Hunted by Arne Dahl

Author:Arne Dahl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House

23

Sunday 22 November, 14.07

They were walking in the forest. It was grey and bitterly cold, and about half the time she regretted the decision to set out for a Sunday walk in the Trångsund Forest. The other half supported the impulse: it could be the last chance before the snow and frost slapped their six-month-long lid on experiences of nature.

And she wanted to give Lykke as many experiences of nature as possible in a world that was becoming ever more virtual, ever more unnatural. It was actually possible to drag her away from Facebook and Instagram, even if Snapchat was harder: every now and then she saw her daughter glance surreptitiously down at her jacket pocket.

Johnny was still working weekends, so it was just Deer and Lykke and the seeming endlessness of the forest, which made the ringtone of her mobile sound even more jarring than usual.

They were standing in a glade that opened on to the dramatic drop down towards the water of Drevviken. Lykke was in one of her impetuous moods, and Deer was doing her best to calm her down. She’d be damned if her daughter was going to fall off a cliff just because she had answered her phone. Especially given the identity of the caller, she thought as she looked at the screen. With some effort she managed to stop Lykke, sighed and answered, ‘What did we say about this, Sam?’

‘We’ve found three more victims,’ Berger said in a tinny voice.

‘What?’ Deer exclaimed.

‘I’ve emailed the documentation to you. You’ve been searching every police register for alternative formulations of ‘four-leaf clover on buttock’, just so you know. You identified three potential victims of the same killer. You’ve now studied the files and can say with certainty that they all have an ink drawing of a four-leaf clover on one buttock. In Malmö, Växjö and Täby. You’ve been sitting in your garage in your own time working on this. That ought to satisfy the NOD.’

‘You’ve certainly got the bit between your teeth up there, wherever you are.’

‘Has Robin sent a report from Sorsele?’

‘Only to say how delighted he was at the prospect of going up there on a Sunday morning. I don’t think he and his team have got there yet; I got one of my contacts to call the police in Arjeplog, and then everything took its time.’

‘Three victims, but not three bodies,’ Berger went on. ‘One of the women survived, badly wounded and severely traumatised after being held captive for a day and a half. She could hardly speak when the police spoke to her so wasn’t able to provide any information. The Täby police decided to wait for her to recover, but when they got round to making another attempt she’d already discharged herself from Danderyd Hospital. A couple of days later she and her girlfriend checked into a flight to Manila. And that’s where the trail goes cold.’

‘Manila in the Philippines?’

‘Yes. This was in July 2012, and since then there’s been no trace of Farida Hesari, now twenty-six years old.

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