Chapter 21 Chapter 21

"As for Eriksson," Melander put down a stack of reports, "it's a long story, and you must already know something about him." "Just assume we don't know anything, and tell us from the beginning." Martin Baker said. Melander leaned back in his chair and began to fill his pipe. "Okay," he said, "let's start from the beginning. Eriksson was born in Stockholm in 1935, the only son of his father, a lathe worker. He graduated from high school in 1954 and went to the military. To work in the police force, and at the same time take classes at officer midshipmen's night school and the police academy."

He lit his pipe carefully and blew puffs of smoke overhead.Le En, who was sitting across from him, frowned and coughed, while Melander ignored him and continued to puff. "Well," he said, "that's a relatively uninteresting resume for Eriksson's first half of his life. In 1956, he started serving as a patrolman in the Catalina precinct. There is not much to say about the next few years. As far as I know , he is a very ordinary policeman, not particularly good, not particularly bad, no one complains about him, but then again, I can't think of any aspect in which he is particularly outstanding."

"Has he been in the Catalina precinct all this time?" Martin Baker stood by the door, one hand resting on the filing cabinet. "No," Melander said, "he probably went through three or four different jurisdictions in the first four years." He paused, frowned, then took the pipe from his mouth and pointed it at Martin Baker. "Correction," he said, "I said he wasn't particularly good in any way, and I was wrong. He's a very good shooter and always scores well." "Yes," Lehn said, "I remember, too, that he was a good shot."

"He was also a good long-distance shooter," Melander said. "He used to volunteer for officer training a lot during this period, and when he was off, he went to alternate military academy." "You said he spent the first few years in three or four different precincts," said Martin Baker. "Has he been in the Neiman precinct?" "Yes, he stayed for a while, from the autumn of 1957 to the whole year of 1958. Then Nieman changed jurisdiction." "You know what Niemann did to Eriksson? Niemann would probably make a mess of someone he didn't like."

"I don't see how Niemann was tougher on Eriksson than he was on the other young cops, and that Erikson's accusations against Niemann had nothing to do with that period. But in Niemann's 'man-training' way, I I don't think Eriksson should have a better time." What Melander said just now was to Martin Baker. After speaking, he looked at Le En who was curled up in the visitor's chair and was about to fall asleep at any time.Martin Baker followed his gaze. "How about a cup of coffee, Lean?" he said. Lehn straightened up. "Okay, I'll pour it myself."

Martin Baker watched him stagger out of the room and wondered if he looked just as embarrassed. When Lehn came back with coffee and fell back into the easy chair again, Martin Baker looked at Melander and said: "Go ahead." Melander put down his pipe and sipped his coffee noisily. "Damn it," he said, "it's awful." He pushed the plastic cup aside and went back to smoking his favorite pipe. "In early 1959, Eriksson got married. His wife was five years younger than him. Her name was Maya. She was Finnish, but she lived in Sweden for many years and worked as an assistant in a photography company. Her Swedish was not Very slippery, maybe what happened later has something to do with it. They gave birth to a baby in December of the year they got married, and Maya resigned to be a housewife. When the child was one and a half years old, that is, in the summer of 1961, Maya Dead, that event is hard for you to forget."

Lehn nodded sadly in agreement—or was he just dozing off? "Yes, but tell us about it," said Martin Baker. "Oh," Melander said, "that's probably when Stig Niemann came in, and Hult, who was a patrolman in the Nieman precinct at the time. Maya died in the alcoholic prison cell in their precinct, time It was the night of June 26-27, 1961." "Were Nieman and Hoult in the Bureau that night?" Martin Baker asked. "Niman was there when they brought Maya into the station, but he went home, I don't know exactly when. Hult was out on patrol that night, but he happened to be there when Maya was found dead in the cell. Bureau."

Melander straightened a paper clip and cleared the ashes from the pipe into the ashtray. "The police did an investigation and reconstructed the whole incident. It seemed to go like this: During the daytime on June 26th, Maya took her daughter to Vichugh to find friends because her photographer boss asked her to help out for two weeks. , and Maya’s friend promised to help take care of the child. In the evening Maya returned to the city. Ericson got off work at 7 o’clock that night, and Maya wanted to go home before him. By the way, Ericson was not there at the time Nieman's precinct to do things."

Martin Baker's legs were starting to go numb because both chairs in the room were occupied.He left the filing cabinet, went to the window and half sat on the windowsill.He nodded to Melander, asking him to continue. "Maya has diabetes and needs regular insulin injections. Not many people know about it, not even her friend Vikhugh. Maya never dares to take injections lightly, she can't be careless, but the day of the accident , she just forgot the syringe at home." Martin Baker and Lehn both stared at Melander, as if trying to gauge his opinion on the matter. "Two Nieman patrol officers saw Maya just after 7 p.m., sitting on a bench and seemed unable to stand upright. They tried to talk to her and concluded she was either drugged or intoxicated. , they dragged Maya into a taxi and took her back to the police station. They said at the hearing that when they brought Maya to the police station, they didn't know what to do with her because she didn't respond at all. Afterwards, the taxi driver said , Maya said something in a foreign language, that is, Finnish, and the three of them seemed to have had a row in the car for a while, but the two patrolmen naturally denied it."

Melander paused for a long time to fiddle with his pipe. "According to the initial confession of these patrolmen, Nieman took a look at Maya and asked them to temporarily put her in the alcoholic cell. Nieman denied seeing Maya, and the patrol officers changed their words in the later hearing, saying that they put her in the alcoholic cell. When Maya was brought to the police station, Niman was probably busy with other things. They themselves had to leave immediately because of an urgent task. According to the cell guards, it was the two patrolmen who decided to lock Maya up on their own. , that is to say, everyone blamed each other. Maya in the cell has not made a sound, the guards thought she was asleep, and did not transfer her to the criminal unit for the next three hours. When changing shifts, The night guards opened the cell and found her dead. Hult was there and called an ambulance, but they didn't take her to the hospital because she wasn't breathing."

"What time did she die?" asked Martin Baker. "Looks like he died an hour ago." Le En sat up straight in the chair. "Diabetics—" he said, "I mean, don't people with these kinds of diseases wear a card or something that says they have a disease?" "That's right," Melander said. "Maya also had her card with her, and put it in her purse. But as you probably know, they didn't search her at all. There are no female staff in the branch. If she goes to the criminal The group would be searched, but she never went." Martin Baker nodded. "Later at the hearing, Nieman said he had never seen Maia or her purse, so the two patrolmen and guards had to take all the blame. As far as I know, they were only given a warning." "How did Eriksson react when he found out?" Martin Baker asked. "He broke down, took two or three months of sick leave, and was not interested in anything after that. At that time, he couldn't wait for his wife to come home, and found that Maya didn't have a syringe. He called all the hospitals first, and then drove. went out to find her, so Maya died for a while before he got the news. I think they didn't tell him the truth at first, but eventually he must know what happened, because Eriksson sent the first A letter of complaint against Nieman and Hoult, but the investigation was closed by then."