Exposed Read Free Page B

murdered. When, where, how? We’ll have to get hold of the man who found her and talk to him. You got his name, didn’t you?’
    ‘He’s an addict. His friend gave a care-of address for the tip-off money.’
    ‘Try to get hold of him. The police emergency room will have the details of the call they received,’ Berit said, ticking off one of the things on her list.
    ‘Already done.’
    ‘Good. Then we need to get hold of a policeman who’s prepared to talk. Their press spokesman never says anything off the record. Did that Hawaiian detective give his name?’
    ‘Nope.’
    ‘That’s a shame. Try to find out. I’ve never seen him before; he might well be new in violent crime. Then we need to find out when she died, and why. And if they have any suspects, what’s next for the investigation, the whole police angle.’
    ‘Okay,’ Annika said, making notes in her own pad.
    ‘God, it’s hot. Has it ever been this hot in Stockholm before?’ Berit said, wiping the sweat from her brow.
    ‘No idea,’ Annika said. ‘I only moved here seven weeks ago.’
    Berit took a tissue from her bag and dabbed at her forehead.
    ‘Right, then we’ve got the victim,’ she said. ‘Who was she? Who identified her? Presumably there’s a devastated family somewhere in Sweden – we need to think about whether or not to contact them. We need pictures of the girl when she was alive. Do you think she was over eighteen?’
    Annika thought for a moment, remembering the breast enlargements.
    ‘Yes, probably.’
    ‘So there should be pictures of her from her school graduation. All kids stay on through high school these days. And there are always pictures of them wearing their graduation caps. What do her friends have to say? Did she have a boyfriend?’
    Annika made some more notes.
    ‘Then there’s the neighbours’ reactions,’ Berit went on. ‘We’re right in the middle of Stockholm – there are more than three hundred thousand women living in thevicinity. A crime like this has implications for everyone’s security. What impact will it have on nightlife, on the image of the city? Well, that’s probably two articles. If you take the neighbours, I’ll take the rest.’
    Annika nodded without looking up.
    ‘And then there’s one last aspect,’ Berit said, dropping her pad to her lap. ‘There was an almost identical case to this one just a hundred metres or so away, twelve or thirteen years ago.’
    Annika looked up in surprise.
    ‘If I remember rightly, a young woman was raped and murdered on some steps on the north side of the park,’ Berit said thoughtfully. ‘The killer was never caught.’
    ‘Bloody hell,’ Annika said. ‘So it could be the same bloke?’
    Berit shrugged. ‘Probably not. But we’ll have to mention the other murder. A lot of people are bound to remember it. The woman was raped, then strangled.’
    Annika gulped. ‘God, this is a terrible job really, isn’t it?’ she said.
    ‘Yes, it really is,’ Berit said. ‘But it’ll be a lot easier if you manage to get hold of our Hawaiian detective before he leaves the park.’
    She pointed towards Sankt Göransgatan, where the man in the Hawaiian shirt had just left the cemetery. He was walking towards a car parked on the corner of Kronobergsgatan. Annika flew up, grabbed her bag and rushed down towards the road. She could see the reporter from the other paper trying to talk to the detective, but he simply brushed him aside.
    Just then Annika stumbled on the kerb of a path and almost fell. Unable to slow down, she careered down the steep slope towards the street. There was nothing she could do to stop herself crashing into the back of theHawaiian detective, who was thrown onto the bonnet of his car.
    ‘What the hell!’ he yelled, grabbing Annika’s arms in a vicelike grip.
    ‘Sorry,’ she squeaked. ‘I couldn’t help it. I lost my balance.’
    ‘What the hell are you playing at? Are you mad?’
    The man was shaken, and not a little