Vanished Read Online Free PDF Page A

you?’
    Annika tried to smile.
    ‘I’m fine, thanks. A little tired.’
    Aiming a playful punch at her shoulder, the man winked.
    ‘Rough night, huh?’
    She got up, picked up her paper and collected her bag and her coat.
    ‘Extremely rough,’ she said. ‘Just me and these seven guys.’
    Sjölander chuckled.
    ‘You really know how to party.’
    She held the paper under the crime-desk editor’s nose.
    ‘I was working,’ she said. ‘What’s the deal with this free-port thing?’
    He gazed at her for a few seconds, then pushed the hair off his forehead.
    ‘No ID found on the bodies,’ he said. ‘No keys, no money, no weapons, no gum, no condoms.’
    ‘They were picked clean,’ Annika said.
    Sjölander nodded.
    ‘The police don’t have any leads, they don’t even know who the victims were. Their prints aren’t in any Swedish records.’
    ‘So they don’t have a clue, then? What about their clothes?’
    The crime-desk editor went over to his desk and switched on his computer.
    ‘Their coats, jeans and shoes came from Italy, France and the US, but their underwear had Cyrillic letters on the labels.’
    Annika looked up.
    ‘Imported designer clothing,’ she said, ‘but cheap local underwear. Sounds like the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslav Republic or Bulgaria.’
    ‘Kind of interested in the crime beat, aren’t you?’ Sjölander said with a grin.
    He knew, they all knew. She shrugged.
    ‘You know what it’s like, a leopard never changes its spots.’
    Annika turned around and walked over to the night desk. Heard Sjölander snort behind her back. Why do I go along with it? she asked herself.
    She started up the computer to the right of the night desk, drew up her legs as she sat down and settled into position with her chin resting on one knee. Might as well check and see if anything’s happened. She waited patiently for all the programs to start up. Opened one when the screen was ready. Read, checked, clicked.
    ‘Hey, Bengtzon, what’s your extension number?’
    She turned and saw Sjölander waving a receiver, shouted out her number and got him on the line.
    ‘This broad wants to talk about the Social Services, something to do with troubled women,’ the crime-desk editor said. ‘I’m pretty busy. Besides, it’s, um, more your turf. What do you say?’
    She closed her eyes, took a few breaths, swallowed.
    ‘I haven’t actually gone on duty yet,’ she said. ‘I was going to check out . . .’
    ‘Are you going to take it, or shall I blow her off?’
    Sigh.
    ‘All right, put her on.’
    A voice, cool and calm.
    ‘Hello, I’d like to speak to someone, it’s confidential.’
    ‘Newspapers have a confidentiality clause,’ Annika said while letting her eyes skim over the new agency reports on the screen. ‘Now, what would you like to tell me?’
    Click, click. The big game between the local soccer favourites had ended in a tie.
    ‘I’m not sure I’ve reached the right department. This is about a new set-up, a new way to protect people whose lives are threatened.’
    Annika stopped reading.
    ‘Really?’ she said. ‘How does it work?’
    The woman hesitated.
    ‘I have information about a unique way of providing people under threat with a new lease on life. The method is not common knowledge, but I’ve been authorized to issue this information to the media. I would like to do so in a controlled and orderly fashion, which is why I’m wondering if I could contact any of your associates?’
    She didn’t want to hear this, didn’t want to care. So she stared at the screen: Some households still had to make do without electricity and there had been new missile attacks on Grozny. She cradled her head in one hand.
    ‘Could you send me a letter or a fax?’ she asked.
    The woman remained silent for quite some time.
    ‘Hello?’ Annika said, preparing to hang up with a sense of relief.
    ‘I prefer to talk face to face, in safe surroundings,’ the woman said.
    She sagged over