Marked for Life by Emelie Schepp Page B

had gone along with it too. Once, at any rate. Exactly four weeks ago.
    Henrik smothered a bit of heartburn. The next time it would be only salad.
    * * *
    When Henrik and Mia entered the conference room they were met by the news that police officer Gabriel Mellqvist had fainted while knocking on doors in Lindö. He had been found by an elderly lady who had heard her doorbell ring a number of times. But since she was confined to a wheelchair, she couldn’t hurry to the door. When she finally opened it, she saw the policeman lying on the ground.
    â€œLuckily Hanna Hultman had come to his aid and in Gabriel’s pocket found a glucose syringe that she jabbed into his thigh,” said Gunnar. “That was the bad news. The good news is that we’ve found a security camera outside the lady’s house. It is directed toward the street—it’s positioned here.”
    Gunnar put an X on the map of the residential area that was hanging beside the time line posted on the wall.
    The whole team was in the room. All except Jana, which pleased Mia.
    â€œIn the best case, the events from Sunday will still be on a server somewhere. I want you, Ola, to check that straightaway.”
    â€œNow?” said Ola Söderström.
    â€œYes, now.”
    He got up.
    â€œHang on,” said Henrik. “I think you’ve got some more to do. We’ve confiscated Hans Juhlén’s computer and need to go through it.”
    â€œDid the interview with Lena Wikström lead to anything?”
    â€œShe doesn’t share Kerstin Juhlén’s picture of Hans. According to Kerstin, Hans always worked on his computer. According to his secretary, Lena, he never did. I think it’s a little odd that they would have such different impressions.”
    Ola, Gunnar and Anneli Lindgren agreed.
    â€œLena also didn’t think that Hans Juhlén was as stressed as his wife claimed,” said Henrik.
    â€œBut that’s only what she says. I believe he was bloody worried. I would be too if there had been a lot of shit thrown at me in the newspapers and threatening notes too,” said Mia.
    â€œExactly,” said Ola.
    â€œLena said that there was always a security aspect concerning asylum seekers who weren’t granted asylum. So we’ve asked for a list of all the people who have sought asylum so far this year,” said Henrik.
    â€œFine, anything else?” said Gunnar.
    â€œNo,” said Henrik. Going door-to-door hadn’t produced much, except for the potential security footage.
    â€œNo witnesses?” said Mia.
    â€œNo. Not a one,” said Gunnar.
    â€œIt’s just bloody crazy. Didn’t anybody see anything?” said Mia. “So we’ve got fuck-all to go on.”
    â€œFor the time being we have no witnesses. Zero. Nada. So we’ll have to hope that the security camera will give us something. Ola, check if we can get hold of the images right away,” Gunnar said and turned to Ola. “Then you can go through Hans’s computer. I’ll see if the call logs from the provider are ready. If not, I’ll phone and pester them till they are. Anneli, you go back to the crime scene and see if you can find anything new. Anything at all would do in the present situation.”

CHAPTER
NINE
    AT FIRST THE girl had cried hysterically. But now she felt calm. She had never felt like this before. Everything happened as if in slow motion.
    She sat with her now heavy head bent over her thighs, her arms hanging limply from her sides, almost numb now. The engine in the van in which they were traveling growled weakly. Her thighs were stinging. She had wet herself when her captors had gripped her hard and pushed a needle into her arm.
    Now she looked slowly up toward her left upper arm at the little red mark. It was really tiny. She giggled. Really tiny. Teeny weeny. The syringe was also really tiny.
    The van jerked and the asphalt turned into gravel. The girl