Chapter 20
The call comes at nine forty-two.
When Daniel’s phone rings he is in his pajamas in the kitchen, clearing up after breakfast while Alice runs back and forth, happily fetching one toy after another from her room. Everything he gathered up the previous evening is rapidly being spread across the living room floor.
He sees from the display that it’s his boss, Birgitta Grip. His muscles automatically tense. A call from Grip on a Sunday morning when he is not on duty is unlikely to involve good news.
“Morning,” he says. “Has something happened?”
“We have a situation in Sadeln.” Lengthy greetings are not Grip’s thing. “A young woman aged about twenty has died. She was found outdoors at one of the second homes—already dead, according to the person who called.”
Daniel clutches the edge of the sink with his free hand. Cases involving young people are more difficult to deal with; they make his skin crawl in a particular way.
He glances toward Alice.
He constantly worries about his daughter’s safety. That is the consequence of having seen too much evil, too many repulsive crimes. He is permanently aware that life can be turned upside down at any moment, with no warning.
“Are we looking at a homicide?” Daniel keeps his tone neutral, not wanting his boss to hear how her words are affecting him.
“Too early to say. It could be an accident. Can you drive over and take a look?”
What is he going to do with Alice?
He can hardly take a two-year-old to a possible crime scene, nor can he tell Grip that he doesn’t have a babysitter. He already has his hands full dealing with the shared custody scenario; he doesn’t want it to impact his work situation or how his colleagues regard him.
He sighs quietly. There is only one solution. He will have to ask Ida’s mom if she can watch Alice for a few hours, although this is unlikely to win him any bonus points with his ex if she finds out.
But right now he has no choice.
“I’m on my way.”
“Good. See if you can get a hold of Hanna too.”
Daniel seems to remember that Hanna said she was going away this weekend, and that she isn’t working tomorrow either.
When they were driving back from ?stersund on Thursday, he had asked how she was going to celebrate her birthday.
He had been on the verge of suggesting dinner at Broken, one of their favorite restaurants, if she didn’t have other plans.
But Hanna had mumbled something about not being around, without offering any further details. He had found it strange that she was so vague, as if she didn’t want to share her plans with him.
“I think she’s away,” Daniel says. “It was her thirty-seventh birthday yesterday.”
“Okay, see if Anton can go with you.”
Anton, who used to be based in ?re as a general investigator, is now attached to the Serious Crimes Unit in ?stersund. He took up the post back in the fall.
“Call me as soon as you’ve assessed the situation.”
Grip’s tone is challenging, and Daniel understands why. Over the past few years a number of harrowing murders have occurred in the area, and the police have had to cope with limited resources. Both the local population and local industry have begun to worry about ?re’s reputation.
Every year hundreds of thousands of visitors come to Scandinavia’s largest ski resort, and everything depends on retaining a good name.
Many articles have appeared in the press, highlighting the police’s lack of capacity and declining clear-up rate, and complaining about their inability to create a sense of security for both residents and visitors.
The council has also applied pressure, demanding clear improvements.
A young woman found dead in the snow is the last thing they need.
This winter has been relatively calm, and Daniel had hoped it would stay that way. They still haven’t gotten on top of the staffing situation; they haven’t managed to find enough investigators who want to work on violent crime in J?mtland and H?rjedalen.
He goes into the bedroom and starts to get changed as he ends the call with Grip.
“I’ll be in touch as soon as possible.”