The Bomber Read Online Free PDF

said.
     
     
Quick release of breath. "What part?"
     
     
"The insider theory. We want to keep it secret. The alarms were fully functional but had been disarmed. Someone has died, that's true. We don't know who yet." He sounded completely exhausted.
     
     
"When will you find out?"
     
     
"Don't know. It could prove difficult to establish the victim's identity visually, if I may put it that way. But we do seem to have certain other leads. That's all I can say."
     
     
"Man or woman?"
     
     
He hesitated. "Not now," he said and hung up.
     
     
Annika darted out to Jansson. "The death has been confirmed, but they still don't know who it is."
     
     
"Mincemeat, eh?" Jansson said.
     
     
She swallowed and nodded.
     
     
    * * *
Helena Starke woke up with a hangover that was out of this world. As long as she stayed in bed it was all right, but when she got up to get a glass of water she threw up on the mat in the hallway. She stayed panting on all fours for a while before she could make it into the bathroom. There she filled the toothbrush glass with water and gulped it down. Dear God, she was never going to drink again. She lifted her gaze to meet her bloodshot eyes among the toothpaste specks in the mirror. Christ, would she never learn? She opened the bathroom cabinet and fumbled with the Tylenol container. She swallowed three with a great deal of water and prayed she'd keep them down.
     
     
Helena staggered out into the kitchen and sat down by the table. The seat was cold against her naked thighs. How much did she drink last night? The brandy bottle stood on the worktop, empty. She leaned her cheek against the tabletop and searched for memories of the night before. The restaurant, the music, peoples' faces— it was all one big flashback. Christ, she couldn't even remember how she got home! Christina was with her, wasn't she? They left the restaurant together, didn't they?
     
     
She groaned, stood up, and filled a jug with water that she took with her to the bedroom. On her way to the bedroom, she scrambled together the hall mat and threw it in the laundry basket in the wardrobe; she nearly threw up again from the stench.
     
     
The clock radio by the bed said five to nine. She groaned. The older she got, the earlier she woke up, especially if she'd been drinking. In years gone by she'd been able to sleep it off for a whole day. Not any more. Now she woke early, sick as a dog, and then spent the rest of the day sweating in bed. She'd drift off for short periods, but she couldn't sleep. Mustering all her energy, Helena reached for the jug. She piled the pillows up against the headboard and settled herself against them. Then she saw her clothes from last night folded up in a neat pile on the chest of drawers by the window, and a shiver went up her spine. Who the hell had put them there like that? Probably she did. That was the scariest thing about having blackouts when you drank: You went around like a zombie, doing normal things without having a clue. She shuddered and switched on the radio. She might as well listen to the news while waiting for the Tylenol to kick in.
     
     
The main news this morning made her throw up again. She also knew that there would be no more rest for Helena Starke today.
     
     
After flushing her vomit down the toilet, she picked up the phone and called Christina.
     
     
    * * *
The news agency TT ran Annika's information at 9:34 A.M. So, Kvällspressen had been first with the report of a victim at the Olympic blast. Their headlines ran: OLYMPIC BLAST KILLS ONE and THE HUNT IS ON FOR THE BOMBER.
     
     
The last one was a gamble, but Jansson argued it would hold. Henriksson's picture from the Olympic flame dominated most of the center spread. It was a striking image: the illuminated circle beyond the hole made by the bomb, the men bent forward, the falling snowflakes. It was extremely nasty without being macabre. No blood, no body, only the knowledge of what the men were doing. They had