snobbish for a policeman. This morning, for example, he was dressed in a pale grey, lightweight suit with matching tie, shoes and socks. He was an odd character; not many people liked him.

      ‘You know, that bus to Haga air terminal,’ Rönn said.

      ‘Well, what about it? They blew it?’

      ‘The uniforms who were supposed to check the passengers didn't get there soon enough. When they arrived the passengers had all got out and disappeared, and the bus had driven off.’

      Finally switching his thoughts to the subject at hand, Gunvald Larsson glared at Rönn with his blue eyes and said, ‘What? But that's impossible.’

      ‘Unfortunately not,’ said Rönn. ‘They just didn't get there on time.’

      ‘Have you gone mad?’

      ‘I'm not the one who is in charge of this,’ Rönn said. ‘I wasn't the one.’

      He was calm and good-natured, originally from Arjeplog in the north of Sweden. Although he had lived in Stockholm for a long time, he still used some dialect.

      Gunvald Larsson had received Skacke's call quite by chance and considered checking this bus as a simple routine measure. He scowled angrily and said, ‘But damnit, I called Solna promptly. The man on duty there said they had a patrol car on Karolinskavägen. It takes three minutes at most to drive to the air terminal from there. They had at least twenty minutes. What happened?’

      ‘The guys in the car seem to have been detained on the way.’

      ‘Detained?’

      ‘Yes, they had to issue a warning. And when they got there the bus had already left.’

      ‘A warning?’

      Putting on his glasses, Rönn looked at the piece of paper he was holding in his hand. ‘Right. The bus's name is Beata. Usually it comes from Bromma.’

      ‘Beata? What kind of asshole has started giving names to buses?’

      ‘Well, it's not my fault,’ Rönn said sedately.

      ‘Do the geniuses in the patrol car have names, too?’

      ‘Very likely. But I don't know what they are.’

      ‘Find out. For Christ's sake, if buses have names, constables must have them too. Although really they should only have numbers.’

      ‘Or symbols.’

      ‘Symbols?’

      ‘You know, like kids at nursery school. Like boats, cars, birds, mushrooms, insects or dogs.’

      ‘I've never been in a nursery school,’ Gunvald Larsson said scornfully. ‘Now find out. That guy Månsson in Malmö is going to die laughing if there's no reasonable explanation.’

      Rönn left.

      ‘Insects or dogs,’ Gunvald Larsson said to himself. And added, ‘Everybody's mad.’

      Then he went back to the robberies in the metro, picking his teeth with the letter-opener.

      After ten minutes Rönn came back, glasses on his red nose, paper in hand. ‘I've got it now,’ he said. ‘Car three from the Solna police station. Constables Karl Kristiansson and Kurt Kvant.’

      Gunvald Larsson jerked forward suddenly, nearly committing suicide with the letter-opener. ‘Christ, I should have known. I'm hounded by those two idiots. They're from Skåne, too. Get them over here on the double. We've got to straighten this thing out.’

      Kristiansson and Kvant had a lot of explaining to do. Their story was complicated and not at all easy. Besides, they were scared to death of Gunvald Larsson and managed to postpone their visit to the police station on Kungsholmsgatan for nearly two hours. That was a mistake, for in the meantime Gunvald Larsson made a few inquiries of his own.

      Finally they were standing there anyway, uniformed, proper, caps in hand. They were six foot one, blond and broad-shouldered, and looked woodenly at Gunvald Larsson with dull blue eyes. They were wondering to themselves why Gunvald Larsson would be the one to break the unwritten but golden rule that police officers aren't supposed to criticize the actions of other policemen or to testify against each other.

      ‘Good morning,’ said Gunvald Larsson in a friendly manner. ‘Nice that you could make it.’

      ‘Good morning,’ said Kristiansson hesitantly.

      ‘Hi,’ said Kvant insolently.

      Gunvald Larsson stared at him, sighed and said, ‘You were the ones who were supposed to check the passengers on that bus in Haga, weren't you?’

      ‘Yes,’ said Kristiansson.

      He reflected. Then he added, ‘But we got there late.’

      ‘We couldn't make it on time,’ Kvant improved.

      ‘I've gathered that,’ said Gunvald Larsson. ‘I've also gathered that you were parked on Karolinskavägen when you got the call. Driving to the air terminal from there takes about two minutes, three at most. What make of car do you have?’

      ‘A Plymouth,’ Kristiansson said, squirming.

      ‘A perch does a mile and a half an hour,’ said Gunvald Larsson. ‘It's the slowest fish there is. But still it could've easily covered that stretch in a shorter time than you did.’

      He paused. Then roared, ‘Why the hell couldn't you get there on time?’

      ‘We had to caution somebody on the way,’ said Kvant stiffly.

      ‘A