Hidden in Snow (The ?re Murders, #1)(84)
She tries again.
“Who hit you?” she asks solicitously. “You can tell me— I’m on your side.”
It can often be a relief for a victim to talk about the abuse, but Zuhra doesn’t appear to fall into that category.
She carries on cleaning without looking at Hanna.
“Do you have a cell phone?”
Zuhra shakes her head. “You go now. Boss very angry when I speak to . . . other girl.”
What other girl?
“Who was that?”
Zuhra doesn’t reply.
“Who did you speak to?”
Nothing.
Hanna doesn’t want to give up. She looks around the room, searching for something to write on. In the drawer of the nightstand, she finds a pen and an old grocery-store receipt. She jots down her phone number.
“Here,” she says. “You can call me anytime if you need help. In the middle of the night, if necessary.”
Zuhra takes the piece of paper and tucks it into the pocket of her jeans. Her eyes are shining with unshed tears.
“You go,” she pleads. “Please.”
OceanofPDF.com
89
Daniel is on his way to the conference room for a briefing with ?stersund. He is tired and in a bad mood. Ida was far from happy when he finally got home yesterday evening.
Alice woke up crying several times during the night. His inbox is already full, even though he worked late yesterday and came in early today.
He is failing on all fronts.
Anton and Raffe are already seated, but there is no sign of Hanna. She comes rushing in with a big bundle of papers under her arm just as he activates the link.
“Sorry I’m late,” she says, her cheeks flushed red. “My alarm clock didn’t go off.” Her hair is tousled and her expression apologetic as she pulls out the chair next to Anton.
Birgitta Grip and two colleagues appear on the screen.
The prosecutor isn’t there, but Daniel hadn’t expected him to be.
“Welcome to the team,” Birgitta says warmly to Hanna before handing over to Daniel.
He summarizes the interviews with Lasse Sandahl and Fredrik Bergfors, as well as Harald Halvorssen’s thoughts about the poisoned dog. Anton reports back on the cabin owners they spoke to yesterday—nothing new there. A number of calls have come in following the appeal for information, but none that are deemed important. A couple of people in Amanda’s circle of friends have a criminal record, but not for offenses that would make them suspects in this case; it’s mostly illegal snowmobile driving and the theft of a moped.
The discussion goes back and forth.
Fredrik Bergfors is considered a possible perpetrator.
There is no ignoring the fact that he has an obvious motive.
He owns both an SUV and a snowmobile and is an experienced snowmobile driver who often travels around in the mountains. A former business partner who got into a legal tussle with Bergfors has expressed the view that “he knows how to hold a grudge.”
He also has the physique to handle Amanda’s dead body.
Amanda’s boyfriend is also still in the picture. Viktor is certainly strong enough to have overpowered Amanda and carried her when she was unconscious. His violent background counts against him, as do the statistics. Daniel has seen him lose his temper, and there are witnesses from the party who described the argument with Amanda just before she left Ebba’s house.
Daniel is doing his best to keep an open mind. It’s essential not to become fixated on one theory too early in the investigation.
“What else do we know about Sandahl?” Birgitta asks.
“Now he’s admitted making a pass at Amanda, we have to regard him as a suspect too.”
Daniel turns to Anton. “Check if he has a record and see if he or Bergfors has a link to Ull?dalen.”
Anton nods and makes a note.
They divide up the day’s tasks. Mira Bergfors must be interviewed as soon as possible, since her husband gave her as his alibi for the night Amanda disappeared. They also need to hear what she has to say about her relationship with Harald.
“Shouldn’t we follow up this business of Amanda’s job?”
Hanna says. “It’s strange that her adviser says one thing and her father another.”
Daniel had almost forgotten about that anomaly.
“Maybe she lied to Sandahl, made something up to explain her poor grades?” he suggests.
Hanna nods. “Possibly. We could speak to her best friend again. She might know things that Amanda kept from her parents. I can take care of that.”
“Okay, good idea,” Daniel says, then changes his mind.
It seems sensible to work with Hanna during the first few days in her new post, but he has a couple of things to do first. “Actually, let’s do it together. We’ll leave in an hour— start with Ebba, then move on to Mira Bergfors after lunch.”
OceanofPDF.com
90
Ebba is home alone when the doorbell rings. Her parents are at work, and her kid brother is in school. She is lying in bed, surfing the net, which she has been doing almost constantly for the last few days.
She has no energy.
She hasn’t been to school since the day Amanda went missing and has no idea how she will ever be able to go back there again. She can’t face the others’ inquiring looks; everyone knows that she and Amanda have been best friends since they were little. They have adjoining lockers.