Witness Interview Date: December 3o
Name of witness: Anna-Lena
5ACC:ย Hello, my nameโs 5ack.
ANNA-LENA:ย I donโt want to talk to any more policemen.
5ACC:ย I can certainly understand that. Iโve just got a few brief questions.
ANNA-LENA:ย If Roger was here heโd have told you that youโre all idiots, the whole lot of you, for managing to lose a bank robber who was trapped inside an apartment!
5ACC:ย Thatโs why I need to ask my questions. So that we can ๏ฌnd the perpetrator.
ANNA-LENA:ย I want to go home.
5ACC:ย Believe me, I do understand that, weโre just trying to work out what happened inside the apartment. Can you tell me what happened when the perpetrator ๏ฌrst came in with the pistolแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย That woman, Zara, she had her shoes on. And the other one, Ro, was going to eat one of the limes. You donโt do things like that at apartment viewings! There are unwritten rules!
5ACC:ย Sorryแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย She was going to eat one of the limes. The viewing limes! You canโt eat the viewing limes, because the Realtorโs put them there as decoration, theyโre not for eating. I was about to go and ๏ฌnd the agent and tell her, to get Ro thrown out, because you
just canโt behave like that. But at that very moment that lunatic burst through the door waving a pistol.
5ACC:ย I see. And then what happenedแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย You should talk to Roger. Heโs got a very good memory.
5ACC:ย Rogerโs your husbandแนข And youโd gone to look at the apartment togetherแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Yes. Roger said it would be a good investment. Is this table from IKEAแนข Yes, it is, isnโt itแนข I recognize it. They do it in ivory as well. That would have gone better with the walls.
5ACC:ย I have to confess that Iโm not responsible for the way our interview rooms are furnished.
ANNA-LENA:ย 5ust because itโs an interview room doesnโt mean it canโt look nice, does itแนข Seeing as you were already in IKEA. That ivory table is right next to this one in the self-service area. But you still picked this one. Well, everyone makes their own choices.
5ACC:ย Iโll see if I can raise it with my boss.
ANNA-LENA:ย Well, thatโs up to you.
5ACC:ย When Roger said the apartment was a โgood investment,โ did that mean that you wouldnโt be settling thereแนข Youโd just buy it and sell it on laterแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Why are you asking thatแนข
5ACC:ย Iโm just trying to understand who was in the apartment, and why, so that we can rule out the possibility that any of the hostages was in any way connected to the perpetrator.
ANNA-LENA:ย Connectedแนข
5ACC:ย We think someone may have helped him.
ANNA-LENA:ย And you think that could have been me and Rogerแนขย 5ACC:ย No, no. We just need to ask a few routine questions, thatโs all.ย ANNA-LENA:ย So you think it was her, that Zaraแนข
5ACC:ย I havenโt said that.
ANNA-LENA:ย You said you think someone helped the bank robber. That Zara was dodgy, I could see it the moment I set eyes on her, she was obviously too rich to want that apartment. And I heard that pregnant woman tell her wife that Zara looked like โCruella de Vil.โ I think thatโs from a ๏ฌlmแนข It sounds dodgy, anyway. Or do you think it was Estelle who helped the bank robberแนข Sheโs almost ninety, you know. Are you going to start accusing ninety-year-olds of helping criminals nowแนข Is that how modern policing worksแนข
5ACC:ย Iโm not accusing anyone.
ANNA-LENA:ย Roger and I never help anyone else at an apartment viewing, I can promise you that. Roger says that the moment we walk in itโs war and weโre surrounded by enemies. Thatโs why he always wants me to tell everyone that the apartment needs a lot of work done to it and that the cost of that would be very expensive. As well as the smell of damp. Things like that. Rogerโs a very good negotiator. Weโve made some extremely good investments.
5ACC:ย So youโve done this beforeแนข Bought an apartment only to flip itแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Thereโs no point in an investment if you donโt sell, Roger says. So we buy, Roger does the renovations, I sort out the decor, then we sell and buy another apartment.
5ACC:ย That sounds like an unusual thing for two people who are retired to do.
ANNA-LENA:ย Roger and I like working on projects together.
5ACC:ย Are you okayแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Yes.
5ACC:ย You look like youโre crying.ย ANNA-LENA:ย Iโve had a very trying day!ย 5ACC:ย Sorry. That was insensitive of me.
ANNA-LENA:ย I know Roger doesnโt always come across as particularly sensitive, but he is. He likes us to have a project in common because heโs worried weโd run out of things to talk about
otherwise. He doesnโt think Iโm interesting enough to be with all day unless weโve got a project.
5ACC:ย Iโm sure thatโs not true.
ANNA-LENA:ย What would you know about thatแนข
5ACC:ย I guess I donโt know anything at all. Sorry. Iโd like to ask a few questions about the other prospective buyers now.
ANNA-LENA:ย Rogerโs more sensitive than he seems.
5ACC:ย Okay. Can you tell me anything about the other people at the viewingแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย They were looking for a home.
5ACC:ย Sorryแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Roger says there are two types of buyer. Those who are looking for an investment, and those who want a home. The ones who are looking for a home are emotional idiots, theyโll pay anything because they think all their problems will just disappear the moment they move in.
5ACC:ย Iโm not sure I understand.
ANNA-LENA:ย Roger and I donโt let our feelings get in the way of our investments. But everyone else does. Like those two women at the viewing, the one who was pregnant and the other one.
5ACC:ย 5ulia and Roแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Yes!
5ACC:ย You think they were the sort who were โlooking for a homeโแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย It was obvious. People like that go to viewings thinking that everything would feel better if only they were living there. That theyโd wake up in the mornings and not ๏ฌnd it hard to breathe. They wouldnโt have to look in the bathroom mirror with an invisible weight in their chest. Theyโd argue less. Maybe touch each otherโs hands the way they did when they were ๏ฌrst married, back when they couldnโt help it. Thatโs what they think.
5ACC:ย Youโll have to excuse me, but it looks like youโre crying againแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Donโt tell me what Iโm doing!
5ACC:ย Okay, okay. But you seem to have put a fair amount of thought into how people behave at apartment viewings, is that fair to sayแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Roger does most of the thinking. Rogerโs very intelligent, you know. You need to know your enemy, he says, and all your enemy wants is to get it over with. They just want to move in and have done with it and never have to move again. Roger isnโt like that. We saw a documentary about sharks once, Rogerโs very interested in documentaries, and thereโs a particular type of shark that dies if it stops moving. Itโs something to do with the way they absorb oxygen, they canโt breathe unless theyโre moving the whole time. Thatโs how our marriage has ended up.
5ACC:ย Sorry, Iโm afraid I donโt understand.
ANNA-LENA:ย Do you know what the worst thing about being retired isแนข
5ACC:ย No.
ANNA-LENA:ย That you get too much time to think. People need a project, so Roger and I became sharks, and if we didnโt keep moving, our marriage wouldnโt get any oxygen. So we buy and renovate and sell, buy and renovate and sell. I did suggest that we try golf instead, but Roger doesnโt like golf.
5ACC:ย Sorry to interrupt, but I wonder if we might be getting a little off the point hereแนข You only have to tell me about the hostage situation. Not about you and your husband.
ANNA-LENA:ย But thatโs the problem.
5ACC:ย What isแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย I donโt think he wants to be my husband anymore.
5ACC:ย What makes you say thatแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Do you know how many IKEA stores there are in Swedenแนข
5ACC:ย No.
ANNA-LENA:ย Twenty. Do you know how many Roger and I have been toแนข
5ACC:ย No.
ANNA-LENA:ย All of them. Every single one. We went to the last one fairly recently, and I didnโt think Roger had been keeping count, but when we were in the cafeteria having lunch Roger suddenly said we should each have a piece of cake as well. We never have cake in IKEA. We always have lunch, but never cake. And that was when I knew that heโd been keeping count. I know Roger doesnโt seem romantic, but sometimes he can be the most romantic man on the planet, you know.
5ACC:ย That certainly sounds romantic.
ANNA-LENA:ย He can seem hard on the surface, but he doesnโt hate children.
5ACC:ย Whatแนข
ANNA-LENA:ย Everyone thinks he hates children because he gets so angry when real estate agents put โchildrenโs roomโ on the plans. But he only gets angry because he says children push the price up like you wouldnโt believe. He doesnโt hate children. He loves children. Thatโs why I have to distract him when weโre walking through the childrenโs section in IKEA.
5ACC:ย Iโm sorry.
ANNA-LENA:ย Whyแนข
5ACC:ย Sorry, I took that to mean that you couldnโt have children. And if thatโs the case, Iโm sorry.
ANNA-LENA:ย Weโve got two children!
5ACC:ย I apologize. I misunderstood.ย ANNA-LENA:ย Have you got childrenแนขย 5ACC:ย No.
ANNA-LENA:ย Our two are about your age, but they donโt want kids of their own. Our son says heโd rather focus on his career, and our daughter says the worldโs already overpopulated.
5ACC:ย Oh.
ANNA-LENA:ย Can you imagine what a bad parent you must have been for your children not to want to be parentsแนข
5ACC:ย Iโve never thought about that.
ANNA-LENA:ย Roger would have been such a good grandfather, you know. But now he doesnโt even want to be my husband.
5ACC:ย Iโm sure things will work out between you, no matter whatโs happened.
ANNA-LENA:ย You donโt know whatโs happened. You donโt know what Iโve done, it was all my fault. But I just wanted to stop, itโs been nothing but one apartment after the other for years now, and in the end Iโve had enough. Iโm looking for a home, too. But I had no right to do what I did to Roger. I should never have paid for that darn rabbit.
