Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

If Hult was at work, he would be sitting at his desk. He was old and only doing paperwork, at least on the surface. But the tall man who answered the phone at the Maria branch seemed to be out of his mind. "Hult? He's not here. Does he come to work on Saturdays and Sundays?" "Did he not go to the office today?" "No." "you sure?" "Sure, I didn't see him anyway." "Can you ask someone else?" "What else?" "There's no one else in the second bureau," said Martin Baker, a little unhappy. "Aren't you the only one in the whole bureau?"

"No, of course not," said the man dumbfounded, "wait a moment, please, I'll ask." Martin Baker heard the drop of the receiver on the table, and the sound of departing footsteps. Then he heard someone shouting in the distance. "Guys, did anyone see Hult today? That sleazy Baker from the homicide squad asked on the phone—" The rest of the words were drowned out by the noise. Martin Baker glanced at Le En impatiently, and Le En looked at his watch even more impatiently. Why do people from the Maria Police Department think he is "pushing"?Maybe it was because he only called people by their last names, not their first names. Martin Baker was not used to calling those patrolmen by their first names, and he was not used to being called "Martin" either.

However, he is definitely not the kind of serious person. How would Nieman react when faced with this situation? There was a flurry of buzzing from the receiver. "Hey, Hult—" "how is he?" "He did come today, almost an hour and a half ago, but left immediately." "where to?" "no one knows." Martin Baker did not press further. "Thank you," he said. To make sure, he called Hult's house again, but no one answered. After the phone rang five times, Martin Baker hung up the phone. "Who are you looking for?" Leon asked.

"Hult." "Oh." Martin Baker thought irritably, this Lehn is really too slow. "Len—" he said. "what?" "Hult called Nieman's wife last night and got the address of the hospital." "Oh?" "Don't you think it's a little strange?" "Maybe he wants to send flowers or something." Lehn said uninterestedly, "Hult and Nyman are buddies after all." "Obviously not many people knew that Nieman was in Sabbasberry." "That's why Hulk had to call and ask," Lehn said. "This is too coincidental."

Martin Baker wasn't asking a question, and Lehn wisely didn't answer indiscriminately, but changed the subject instead. "Oh, yes, I told you I couldn't find this Eriksson." "Which Ericson?" "It's the patrolman who writes complaints all the time." Martin Baker nodded, he remembered the name, but it should have been a long time ago, but he didn't want to think about it, he was busy thinking about Hult. He had only spoken to Hult two hours ago, what had been his reaction?At first, the news of Nieman's death didn't stir any reaction in him, and then Hoult said he was going to work.

Martin Baker didn't think this was surprising. Hult was a dull old policeman, not very clear-headed, acting on impulse.It seemed only natural that he would offer to help when a colleague was killed.If it were Martin Baker himself, I'm afraid he would do the same. What Martin Baker found strange was the phone call. Why didn't Hult tell him that he had just spoken to Mrs. Nieman last night?Why pick a night if he just wanted to go and greet Nyman? What if he wanted to know where Nyman was going for something other than just sending flowers? Martin Baker forced himself to dismiss the thought.

Did Hoult actually visit Nyman tonight? If so, what time did you go? Martin Baker needs to know more. He sighed heavily, picked up the receiver, and called Anna Nyman for the third time. This time Mrs. Nieman picked it up in person. "It's you," she said, "Officer Baker." "I'm really sorry, but I still have a few questions I'd like to ask you about that call." "Please say." "You said Captain Hult called you last night?" "yes." "What time?" "It's late, I can't tell you the exact time."

"About what time?" "Ok--" "Have you gone to bed yet?" "Oh, not--no, wait a minute." She put down the phone, and Martin Baker tapped impatiently on the table, and he could hear Mrs. Nieman talking to someone.Maybe it was her son, but he couldn't make out. "Hey?" "yes." "I was talking to Stefan. We were watching TV, first there was a Humphrey Bogart movie, but it wasn't good, so we switched to channel two. There was Benny Hill Variety on channel two. The show, the phone rang just before the festival started."

"Great, how long was the show at that time?" "It's only a few minutes, not more than five minutes." "Thank you, Mrs. Nieman. One more thing." "What's up?" "Do you remember what Hoult said at the time?" "Don't remember, can't remember every word, all he said was to talk to Stig, so I said—" "Excuse me for interrupting, did he say: 'Can I talk to Stig?'" "Of course not. He speaks very well." "What kind of sense of proportion?" "He apologized first, then asked me if I could have Team Leader Nieman on the phone."

"Why are you apologizing?" "Of course it's because you called so late." "what do you say?" "I asked who he was and I said: 'Who are you, please?'" "What did Mr. Hult answer?" "'I'm a colleague of Nieman's team leader' or something, and then he named himself." "Then what do you say?" "I said it, I immediately remembered his name, I knew he had called before, and he was one of the few people Stig admired." "Called before? How many times?" "I have called several times in the past few years. When my husband was still healthy, he almost always answered the phone at home, so this Mr. Hult may have called many times."

"What did you say later?" "I've told you all this." "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to say it again," said Martin Baker. "It may be important." "I said Stig was ill. He seemed surprised and upset, and asked me if I was serious, and—" "And then what?" "Then I said he was very ill and was in the hospital now. Then he asked me if I could visit him, and I said that Waiyu probably wouldn't want him to go." "Didn't Hult ask any more questions?" "Yes, he knows Stig very well, I mean work-wise." "But he said he was going to send flowers?" This is the most crucial question, thought Martin Baker.Oh shit. "Yeah, and he wanted to write a card, so I just said that Stig lived in Sabasberry, and I gave him the room number, and I think Stig mentioned it a few times, saying Hult This guy is reliable and does his job.” "and then?" "He apologized to me again, thanked me, and said goodnight." Martin Baker also thanked Mrs. Nieman.After a hasty good-bye, he turned to Lehn and said: "Did you watch TV last night?" Leon looked at him sadly.Martin Baker says: "Yeah, of course not, I know you're working overtime. But can you find out what time the second Benny Hill show is?" "Should be fine," Lehn said, before lounging into the lounge. When he came back, Le En held a newspaper in his hand, and he read it for a long time. "Nine twenty-five." "Then Huert called at 9:30 in the evening. Unless there is an emergency, it is too late to call at this time." "Is there nothing important about him?" "He didn't seem to mention it, but he did find out where Nyman lives." "Of course, because he wants to send flowers." Martin Baker stared at Lehn for a long time. He needed to make the whole thing clear. "Len, can you listen to me?" "Okay, let's talk." Martin Baker gave a full account of Hult's whereabouts in the past twenty-four hours, from the phone call, the conversation at his home, to the current disappearance. "Do you think it was Hult who killed Nieman?" Le En rarely asked straightforwardly like this. "I dare not say that." "I think it sounds far-fetched," Lehn said, "and it's weird." "Hult's behavior is also very strange." Lehn didn't answer. "Anyway, I want to find Hoult and ask him about that phone call." Martin Baker said excitedly. His tone had no effect on Le En who opened his mouth and yawned. "Then radio him," he said. "Hult can't go far." Martin Baker looked at him in surprise. "Your proposal is quite constructive." "What do you mean constructive?" Lehn asked, as if accused. Martin Baker picked up the phone again and instructed Captain Hult to contact the riot squad on Kings Island Street as soon as he was found. After explaining, he sat at the table and supported his head with his hands. He felt that something didn't fit well, and the sense of crisis in his heart was still lingering.Who gave him such a sense of crisis?Hult?Or was there something he had overlooked? "There's one problem, though," Lehn said. "what?" "If I call your wife and say I want you—" he cut himself off. "Wrong, that's not going to happen," he muttered. "You're divorced." "what do you want to say in the end?" Le En thought about how to say it more properly. "If you're married and I call, and it's your wife who answers the phone, I say I want to find you, but she asks who I am, then I—" "What will happen to you?" "I don't say: 'I'm Einar Valentino Lehn.'" "Who is Einar Valentino Lehn?" "It's me, that's my full name, my mum named me after a movie star, she's such a genius sometimes." Martin Baker's spirits lifted when he heard this: "what do you mean--" "I mean, Hult called and said to Nieman's wife that he was Palmer Harald Hult, which was a weird thing." "How did you know his full name?" "You wrote his name over there, and—" "What else?" "Also, in my own report, mentioned in Eriksson's letter of complaint." Martin Baker's eyes gradually became clear. "Well done, Lehn," he said, "very well done." Lehn yawned profusely. "Who's on duty here?" Martin Baker asked suddenly. "Gonval, but he's not here now, and he can't deal with this kind of thing." "There must be someone else." "Yes, Stenlengren." "Where's Melander?" "Should be at home, he has been off on Saturdays recently." "I thought maybe we should look into this guy Eriksson," Martin Baker said. "The thing is, I don't remember anything about him." "Me too," Lehn said, "but Melander remembers, he's a person who never forgets anything." "Tell Stenlengren to bring all the information about Eriksson, and call Melander to the Bureau immediately." "It might be a bit difficult. He is the deputy team leader now, and he doesn't like being forced to cancel his leave." "Just say I was looking for him," said Martin Baker. "Okay." Le En said and shuffled away. He came back two minutes later. "Stenlengren's gone." "Where's Melander?" "He'll come over, but..." "But what?" "He doesn't sound very happy." Is it possible for important people to come to work overtime with a smile on their faces? Martin Baker could only wait for Hult to show up. Then wait to talk to Melander. Melander is one of the few powerful generals in the violence control team. This person has a superior memory. Although he is extremely boring, he is a rare and valuable agent. Compared with him, all modern technology is useless, because Melander only needs to In a few minutes, you can pick out the cocoon from the thousands of thoughts, pick out the key point of a certain person or something, and then dictate it clearly. There is no other computer with the same function in the whole world. But then again, his handwriting was not good. Martin Baker had read Melander's notes, and his handwriting was messy like a ghost crawling, and he couldn't understand a single word.