The Disappeared by Kristina Ohlsson

Nilsson right away, or wait until the following day. The prosecutor made it clear that they would be unable to hold him; the evidence was too weak and mostly circumstantial. However, they could certainly bring him in for questioning.
    Peder went with a uniformed patrol to pick him up. It was almost half past five, and he was hungry. They stopped off briefly at a fast food kiosk, then carried on.
    Håkan Nilsson opened the door after the second ring. It was obvious that he had been crying, and Peder felt something akin to contempt.
    ‘Håkan Nilsson? May we come in?’
    Peder briefly outlined the reason for their visit. No doubt Håkan had heard that Rebecca’s body had been found; would he mind coming along to the police station for a short interview? Oh, no, he was no more of a suspect than anyone else, but they would like a chat with him, mainly so that they could eliminate him from their inquiries; he had been so helpful in the past.
    Håkan wasn’t as easily manipulated as Peder had expected. He asked a number of questions, mainly about what had happened when they found Rebecca. What had she looked like? How had she died? He didn’t get any answers.
    Eventually he agreed to accompany them, and they drove back to Kungsholmen. Alex and Peder conducted the interview together.
    ‘Could you tell us how you and Rebecca knew each other?’
    ‘You know that already.’
    Alex looked amused.
    ‘I do,’ he said, ‘but Peder doesn’t. He’s not as familiar with Rebecca’s case as I am.’
    ‘We were at school together, that’s how we became friends.’
    ‘Were you more than friends?’
    Håkan blushed.
    ‘No.’
    ‘But you would have liked to have been?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘OK,’ Peder said. ‘What did you usually do when you met up?’
    Håkan shrugged his narrow shoulders.
    ‘We just used to hang out. Have a coffee, watch TV.’
    ‘How often did you see each other?’
    ‘Now and again.’
    ‘Could you be more precise?’
    ‘Once a week, maybe. Sometimes less often.’
    Peder glanced down at his notebook.
    ‘How did you feel when she went off to study in France?’
    Håkan looked tired.
    ‘I was disappointed.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘I thought we were closer friends than that. It wasn’t so much that she went away, but that she didn’t tell me beforehand.’
    Alex looked surprised.
    ‘She left without saying a word?’
    ‘No, no. Well, almost. She told me a week before she went, something like that.’
    Håkan shifted on his chair.
    ‘But we sorted all that out,’ he went on. ‘There was no animosity between us.’
    Alex gazed at him, frowning.
    ‘You were a great support to the police when she went missing.’
    ‘It was important to me to help out,’ Håkan said.
    ‘Did she mean a lot to you?’ Peder asked.
    Håkan nodded. ‘I didn’t have all that many friends.’
    Peder leaned across the table, his posture more relaxed.
    ‘She was a pretty girl,’ he said.
    ‘She was,’ Håkan agreed. ‘She was lovely.’
    ‘Did you sleep with her?’
    Håkan looked dismayed, and Peder held up his hands in a defensive gesture.
    ‘I don’t mean any harm,’ he assured Håkan. ‘I’m just saying that you were friends, she was pretty, and you might just have fancied her. There’s nothing strange about that, I’m well aware of how these things can happen.’
    Alex gave him a sideways glance, but said nothing. He would rather not hear any more about Peder’s lifestyle than Margareta Berlin had already told him.
    Håkan picked at a cuticle without speaking.
    ‘What Peder is trying to say is that perhaps you just got together one night even though you weren’t a couple,’ Alex said. ‘As Peder said, these things happen, and it’s not the end of the world.’
    ‘It was only the once,’ Håkan said without looking at them.
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us this before?’ Alex asked.
    Håkan looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
    ‘Because it was nothing to do with you. Why do you think, for fuck’s