Part 22 (1/2)

Martin Beck and Gunvald Larsson were soon brought before Pontius Pilate. No more than half an hour had pa.s.sed since the Senator's arrival at the Parliament Building. Radio silence had been broken now and the emergency exchange had been inundated with reports.

Another person who was inundated - though in a more humiliating way - was Stig Malm.

'One h.e.l.l of a fine liaison officer you are,' said the Commissioner. 'I might just as well have been at my place in the country when everything happened. And what did happen, anyway?'

'I don't really know,' said Malm, who was quite noticeably shaking in his shoes. 'My dear -'

'I don't wish to be addressed as ”my dear”. I am the senior executive in this country's police force. I demand to be informed of everything that happens within the force. Did you hear? Everything. And at this moment, you happen to be in charge of liaison. What happened?'

'I told you. I don't really know.'

'A liaison officer who doesn't know anything,' roared the Commissioner. 'That's great, isn't it? What do you know? Do you even know when you've wiped your a.r.s.e?'

'Yes, but-'

If Malm had been about to say anything, he was immediately interrupted.

'I don't understand why the head of the regular police and Moller and Beck and Larsson and Packe or Macke or whatever his name is can't find time to come and report or even telephone.'

'The exchange never lets people through to you unless it's your wife,' said Malm, insinuatingly, having collected himself a bit.

'Well, tell me about the attempted a.s.sa.s.sination.'

'I don't actually know anything about it. But Beck and Larsson are supposed to be on their way here.'

'Are supposed to be? A liaison officer who doesn't know a d.a.m.ned thing. That's almost sublime. But who winds up being the sc.r.a.pegoat?'

The same man as always, thought Malm. Then he said, 'Our man's name is Benny Skacke, not Macke. And the expression is scapegoat. And ”sublime” is a word that usually means almost supernatural.'

Malm was beginning to get almost angry.

The Commissioner lurched and strode rapidly across to one of the heavy curtains by the windows.

'No one corrects me!' he said furiously. 'And if I say ”sc.r.a.pegoat”, then ”sc.r.a.pegoat” it is. If any correcting's going to be done, I'll do it myself'

Climbing the curtains again, thought Malm resignedly. I hope they fell on his head.

There was a knock on the door and Martin Beck and Gunvald Larsson came in.

Martin Beck was no small man, but compared to Gunvald Larsson he looked harmless.

Gunvald Larsson surveyed- the scene and said, 'Oh, I see the time has come now. Don't let us stop you.'

The Commissioner pulled himself together. 'Now,' he said, 'I want to know all about this bomb.'

'From the outset, we worked according to Gunvald's theory and recent experiences,' said Martin Beck. 'There was much to indicate that he was right. ULAG had never before operated in Europe and had only recently begun striking in large cities, despite the increased concentration of police forces. In addition, our honoured guest is natural prey for all kinds of terrorist organizations.'

'All kinds?'

'Yes. We know that many militant liberation and leftist groups would like to protest against his reactionary att.i.tudes. At the same time, some right-wing elements would like to hit him just to provoke a crisis. Same with pacifist groups, who think he's a threat to world peace. He's the type of politician lots of people are scared of - not scared of him personally, that is, but of what he represents. All of that would tempt ULAG. When he was nominated for president a few years back, a lot of people were ready to vote for almost any other candidate out of fear for what this man's foreign policies might lead to - a direct confrontation between the superpowers and China, for example. He has always been the most active of what they call hawks in Vietnam, and there's no doubt that he worked for the fascist junta in Chile, which was responsible for the murder of President Allende and thousands of other people. The only good thing to be said for him is that he shows a certain amount of moral courage, that he's well educated and personable.'

'I thought you were nonpolitical,' said the Commissioner when Martin Beck had finished this long summary.

'I am. I'm just recounting certain facts. I should add that despite the collapse of the Nixon administration, he has maintained his strong political position, in the Senate, in his home state and in the country as a whole.'

Martin Beck looked at Gunvald Larsson, who nodded.

'Now we come to the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt,' said Martin Beck. 'Quite early on, we realized that ULAG or a similar organization, one of the illegal Palestinian groups, for instance, might be about to strike. Since the a.s.sa.s.sination in June - the one Gunvald witnessed - succeeded despite comprehensive security measures, we became more and more convinced that the same modus operandi - as you always term it, Malm - would be used here. Our inner group consisted of five people with considerable experience, namely Benny Skacke and myself from Vastberga, Gunvald Larsson and Einar Ronn from the Violent Crimes Squad, and an invaluable administrator and appraiser, Fredrik Melander from Fraud. We five each made our own calculation of the most likely place for a bomb attempt on the Senator's car. It turned out that we all hit on exactly the same place.'

'Norrtull?'

'Exactly. And if the motorcade was diverted, it would probably have pa.s.sed other bombs - which, incidentally, we haven't yet been able to find. We decided, therefore, on other measures, of two different kinds'

Martin Beck began to feel his throat going dry. He looked at Gunvald Larsson, who at once took over.

'After the June a.s.sa.s.sination, I came to two conclusions. One was that the bombs couldn't be located with detectors. More important, I concluded that the person who detonated the bomb was far away from the place, at least out of sight, and that he had no a.s.sistants who kept him informed via shortwave radio about just where the victim's car was. How then would he know at what moment the bomb should be detonated? The answer is very simple. He listened to the ordinary radio and television programmes, which broadcast live the president's arrival and trip from the airport to the palace. He got further information through the police radio, which had not been silenced. In this way he could see with his own eyes where the motorcade was, and at the same time listen to it on the radio.'

Gunvald Larsson cleared his throat, but Martin Beck made no attempt to take over, so he went on.

'With these theories as a starting point, we took a number of steps. First of all, we had a long and involved discussion with the head of broadcasting, who finally agreed not to send anything live. Instead, the general public would see and hear it all on tape just fifteen minutes later. A couple of technicians were sent for and they made a number of objections before they agreed! We then spoke to the news commentators who were to cover the event. They said that as far as they were concerned it didn't make the least bit of difference.'

This time Martin Beck was prepared to take up the narrative.

'We stressed the importance of absolute secrecy to all those people. When it came to police radio silence, I spoke to the chief of the Stockholm Police as well as the chiefs in neighbouring districts, and although a few raised some objections, they finally went along.'

Gunvald Larsson interrupted. ”The most difficult a.s.signment we gave to Einar R6nn. Norrtull is heavily trafficked at that hour and we were going to have to evacuate the whole area and simultaneously dampen the effect of the bomb itself as well as a possible and much more dangerous gas explosion.'

Gunvald Larsson paused. 'It was no easy task, because it had to be completed within fifteen minutes. Ronn had thirty police, half of them women, in Dannemoragatan. He also had two loudspeaker vans, two fire engines, and a large number of lorries loaded with sandbags, mats and fireproof insulation material.'

'And no one was injured?'

'No.'

'And material damage?'

'A few windowpanes. And the gas pipe, of course. It'll take time to repair that.'

'That man Ronn did a fine job,' said the Commissioner. 'Where's he now?'

'Asleep at home, I imagine,' said Gunvald Larsson. 'Why did the Prime Minister change cars without our knowledge?' asked Malm.

'We just wanted him and the Senator to pa.s.s the critical spot separately,'said Martin Beck. Malm did not reply.

Gunvald Larsson looked at his watch. 'In thirty-three minutes, the ceremony at Riddarholm Church starts. That's Moller's baby, I know, but I'd very much like to be around.'

'Speaking of Moller,' said the Commissioner, 'have any of you seen him?'