Hidden in Snow (The ?re Murders, #1)(36)
She folds back the coverlet and the other mattress; she doesn’t need them anymore.
For the first time since she woke up in the cabin, she is warm.
All she wants is to go on sleeping.
OceanofPDF.com
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15
OceanofPDF.com
35
The sound of the front door being opened and closed with a little bang wakes Hanna. It is only seven o’clock in the morning.
She found it difficult to get to sleep again last night; she lay awake brooding over Christian’s crushing betrayal for hours.
Now she is wide awake, her pulse racing. Someone else is in the house. She hears footsteps that stop for a few seconds, then continue.
Something isn’t right.
Hanna holds her breath. It’s unlikely that a burglar would have access to the keycode for the front door, but she still feels uneasy. She pulls on a robe and pads barefoot up the stairs to the hallway.
As she reaches the top step, she hears a crash and a scream.
A dark-haired young woman with high cheekbones and narrow eyes is standing in front of the cleaning cupboard. A vacuum cleaner is lying upside down on the floor, with the hose beside it like a writhing snake.
Hanna and the woman stare at each other. Hanna pulls herself together first. “Who are you?”
“So sorry!” The woman looks panic stricken as she sees that a couple of bottles of cleaning fluid have also fallen out of the cupboard. The top has come off one of them, and the thick liquid is seeping out onto the stone floor. The sight seems to terrify her.
Hanna gently touches her arm. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. We can wipe it up.”
The woman begins to cry. Her fear is entirely disproportionate—anyone can knock over a vacuum cleaner or spill some detergent.
“It really is fine,” Hanna repeats. “What’s your name?”
When the woman doesn’t respond to the question in Swedish, she tries English instead.
“Zuhra,” the woman says without looking at Hanna. Her lower lip is still trembling. “Sorry!”
Hanna fetches a roll of kitchen paper, cleans up the mess, and throws the used paper in the trash can.
Zuhra still seems terrified.
“Would you like a coffee?” Hanna asks, sticking to English.
When Zuhra doesn’t answer, Hanna leads her into the kitchen and settles her down at the table. She quickly inserts a capsule in the Nespresso machine and fixes her a coffee.
“Milk?”
Zuhra shakes her head.
Hanna takes the chair opposite her. She seems very young—no more than eighteen or nineteen.
“Where are you from?”
“Uzbekistan.”
“Have you been in Sweden for long?”
Zuhra makes a gesture that is impossible to interpret.
She still looks scared.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Hanna assures her. “It was an accident—no harm done.”
Silence. Zuhra fingers her cup. Her nails are bitten very short, and her lips haven’t stopped trembling. She is almost motionless, as if she’s not sure whether she’s allowed to move.
“No people home,” she blurts out eventually. “I clean every other week, house empty.”
Now it all makes sense. Hanna tries to explain that her sister has lent her the house at short notice and presumably forgot to inform Zuhra’s employer that Hanna would be here for a few weeks.
Hanna isn’t surprised that Lydia has a cleaner. It’s typical of her to make sure the place is spotless regardless of whether the family is there. However, she can’t quite see why Zuhra is so agitated. Could this be a cash-in-hand arrangement, off the books so to speak? It’s hard to believe that Lydia would do such a thing. She is a well-known lawyer; her reputation is worth far more than a few thousand saved on cleaning costs.
Zuhra has finished her coffee. “I clean now?” she says, getting up a little too quickly.
“Of course. I’ll keep out of your way.”
The only response is a nervous nod. It’s hard to tell whether Zuhra understands. She scuttles back to the cleaning cupboard, and Hanna hears her assembling the vacuum cleaner.
As Hanna heads for the shower, she can’t shake off her unease. That terrified expression in Zuhra’s eyes, the way she cowers as if she is afraid of being struck.
The girl’s reaction makes Hanna think of other women she has met during the course of her work as a police officer.
Frightened women who are abused by their partners.
OceanofPDF.com
36
Afterward Daniel will always remember exactly where he was when the news came in.
The team has gathered in the conference room to plan the search. Two men from Mountain Rescue are there, along with a woman from the Local Defense Volunteers with her gray hair tied back in a high ponytail. Raffe, Anton, and Daniel are seated at the top of the table.
The map they used yesterday evening is spread out in front of them.
?stersund is linked via Zoom. Birgitta Grip is sitting to the right on the screen. There is no mistaking the concern on her lined face as she listens to the briefing.
The gravity of the situation is clear in the tone of the meeting. No one interrupts, and the sarcastic quips that are sometimes used to lighten the atmosphere are notable by their absence.