Möja

Möja is the archipelago location of a summer-cottage visit that becomes crucial to Kenneth von Kwist’s understanding of Viggo Dürer. A memory from the visit, roughly fifteen years later, recasts an unsettling incident with two prizewinning rabbits as evidence that Dürer’s capacity for violence had already been visible to those around him.

Setting and Visit

About fifteen years before the present moment, prosecutor Kenneth von Kwist was invited to the summer cottage of former police commissioner Gert Berglind, on Möja. Viggo Dürer was also there, accompanied by a Ukrainian man whose connection to the lawyer was unclear and who spoke no Swedish. The location’s significance emerges through this gathering: a private visit that placed a prosecutor, a police commissioner, and Dürer together before the full meaning of their encounter was understood.

The Incident at the Cottage

In the cottage kitchen, Dürer and Gert Berglind argued. Berglind grew loud and upset, while Dürer remained silent for a long time. He then spoke quietly to his Ukrainian companion in Russian. As Berglind continued ranting, the man left the kitchen and went to the hutch where the commissioner kept his prizewinning rabbits. Through the open window, the others heard two whimpering squeaks; minutes later, the Ukrainian returned carrying the freshly skinned bodies of two breeding rabbits, each worth about ten thousand kronor. Gert Berglind turned pale and quietly asked the visitors to leave.

Recollection and Significance

At the time, Kenneth von Kwist interpreted Berglind’s reaction as distress over the lost prize money or sadness for the animals. Recalling the scene years later, he understands that the commissioner had been terrified and had recognized what kind of person Viggo Dürer was. Möja thus anchors a belated recognition: the rabbits’ killing was not merely a shocking episode at a cottage, but a demonstration of violence that had signaled Dürer’s danger long before Kenneth von Kwist grasped its meaning.