Page 100 of Hidden in Memories
“Hi,” Cilla says. “I have actually found something that probably isn’t in the system any longer.”
She gives Hanna a quick summary and sends the information over. When the email arrives, Hanna has to read it twice. Nisse should have tracked this down days ago, but of course he couldn’t be bothered. This is exactly what she was afraid of.
She prints out the document and goes along to Daniel’s office. He is totally absorbed in something on his screen and doesn’t even notice that she is standing in the doorway until she knocks on the frame.
“Have you seen this?” She hands over the sheet of paper and he quickly glances through it.
“Interesting.”
Hanna sits down in the visitor’s chair and stretches her legs in front of her.
“You could say that. So now we know that Paul Lehto is in the habit of coming into conflict with women.”
She takes back the sheet of paper. Sixteen years ago, Paul Lehto harassed his ex-wife to such an extent that he became the subject of a so-called extended no-contact order. In other words, he was banned from visiting or even being in the vicinity of her home, workplace, or a series of other locations where she spent time.
Such an order is not granted without good reason.
Lehto must have behaved very badly toward his ex.
Needless to say, he has failed to mention this to the police. He probably hasn’t told his employer either. It’s not exactly something you would want to include on your résumé.
“Did he have to wear an electronic tag?” Daniel asks.
Hanna skims the text. If a previous no-contact order has been breached, then the law allows monitoring in the form of an ankle tag. Admittedly this doesn’t stop the perpetrator from sending hundreds of messages or otherwise hassling the victim through social media, which often happens. However, it does constitute a physical deterrent from hanging around near the person who needs protection.
“Doesn’t look like it.”
Hanna thinks she knows why. The law on no contact has been tightened on several occasions. Sixteen years ago, it was relatively toothless. Electronic tags were much less common back then.
She glances toward the conference room across the corridor, where the pictures of the two murder victims are up on the wall.
A man who can harass his ex-wife to such an extent could easily turn on other women.
This new information indicates misogyny, a history of treating women badly.
So what is the situation with his current wife? Has he abused her, physically or mentally?
Statistics show that violent behavior is repeated; it’s not that easy to break the pattern. The value of Lehto’s alibi has been undermined. It is not impossible that his current wife didn’t dare to say anything other than what he had told her to say.
Daniel spins around on his chair, which squeaks as usual. “No reports of abuse filed against Lehto?”
“Nothing like that, just the no-contact order.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean that Lehto didn’t resort to violence during his first marriage. It could well be that his ex didn’t have the courage to report him.
Hanna tries to avoid jumping to conclusions about violent men, but she has seen so many similar cases. She knows far too manyexhausted women who have given up the battle to have their abuser brought to justice. Simply securing a no-contact order requires a great deal of strength from a woman in a destructive relationship. Going on to take part in a court case, with all that involves in terms of witness statements, cross-examination, and a defense attorney who questions every detail can be a superhuman task, even with the support of a complainant’s counsel.
She knows this herself from bitter experience.
“So what do we do with this? Should we confront him?”
Daniel gives himself time to think. Hanna is very familiar with his expression—slightly turned in on himself, absentmindedly scratching one thumb.
“We wait,” he says eventually. “We still haven’t managed to establish a clear link between him and Charlotte Wretlind—something that could explain exactly what happened on Sunday. We also need evidence of a connection between Lehto and Hedin if we’re going with the theory on some kind of collaboration.”
“Anton and Raffe are working on that,” Hanna replies, just as she is overwhelmed by a yawn. It has been yet another long day. She is starting to feel tired, even though she has no intention of giving up just yet.
Daniel glances up at the clock on the wall. “I have to go. I promised Ida I’d be home early today. She won’t be happy if I’m late for dinner.”
