Hidden in Snow (The ?re Murders, #1)(35)

Ull?dalen is one of the most beautiful areas in ?re, but right now it looks like a crime scene.

Raffe joins them with a large sheet of paper under one arm. His dark, shoulder-length hair is tied back in a ponytail, his shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

“This is the property map from the Land Registration Authority for the region between Storlien and J?rpen.”

He holds it up: a motley collection of dots, lines, and tiny squares indicating various buildings.

It’s like looking at a war between different colonies of ants.

Daniel sits down and rests his chin on his hands.

“Where do we start?” Anton says, as if he can read Daniel’s mind.

Raffe spreads the map out on the table and places a used coffee cup on each corner to stop it from rolling up.

“So we’re assuming that the perpetrator traveled by snowmobile, and we suspect that Amanda is being held in a cabin on the mountain,” Anton says. “We ought to be able to match the register of snowmobile owners with property owners in this area.”

“A hell of a lot of people in ?re have a snowmobile,”

Raffe interrupts.

Daniel holds up his hand. “Let him finish.”

“Maybe, but it’s still a limited number,” Anton continues. “And even fewer own land outside the population centers.”

He picks up a pen and draws a large circle with Ull?dalen in the middle.

Daniel understands.

The search zone is more limited than it looks, because the cabin is not likely near any of the plowed roads or the perpetrator wouldn’t use a snowmobile. He probably also lives within a reasonable radius of the cabin; otherwise it would be too far to travel back and forth.

They should be able to limit the search even further by concentrating on the area west of ?reskutan, since Amanda’s clothes were found in Ull?dalen.

Anton folds his arms. “What about the coffee kiosks in Ull?dalen? We need to talk to the staff, check if they’ve seen anything.”

Anton grew up in ?re, so he knows the place like the back of his hand.

“What are you thinking of?” Daniel asks.

“Tv?r?stugan Ski Lodge, to begin with. Then there’s Lill?stugan’s waffle café. We should also speak to the staff at Buustamon Fj?llg?rd Hotel, just to be on the safe side.”

He places a cross on the map by Tv?r?stugan. It is deep in the valley, just north of Ull?dalen ski lift, and has no connections by road. Daniel remembers skiing past it several times back in the spring. It is in a stunning location, with its own waterfall at the foot of ?reskutan.

Anton marks Lill?stugan with another cross. It is closer to Tegefj?ll and the E14, above the spot known as ?ngarna.

It also lacks road access but is easier to get to. Finally, he adds a cross for Buustamon, by R?dkullen.

Then he goes over to the map on the wall, the one showing the snowmobile trails. He marks the same three locations, then draws a large circle not far from Tv?r?stugan.

“This is where the bag of clothes was found,” he says.

It’s all becoming clearer now.

The trail runs through the northern section of Ull?dalen.

Amanda’s clothes were hidden south of the trail and diagonally to the east of the Tv?r?stugan conference center.

Daniel can breathe more easily. There is a starting point where they can begin their search. Staff who may have vital information.

Could they be in luck?

“We need to bring in Mountain Rescue,” he says. “And a helicopter with a thermal-imaging camera.”

“What about Missing People?” Raffe wonders.

“They could do more harm than good,” Anton comments.

Daniel thinks about his recent conversation with Bosse Lundh. “We’ll leave them out of it for now.”

Bosse ought to understand—at least Daniel hopes so.

It’s one thing to have civilians searching along the E14 and close to populated areas, but it’s quite another to send them out onto the mountain in ice-cold temperatures.

He looks out of the window at the swirling snow.

“Anyone checked the weather forecast for the next twelve hours?”

Raffe nods. “It’s not great. Strong winds and minus twenty, just like yesterday. And it’s going to continue snowing.”

Difficult conditions for the helicopter, but it can’t be helped; they can’t afford to wait.

“We start searching at first light.”

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Amanda is no longer freezing cold.

Her body is numb. Even the intermittent shivering has stopped. Now her muscles are sluggish, as if they belong to someone else.

Her heart is beating slowly; her breathing is shallow.

Amanda is lying on the mattress, dreaming.

She sees Mom and Dad in front of her, with Mimi and Kalle. She reaches out to embrace them, but like shadow figures they vanish every time.

She can’t get a hold of anyone.

“Give me a hug,” she murmurs, trying to put her arms around her little brother, but he slips away just like the others.

She can see Ludde, but she can’t hear him barking.

Why was she so cold earlier on? She can’t remember; she just knows that she isn’t cold anymore.

Breathing isn’t easy, but she is not afraid, just very, very sleepy.