16th September, Death Investigation
"Good evening, ma'am. Could you say your full name and relationship to the victim?" I asked and gestured to the mic.
"I'm Gerda Sofia Andersson, I work as a housemaid in Árnadalrs' mansion. I have worked there for 35 years, and I've known Elsa since she was born," the woman said to mic. She seemed to have a hard time saying Elsa's name. I remembered this woman. Elsa and Anna both had seemed to like and respect her as children. Obviously, Elsa liked her well enough to keep her employed.
"When and what was the last conversation, you had with Elsa?"
"It was 11th of September. She had been fighting with Hans, and after he left, I went to see if Elsa was okay. She sat on the floor, looking really upset, but not otherwise hurt. I asked her if she would like to have something to eat before going to sleep, but as always, she refused and dismissed me," Gerda explained.
Her story was surprising to say at least. Completely different from Hans' one. Gerda's made way more sense and confirmed my suspicion that Hans was lying. But what I had to find out was why was he lying. "Can you descript the fight they were having?"
"I couldn't really hear any words, just screaming and yelling. When I heard the slap, I was afraid that Hans had hurt Elsa, so I rushed towards the room. I heard Elsa order Hans to leave. I could hear Hans say that they would talk about that later, and then he opened the door and left. He had red cheek and cut on his lip, so it wasn't hard to know that he was the receiving end of that slap," she didn't seem to be too troubled by the idea of Hans' bruised cheek.
Gerda's telling was really giving me the insight I was hoping for, but the fight was still big mystery for me. Hans said they were talking about business, but yelling and slapping didn't belong to normal business talk, in my knowledge. Now I really needed to figure out what they were fighting for. "Did Elsa and Hans often fight?"
"No, I couldn't say that they did. They didn't really interact at all when Hans was Anna's fiancé. Just when it was necessary, as Elsa was the bride's maid. I had a feeling they didn't really like each other that much, and Elsa was against the marriage to begin with. She had a fight with Anna about Hans when they announced their engagement. For a while, Elsa openly opposed the marriage, but she seemed to get more supportive in the last months of the engagement. Maybe she got used to the idea," Gerda said thoughtfully. "After Anna left, Elsa seemed to lose her interest in everything. She didn't get up from her bed anymore and she stopped eating. Hans came every day to talk with her and try to get her to eat something. But I can't really remember any other fighting, than Hans yelling at Elsa to take better care of herself. Elsa's last night was the only time I heard her raise her voice."
Hans went to see Elsa every day? That certainly didn't seem like a business thing. Why was Hans seeing the sister of his ex-fiancée so often? Especially, if they didn't seem to get along so well. But there was an even more pressing matter: Anna. Why hadn't Elsa notified the authorities of Anna's disappearance, or Gerda? "When was the last time you saw Anna?"
Gerda paused for a moment. Looking to the empty wall and pondering the answer: "It was 16th of July, the day before she broke her engagement with Hans. I didn't have work the 17th 18th and when I went back to work 19th, I heard about the breakup. Elsa had locked herself inside her room and refused to talk about it. After a while I started getting worried about Anna. But Elsa told me that she was fine, and Anna wasn't missing, she still refused to say anything else. Hans didn't seem too worried either. He kept saying that Anna would come home eventually, but that never happened."
There was definitely something fishy here. I didn't doubt Gerda's story, she seemed honest, but it raised more questions than it gave answers. Did Elsa and Hans know where Anna went? Did Hans still know where Anna was? Or could either or both of them be the cause of her disappearance. "Could you recall how Anna was the day you last saw her? Was there anything unusual about her?"
Gerda seemed to think for a moment and then answered: "No, she was just like her usual self. Maybe a little stressed from all the wedding planning, but otherwise her normal, happy self. It came as a great surprise that she had broken up with Hans, to me."
"Is there anything else you think I should know?" I tried to get something I could grasp onto.
"Not really ma'am, that's all I can think of," she answered. That wasn't a surprise. I would have to have the right questions to get the right answers. We were done, for now.