Chapter 11
Daniel appears in the doorway of Hanna’s office, his phone pressed to his ear.
“We have to go up to Copperhill right away.” His expression is both alert and serious. “There seems to have been a fatal stabbing at the hotel during the night. One of the guests has been found dead in their room.”
Hanna grabs her jacket and runs to catch up with Daniel on the way to the parking lot. As he reverses the car, he summarizes the information that has come through from regional dispatch in Ume?, via the Serious Crimes Unit in ?stersund.
“The alarm was raised at ten fifty-three.”
“Who called it in?”
“The hotel manager. A maintenance engineer found a dead woman with multiple stab wounds in one of the suites.”
Hanna is lost for words. A murdered woman lying in her own blood is one of the worst sights anyone can see. She has attended this kind of crime scene before, when she worked with victims of domestic violence in Stockholm.
It gave her nightmares.
“The poor guy must have been badly shocked,” she murmurs.
In her head she has already begun to go through everything that will need to be done. She can forget about having any time off over Easter.
Daniel puts his foot down. The speed limit on the highway is fifty miles per hour, but there is no other traffic in sight.
“Are the CSIs on the way?” Hanna wonders.
“Yes, but it will take at least an hour for them to drive up from ?stersund.”
In Norrland most police officers have to spend many hours in their cars simply to attend a crime scene, and the district of J?mtland also includes H?rjedalen.
Hanna hopes that the lead CSI will be Carina Grankvist. They worked together on the case of the dead skier, and she is direct and approachable. Carina is also formally attached to ?stersund, just like Daniel and Hanna, but she lives in Mattmar, which is closer to ?re—only fifty miles away.
“Do we know any more about the victim? Do we have a name?”
Daniel shakes his head. “We’ll find out when we get there.”
The dark-brown building housing the chocolate factory appears on the right. It is directly opposite the turning for Copperhill on the road to Sadeln, where Lydia’s impressive home is located.
Hanna knows the route by heart; she has driven this way many, many times, both in darkness and in daylight.
As they leave the E14, the road becomes steep and narrow. It winds up the mountain, more like an Alpine track in Switzerland than something you would expect to find in rural Sweden. On one side there are amazing frozen waterfalls, while on the other, the view is open and dizzying.
When they reach the center of Bjornen, Daniel takes a sharp right. A small sign points them in the right direction, with Copperhill Mountain Lodge printed in black letters.
After several more twists and turns, the spectacular building appears before them. The hotel is right at the top of Forberget. Hanna has been here for dinner with Lydia and her family, but has never stayed the night. That would be out of the question on a detective’s salary.
The milky morning mist makes her screw up her eyes. The lump in her stomach grows as they approach the crime scene.
Way down below she can just make out Lake ?re like a white strip of ice on the way to the mountains in the west, while on the other side of the lake, the mountain known as Renfj?llet is in shadow.
Daniel finds a space and quickly reverses in. Two patrol cars are already there, parked a little farther away. The parking lot is almost full; Easter is one of the busiest weekends of the season.
“Crap timing,” Hanna comments. “The first day of the school break—the place must be packed.”
Daniel’s expression is grim as he opens the car door. “It’s a tragedy. For the victim, the hotel, and the whole area.”