Unwanted Read Free Page B

car, of course, but he was very happy indeed to have landed a job on the plain-clothes side.
    Alex gave Peder a nod as they caught sight of each other, and his look expressed something close to gratitude for his colleague’s presence.
    ‘I was on my way from a meeting on the edge of town when I got the message that the child was missing, so I thought I’d pick up Fredrika on the way and come straight here,’ Alex explained briefly to Peder. ‘I’m not really planning to stick around, just wanted to get out for a bit of fresh air,’ he went on, and gave his colleague a knowing look.
    ‘You mean you wanted to get your feet on the ground as a change from being chained to your desk?’ grinned Peder, and received a weary nod in reply.
    In spite of the significant age gap between them, the two men were entirely in agreement on that point. You were never so far up the hierarchy that you didn’t need to see the real shit. And you were never as far from reality as when you were behind your desk.
    Both men assumed, however, that Fredrika did not share this view, and therefore said nothing more about it.
    ‘Okay,’ said Alex instead. ‘Here’s what we’ll do. Fredrika can take the initial interview with the child’s mother and you, Peder, can talk to the train crew and also find out if any of the other passengers who are still here can give you any information. We should really play it by the book and interview in pairs, but I can’t see there’s time to organize that just now.’
    Fredrika was very happy with this division of duties, but thought she could detect some dissatisfaction in Peder’s face. Dissatisfaction that she, not he, would get to tackle the mother of the missing child. Alex must have seen it too, as he added:
    ‘The only reason Fredrika’s dealing with the mother is that she’s a woman. It tends to make things a bit easier.’
    Peder instantly looked a little more cheerful.
    ‘Okay, see you back at the station later,’ said Alex gruffly. ‘I’m off back there now.’
    Fredrika sighed. ‘The only reason Fredrika’s dealing with . . .’ It was always the same. Every decision to entrust her with a task had to be defended. She was a foreign body in a foreign universe. Her whole presence was questionable and demanded constant explanation. Fredrika felt so indignant that she forgot to reflect on the fact that Alex had not only entrusted her with interviewing the mother, but he’d also let her do it alone. She was virtually counting the days until her time in Alex Recht’s investigation team was over. She was planning to finish her probationary period and then leave. There were other agencies where her qualifications were more desirable, albeit less urgently needed.
    I shall look over my shoulder one last time and then never look back again, thought Fredrika, seeing in her mind’s eye the day she would stride out of the police building, or HQ, as her colleagues generally called it, on Kungsholmen. Then Fredrika turned her attention to a more imminent task. To the missing child.
    She introduced herself politely to Sara Sebastiansson and was surprised at the strength of the woman’s handshake. It belied the anxiety and exhaustion in her face. Fredrika also noted that Sara kept pulling down the sleeves of her top. It looked like a sort of tic or habit, something she did all the time. It was almost as if she was trying to hide her forearms.
    Maybe an attempt to conceal injuries she got when she was defending herself, thought Fredrika. If Sara had a husband who hit her, that was information to be brought to the team’s attention as soon as possible.
    But there were other questions to be asked first.
    ‘We can go inside if you like,’ Fredrika said to Sara. ‘We needn’t stand out here in the rain.’
    ‘I’m all right here,’ said Sara in a voice not far from tears.
    Fredrika pondered this for a moment and then said:
    ‘If you feel you have to be here for your daughter, you have my absolute