Silver Tears(45)

She groaned.

“You’ll be the death of me, Alice.”

“Sweetie, I’m a Liding? housewife. I know how to get rid of a hangover.”

The cocktails arrived, and with a desperate but hopeful look at Alice, Ylva took both glasses.

“I’m trusting you right now.”

“You can always trust me,” Alice said magnanimously.

Faye looked amused as Ylva downed her tequila shot in one go with a grimace.

“Bottoms up. But now I really want to know why you dragged us all the way to Amsterdam. Right in the middle of a monumental crisis.”

“The Swedish Patent and Registration Office,” Ylva said.

Alice, who had just taken a big mouthful of her cosmopolitan, coughed her drink onto the table.

“The Swedish Patent and Registration Office?” she said, wiping her mouth.

Faye was also staring at Ylva, who reached for her Long Island iced tea. She was actually gaining a bit of color.

“They’re having a conference here this weekend. At this hotel. The big party’s tonight…”

“And?” Alice said with irritation.

“Yes—I’m not sure I’m with you either,” Faye said, holding out her hands.

“Revenge. Rights. Patents. Plan B?” Ylva attempted.

Faye shook her head.

“Nope. Still not with you. Alice?”

Alice shook her head too and then winked at a man at the next table.

“Alice, focus and I’ll explain,” said Ylva.

Faye noticed that Ylva was enjoying being one step ahead. She was welcome to this one.



“But seriously, Ylva…what are we supposed to do about the fact that the Patent and Registration Office is here?”

Ylva gave a wry smile. She looked around, lowered her voice, and explained her plan in short. Alice laughed out loud.

“That’s genius, Ylva! You’re amazing.”

“You too, Alice. And you’re going to be an important resource tonight.”

Faye raised her eyebrows.

“Do you have any idea what you’re unleashing here, Ylva?”

“I’m counting on the fact that I do,” Ylva said with a grin.

An hour later, the three of them were all tipsy and Ylva pointed at the bar.

“There. Kent, B?rje, and Eyvind.”

She looked at Faye and Alice.

“You know what you have to do?”

“You’ve explained that most clearly,” Faye said, downing a Hot Shot.

“We’re hot, we’re funny, we’re smart,” said Ylva, still keeping her eye on the men at the bar. “It’ll be like taking candy from a baby. We’ll just have to hope they don’t recognize you, Faye.”

“They work at the Patent and Registration Office. I hardly think they’ll know who Faye is,” Alice said thickly, and Ylva hushed her.

“They’re not the only ones who are here. The whole department is. But they’re not due to eat dinner for another two hours. We’ve got time.”

Alice stood up, swaying slightly.

“Time to pull ourselves together,” said Ylva, steadying her.

Alice took a deep red lipstick from her handbag and applied it liberally to her lips.

“Mes dames,” Ylva said, making an ushering gesture toward the bar.

Alice strode up to Kent, B?rje, and Eyvind on her long legs.

“Did I hear you speaking Swedish?”

The men looked at Alice in delight and were even more delighted when Ylva and Faye joined them. Three drinks later—on the Patent Office’s tab—the six of them were on their way up to Faye’s big suite for a cocktail aperitif.



Ylva had picked out Kent, while Faye was charming B?rje and Eyvind was close at Alice’s side with puppy dog eyes.

When they reached the room, Ylva had prepared a drinks table with every form of alcohol and mixer anyone could ever ask for.

The men exchanged small yelps of delight.

“Bloody hell, what a place! B?rje, we haven’t got rooms like this!”

“Jesus Christ, Kent, this is what I call a hotel room! This must be one of those soooouuuuites!”

“Suite,” Alice said, throwing herself onto the sofa and pulling Eyvind alongside her. “Faye, darling. Won’t you mix me and this sweetie a G&T each?”

Faye stifled a smile. Alice was eating poor Eyvind for breakfast.

She made a drink each for Alice and Eyvind and then turned her attention to B?rje and Kent. B?rje was looking at his watch anxiously.

“Isn’t dinner in an hour?”

“Don’t worry,” Kent said quickly, happily accepting an enormous drink from Ylva. “We’ll have a quick drink here with the ladies, and we’ll be down in time for when it starts. It’s fashionable to be late, anyway!”

Eyvind mumbled in agreement, his eyes firmly fixed on Alice’s neckline. She put an arm around him and smoothed back the hair at his temple.

Ylva and Faye exchanged a look. They had mixed the drinks using little but spirits. Given how much the men had drunk down in the bar, they wouldn’t notice how strong the drinks were.

Faye discreetly checked that she had her mobile phone close at hand and she saw Ylva do the same.

Before long, both B?rje and Kent had nodded off on the sofa. Alice leaned closer to Eyvind and licked his ear. Faye took out her mobile phone. She took care to ensure that Alice looked good in the photo. She was always meticulous about things like that.