The Disappeared Read Online Free PDF Page B

any of the interviews during the course of the original investigation. And we spoke to every single person Rebecca knew. We went through everyone she’d been in touch with on the telephone, we checked out every friend listed as a contact in her email address book, but nobody mentioned the fact that she was pregnant.’
    ‘So no one knew?’ Fredrika said.
    ‘It looks that way,’ Alex replied. ‘In which case we have to ask why. Why doesn’t a young girl tell anyone she’s four months pregnant?’
    ‘Four months,’ Peder echoed. ‘Wouldn’t it have shown?’
    ‘If it had, somebody would have told us,’ Alex said.
    ‘She must have confided in someone,’ Fredrika insisted.
    ‘The father, perhaps?’ said Peder. ‘Who wasn’t very pleased to hear the news, and killed her?’
    ‘Then chopped up the body,’ said Alex.
    He pointed to the photographs.
    ‘There are two main reasons why a perpetrator dismembers the body of his victim. One: to make identification more difficult. Two: because he’s a sick bastard who enjoys sadistic activities. But in that case he would probably bury the whole lot in one place.’
    ‘Perhaps both reasons apply,’ Fredrika suggested.
    Alex looked at her.
    ‘Maybe. In which case we’re in real trouble. Because Rebecca might not be the only victim.’
    ‘But if we bring the pregnancy into our hypothesis, that makes it personal,’ Peder said.
    ‘Absolutely, which is why we’re going to start from there,’ Alex said. ‘Who was the child’s father, and why did nobody know she was pregnant?’
    ‘What happened in the original investigation?’ Fredrika asked. ‘Did you manage to narrow down a list of suspects?’
    ‘There was talk of a new boyfriend, and we threw everything into looking for him, but we never found him. It was a peculiar story from start to finish. We couldn’t find any trace of him – not in phone calls or in her emails. Nobody knew his name, but several people claimed they had “heard about him”. He hovered over the entire investigation like an evil spirit, but we never saw him. We didn’t find any other credible suspects.’
    Peder frowned.
    ‘There was also an ex-girlfriend.’
    ‘Daniella.’
    ‘Exactly, so how come Rebecca suddenly had a boyfriend?’
    Alex looked weary.
    ‘How the hell should I know? Her mother described her as a seeker. She’d had several boyfriends, but only one girlfriend.’
    ‘Was this Daniella ever a suspect?’ Fredrika asked.
    ‘We considered that as a working hypothesis for a while,’ Alex replied. ‘But she had an alibi, and we couldn’t really come up with a motive.’
    ‘And what about Håkan Nilsson?’ Peder wondered.
    A smile flitted across Alex’s face, got lost among the lines and disappeared. That short-lived smile had become the characteristic sign of his grief.
    ‘We looked very carefully at Håkan. Not at first, but later on when we had no other leads to follow. His eagerness to help, his campaign to make sure she was found at any price – it all seemed to indicate rather more than friendship. It was almost manic. When her other friends just couldn’t go on any longer, Håkan was still there all on his own, still searching.’
    ‘The person who has the most to hide . . .’
    ‘. . . is the most keen to show he cares. I know. But in Håkan’s case, I don’t think that was true.’
    When Alex paused, Peder spoke up.
    ‘He lives in Midsommarkransen, Alex. We need to take another look at him.’
    Alex straightened up. That was something he hadn’t been aware of.
    ‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘We have to look at everyone again, but particularly Håkan. Put him under surveillance and see where he goes.’
    Alex glanced at Fredrika.
    ‘And you and I will go and see Diana Trolle, Rebecca’s mother.’
    They hardly spoke on the way to Diana Trolle’s house. Alex could feel Fredrika’s questions hanging in the air – how were things, was he lonely, how did it feel to be back at work? He had