Wright Case 1

He watched as the young cadet glared at his computer screen. He had been there all night, hoping to find something to help on the Wright case, but he knew Magnus wouldn't have much luck. He stared at him for a few more minutes. Everyone else was gathered around the table, waiting to figure out who the prints on the body belonged to. The coroner seemed to be taking his time examining the body, and hadn't called in yet. The only sound in the room was the rapid clicking of Magnus' laptop keys, and shuffling papers.

"Kurt, he was found in a warehouse, right? Off of eighty second? Have we gotten a warrant to search the area?" Anne-Britt asked him. His eyes were heavy. He hadn't been here long, but he had been called in early.

"Yeah, I called in; we should have the OK to search the place by noon. Or sooner." He glanced at his watch. He had been there since seven a.m. He once again looked at his colleague. The phone rang. No one moved. Magnus looked up with tired eyes, startled by the sudden noise. He looked around, then sighed, annoyed. "Fine. I'll get it." He grumbled, getting up from his seat, and stretching his aching muscles, before answering the phone. "Detective Martinsson speaking. Alright. Yes. Thank you." Magnus hung up, looking grim. "They just found another body." Kurt sighed. "How far out?"

"A few hours. Stockholm."

"Alright. Lisa?" Kurt looked at their police chief.

"You and Martinsson go." She said, watching them with careful eyes.

"Sure. Come on, Martinsson. Let's go." Without waiting, he grabbed his coat and marched out the door. Magnus grumbled something, then slowly followed. Kurt got into his black Volvo, waiting until Magnus had closed the door to start the car. Kurt started the long drive to Stockholm.

"Martinsson…." Kurt began, then looked over, to see he was sound asleep. The kid had dark bags under his eyes. He had stayed up the past two nights trying to work this case, with no luck. He focused on the road, completing the drive in silence.

"Martinsson." Kurt said, trying to wake his colleague. "Martinsson." He said a little louder, then giving his shoulder a slight shove, he yelled; "Magnus!" Magnus woke with a start, slamming his head into the window. Kurt smirked.

"Finally. We're here. Get out." Kurt growled.

"Was I asleep the whole time?"

"You we're." Kurt said, annoyed, but Magnus just shrugged arrogantly, and raked a hand through his blond curls.

"How did you find the place?"

"While you we're out, I called Lisa. Did you go home last night? I told you to get some sleep." Magnus looked at him with big, innocent blue eyes.

"You never told me that."

"I'm not in the bloody mood for games. I did and you know it." Kurts temper was slowly rising.

"Fine. I didn't."

"Martinsson, I can't have you falling asleep on a case!"

"You yell at me not to rest until I figure this out. You yell at me when I don't rest. Is there anything I do right?"

"Martinsson, I'm not yelling at you." Kurt said harshly. A little too harshly.

"No, you're just raising your voice at me. Isn't that what yelling is called?" That was the last straw.

"Just shut the hell up and walk." Kurt growled. No one challenged him. No one except Magnus.

Kurt was in a truly bad mood, so he decided to take his advice to heart, and shut up and walk. It was hard being twenty six, and the youngest detective in the Sweden department. He ran a hand through his curls, and focused on the difficult task of keeping his eyes open. He had a pounding headache, and Kurts yelling wasn't helping, so he had lapsed into silence. The older detective looked at him. Magnus looked around, suddenly realizing they weren't in the forest where the woman was murdered.

"Wait, where are we?" He asked, confused.

"We're interviewing her family." Kurt muttered. Magnus stared at him.

"Thanks for telling me."

"You didn't look like you wanted to be disturbed." Kurts grey eyes were tired, but behind that, Magnus saw a spark of concern. He was shocked. Kurt never showed concern. Magnus looked at him for a long moment, then began to walk forward, when Kurt grabbed his arm.

"What-" Magnus was cut off as Kurt shushed him, and pointed to the door, which was hanging open.

"I'll take the back you take the front." Kurt whispered, and drew his gun, walking slowly to the back. Magnus pulled his gun from its holster, and slowly walked in the door. He cleared the downstairs, when he heard the soft sound of shuffling feet coming from upstairs. He motioned to Kurt, pointing up the stairs. He carefully tested each stair, making sure it wouldn't creak, before he put his full weight on it. The second he put his foot on the very top stair, the door across from him flew open. He managed to get off a wild shot, before a person rammed into his chest. His arms wind milled as he tried to keep from falling backwards, but it was no use. He tumbled down the hard wooden stairs, until he finally came to a stop, his head slamming hard and painfully onto the wooden floor. White lights appeared in front of his vision. He saw a person rush by before he blacked out.

"Magnus…..Magnus are you alright?" A rough hand shook his shoulder. He groaned. His head was throbbing painfully. He heard someone sigh, then Kurts voice, sounding angry.

"How could you let him get away? You had him!"

"Yeah, thanks I'm fine." He sat up, and closed his eyes against the brightness that seemed to appear. He felt nauseous. He sat on his legs, and put his head in his hands between his knees, not wanting to get up. The room was spinning.

"Sorry." Said Kurt, not sounding sorry in the least. "Are you alright?"

"I swear she gave me a bloody concussion."

"She?"

"Yes, it was a she." Kurt looked incredulous. He then composed himself, stood, and cleared his throat.

"No other….injuries?"

"No, I think I'm okay." But, in truth, he was not. When he inhaled, he was fairly certain he had cracked a rib or two on his rapid decent down the stairs.

He waited for the young cadet to replenish his strength. Magnus slowly looked up. Kurt held out a hand for him, and pulled the kid to his feet. Magnus put a hand on the wall to steady himself, and put his other hand on his head, closing his eyes.

"Can you walk?" He asked the tall blond. He hesitated, before speaking.

"Yes. Without falling is a different question." Magnus let out a deep, explosive breath. Kurt pulled the blonds arm around his shoulder, helping him to the car.

"Do we know where the girl went?" Magnus asked.

"No, I tried to chase her, but couldn't figure out where she went when she ran into the woods."

"Okay." Magnus collapsed into the car. Kurt got into the driver seat.

He was so damn tired. He rested his head against the cool glass of the window.

"Don't you dare go to bloody sleep. I won't have you dying in my car!" Kurt yelled. Magnus winced, and glared at the older man. "We're only a few hours from town."

"My head…." Magnus complained, groaning. He took a deep breath, sending a spasm of pain through his chest, but he wasn't about to tell the grumpy old detective that.

"Oh, stop complaining."

"How about I give you a concussion? You can see what it's like."

"Fine, just complain to yourself." Kurt's partner muttered to himself, then fell into a comfortable silence the rest of the way to the doctors.

Kurt watched as Magnus struggled to keep his eyes open. He found himself feeling pity for the young detective. Magnus had been on the force for three years now, and this was one of many where the kid was driving him insane. He had kept complaining on how his head hurt. Well, he couldn't blame him, but he still resented him at the moment. Kurt led Magnus inside, requesting a room at the quiet end of the doctors, so the noise wouldn't bother the young cadet too much. Kurt sat in the room while Dr. Whitley examined Magnus' head, confirming he did have a concussion. She told Kurt what to do, then patted Magnus' chest, in a comforting way. He could see the kid try to hold back a gasp, but fail.

"What's wrong, Martinsson?"

"Nothing." The blond said a little breathlessly.

"Don't lie to me." Magnus smiled sheepishly, then pointed to his chest.

"I'm pretty sure I cracked a rib or two."

"Damn it, kid."

"Yeah, because it was totally my fault."

"You were the one who fell down the stairs-"

"Who was pushed down the stairs, thank you very much." Kurt scowled, then sat and waited impatiently for the kid to finish up getting an x-ray on his chest. The doctor confirmed Magnus had cracked a rib, and told him to take it easy. Magnus thanked her, and they left, back to the office. Magnus went straight for his computer, grabbing a cup of coffee on the way, and sat down heavily, immediately getting to work on the kidnapping.

He sat, tapping his foot. The sound in the room was driving him mad. People clicking pens, talking, phones ringing, slamming doors. He couldn't take it. He was running out of patience. His head was pounding; he needed silence. He slammed his laptop shut, and stormed out of the room, and outside, where nobody was outside, and it was nice and quiet. He felt a sense of relief, the only sound being distant cars, and the comforting sound of his laptop keys. He had to file a report for Kurt, because the older man was unable to use a computer properly. He was always having trouble, because he kept locking himself out of his email, then would get mad when Magnus would reply with a snide comment. He was sitting outside, doing the report when something hit him. The first two victims were murdered completely different, but he thought he remembered seeing something about a strange marking on their wrist. He shuffled back through the file, double checking, making sure he was correct. He was puzzled. It was half of a heart, or a broken heart. It seemed the other half was missing. One body was male, one was female, both in their early thirties. He shuffled back to the female, Christy White, and took out the picture of her wrist, with the marking on it. He put the other picture of Jake Wrights wrist right next to it. The heart matched up, forming one big heart. He also noticed the lighter spot on both their left ring fingers where a wedding ring had once been. Not only did that mean the murders were connected, it also meant these people were killed for a reason.

Magnus raced into the room, with his reoccurring laptop and the two case files in hand. He threw down the pictures on the table in front of Kurt, pushing the two pictures together, forming a heart. He stared down at it, while the kid sat back in his chair, and started rapidly pounding at his keys.

"Magnus, it forms a heart. What is this about? We still need to file a warrant to search the house, we need to find each of their parents to interview them. We don't have a witness, and you're having an aneurism because the markings form a heart?" He growled at the young cadet, who gave him the dirtiest look. He spun his laptop around.

"They were divorced." He said proudly. "Two kids, Mathew and Sarah Wright. Mathew was a kid of previous marriage. Jake was his step father. Sarah was the kid of them both. She would have the motive enough to kill them. She has a record. Battery and assault of an officer. Theft in many different parts of Europe." Magnus looked at Kurt expectantly, waiting for him to say something. Finally, after staring at the picture, he looked at the kid.

"Do we have an address?"

"Of course." Magnus handed him a piece of paper, in which he had scribbled an address only a half an hour away.

"Well, then we'd better get going." Kurt got up and grabbed his Kurtet. Magnus grabbed his

favorite black pea coat, and followed behind Kurt. He had to admit. The kid was smart. Even he hadn't thought to put the two together. They got into the car. It had been an hour since Magnus had gone to the doctors. He sighed.

"What's your name?" Kurt asked.

"Excuse me?"

"What's your name? Did you not remember what the doctor said your tests were?" Kurt asked impatiently. Magnus sighed.

"Magnus." Kurt looked at the young man expectantly. "Martinsson. Magnus Martinsson."

"Where are we?"

"Hell."

"Alright, I'll give you that one. What's the date?"

"May twenty fourth. Satisfied?"

"Yes. Very."

"Kurt, do you trust me?" The question was so out of the blue, he was shocked.

"Of course."

"Then whatever happens, do you promise to trust me?"

"Yes, why?"

"Just curious."

"Alright then." He focused on the road. After a few minutes had passed, he looked at his colleague. He was sound asleep, with his head resting on the window, his ever present laptop on his knees. He thought about waking the kid, but thought better of it. He turned his music on quietly, and drove the rest of the way, the young cadet sleeping soundlessly the short trip.

Magnus awoke when the car jolted to a stop. His laptop almost fell from his knees, but he jerked forward, catching it. He clenched his teeth as the movement tugged at his side, and blinked a few times, hoping to clear his head, but it was no use. It was throbbing painfully. He didn't even want to get out of the car. He looked at Kurt, worried about the abrupt stop. Had he figured out?

"Come on Martinsson. We have got to go interview Sarah." Kurt said, getting out of the Volvo. Magnus sighed, and got out slowly. His boss hadn't found out. He followed his boss up to the door. Kurt knocked, and a girl opened the door. A pretty blond, who looked about seventeen.

"Ms. White?" Kurt asked.

"Yes. Who are you?" She asked cautiously.

"My name is Detective Wallander. This is my partner, Detective Martinsson." Kurt said, moving out of the way while Magnus stepped into sight. Sarah smiled, but it was a tense smile. A looked of recognition passed through her eyes.

"It's you." Magnus growled through clenched teeth. Kurt turned to look at him, surprised at the ferocity in his voice. Magnus took a deep breath, then whispered in Kurts ear.

"It's her. She's the one who attacked me. Sarah looked shocked, then shoved Kurt down the porch steps, into Magnus, and she flew past them, into the woods, while the pair tumbled to the ground.

"Well, get after her, you bloody idiot!" Kurt hissed at him, struggling to get up. He obeyed, and ran after the girl. He jumped over bushes, and branches. He tripped over a tree root, and cursed, then got back up. The girl was fast, but he was faster. He sprinted after her. He came within a foot of her, when she tripped. He wrapped his arm around her waist, stopping her fall short. She kicked and scratched, trying to get away, but his grip was too tight. She gave up, shortly after delivering a hard kick to Magnus' shin.

"Relax. We're not going to hurt you." He said to the struggling girl. She slumped in is arms in a fit of tears. He stiffened, shocked, but quickly composed himself, turned the trembling girl in his arms, and hugged her.

"Shhh, it's okay, it's okay." He comforted her.

"W-why are you here? I-I didn't do anything! I just want to b-be left alone!" She cried.

"What do you mean, left alone?"

"You sent a different detective t-to question me three days a-ago!"

"No, we didn't." Magnus said worriedly. Sarah looked up, sniffling.

"What do you mean?"

"We didn't send any other detectives, Ms. White."

"T-then who came to my house?"

"I don't know….what did he look like?"

"He was tall, with bright green eyes, and black spiky hair. He had a badge."

"How did he get a badge…..?" He said, almost to himself.

"Why are you asking me?" She said, suddenly angry. "Isn't that your job?"

"Well yes, but-" She cut him off, giving him an abrupt shove. He stumbled over a tree root, landing hard on his back, sending a wave of agony through his already pounding head. He sucked in a shocked breath, as Sarah glowered down at him.

"You did send someone. Stop lying! You so naïve that you can't accept that, and do your job! Why don't you just quit now, before you embarrass yourself even more!" She snarled. Her words really sank in, and he thought about it for a second, before looking up at the girl who now looked at him with pity.

"I'm sorry. It's just, I'm really shaken up about the whole situation with my parents, I don't know what came over me." She said with a sad sigh.

"It's fine." He said, wincing, as he got up, as he struggled to catch his breath. "But I have a question. Why did you push me down the stairs?"

"I was trying to get away, so I wouldn't get caught. I didn't see you, and I accidently ran into you."

"Well, in any case, an apology would be nice."

"Why?"

"You gave me a concussion and cracked two of my ribs." She looked at him sheepishly.

"Sorry."

"Accepted. We need to get back to Kurt."

"Who?"

"Detective Wallander."

"Do we have to?"

"Uh, yeah, we do. He's my partner. I'm not going to keep him in the dark." He said, looking at Sarah worriedly.

"Alright." She said with a sigh. He took her hand, and led her to Kurt. He realized he was wrong. It wasn't Sarah who had murdered her parents. It was Mathew.

"Kurt!" He yelled, getting back to where they had left him. There he was, leaning casually on his car, not looking worried in the slightest.

"Yes?" The older detective replied nonchalantly. Magnus frowned.

"We're you worried at all? What if she knocked me out, huh?"

"You were only gone for fifteen minutes, I assumed you could take care of yourself."

"Fine. It turns out I was wrong." He huffed.

"Why does this not surprise me? Damn it, Martinsson. I told you not to make any more mistakes like this!"

"Yeah, well as you can see I clearly don't always do what you like. It wasn't her, who murdered her parents. It was Mathew." Sarah looked at him like he had just caught on fire, and stepped away.

"You thought that..." She swallowed tears. "I killed my parents?"

"Well….evidence pointed to you. I offer my sincerest apologies, Ms. White." He said softly. She glared at him with all the hate in the world, then sighed, looking sad.

"It's alright. I guess. But why would my brother kill my parents?"

"Well, he didn't like your mother, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then he had the motive, to hate his father for marrying her, and then killing her, because he didn't like her. We've also learned that he didn't get accepted into the college he wanted to, and he was in a poor situation, on drugs, so he took his anger out and blamed his parents, as most teenagers would do." Magnus tried to put it gently, but he still saw the pained looked on her face. She swallowed. "Do you know where he is, Ms. White?"

"I-I think he would be at his apartment. It's only ten minutes from here."

"Alright then, should we go?" Magnus looked at his colleague. Kurt nodded, and together, the three walked to the black Volvo. He saw a figure running from the car, just a small shape, at the same time he heard the beeping.

"No!" He yelled. "Get down!"

Kurt heard it too. He ran back to the house, pulling Sarah along. Magnus had stopped, to grab his laptop. The idiot had stopped.

"Magnus, don't worry about it!" Kurt yelled.

"All the information for all our cases is on there!" He yelled back, yanking open the car door, and leaning inside. Kurt looked at the terrified girl, and led her inside, behind the couch.

"Stay here-" He began, but was cut off by the sound of an explosion. He ducked his head, and stood, shocked, then ran out to find his colleague.

"Magnus! Magnus!" He rushed around, not able to see through the haze of black smoke.

"K-Kurt?"