Anders Knutas 03 - The Inner Circle aka Unknown

by Mari Jungstedt

  "I actually have no idea where she is. She didn't sleep here last night, anyway."

  That would serve him right. She didn't like Jonas. He was a conceited and stubborn kind of guy. It would do him good to suffer a little.

  "She didn't?" He paused with the glass halfway to his lips.

  "No. Her bed wasn't slept in," Eva told him with ill-concealed glee.

  "But that means something might have happened to her."

  "Oh, cut it out. She slept with some guy she met, of course. There were several who seemed interested in her at the concert. Didn't you notice that tall blond guy from Stockholm that she was dancing with? He's probably the one she's with. She thought he was cute."

  Jonas's face grew pale. "Who knows what kind of guy he is, a complete stranger like that. Is he staying here?"

  "My dear boy, she wasn't born yesterday, you know. Martina can take care of herself. She's a grown woman, for God's sake. Besides, I have no idea where he's staying."

  Unperturbed, Eva went back to her yogurt.

  On Sunday afternoon the students gathered to play volleyball on the beach. Martina still hadn't made an appearance. Eva had tried calling her cell phone several times but got no answer. She could at least give us a call, she thought with annoyance. She didn't really know Martina very well; they had only met a few weeks ago. Of course, they'd had fun together, both at the excavation site and during their off-hours, but Eva didn't really know much about her. None of the others seemed to think there was anything strange about the fact that Martina still hadn't shown up.

  Eva tried to shake off a growing sense of concern. Maybe she was being silly, yet she couldn't help feeling seriously worried that something might have happened to her friend. It didn't help matters that Jonas and Mark kept hovering around, asking her where Martina could be.

  MONDAY, JULY 5

  When Martina still hadn't come home by the following morning, Eva decided to call the excavation leader, Staffan Mellgren, even though it was only 6:00 a.m. She didn't care whether she woke him up. She had lain awake most of the night, gripped by a growing sense of dread. Staffan answered the phone after a dozen rings, sounding bleary with sleep. He came wide awake when he heard that one of his students was missing.

  "She's been gone since Saturday night?" he said angrily.

  "Yes." Eva regretted not calling Staffan earlier. "We went to the concert, and then a bunch of us sat out on the hotel porch afterward. Martina left to go to the bathroom, but she never came back. We thought she had gone to bed."

  "What time was that?"

  "Maybe one or two in the morning. I didn't notice the time."

  "What did the rest of you do?"

  "We stayed where we were, talking."

  "Didn't anyone go looking for her when you noticed that she hadn't come back?"

  "No."

  "How long did you stay there after she left?"

  "An hour, maybe two."

  "Has anyone seen her since then?"

  "No, at least nobody who was sitting on the porch that night."

  "And Martina hasn't been heard from since?"

  "No."

  "Are you sure that she hasn't slept in her bed these past two nights?"

  "Of course I'm sure," Eva said in a voice that started to quaver. She couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She was frightened by the fact that he sounded so serious. His reaction confirmed her own feelings, that her concern was justified.

  "We need to call the police. It's the only thing to do."

  "You think so?"

  "Absolutely. Something must have happened, otherwise she would have called. Have you talked to anyone at the front desk in the hotel?"

  "No."

  "Do that. In the meantime, I'll call the police."

  Her legs trembling, Eva ran over to the front desk, which was in the main building. The clerk knew who Martina was but hadn't seen her. She offered to ask the rest of the staff during the course of the morning. Eva sank onto a chair. She punched in the number of her friend's cell phone but no longer got her voice mail. Now a monotone voice informed her: "The party you are trying to reach is temporarily unavailable."

  Knutas and Jacobsson decided to drive out to Warfsholm, since Martina Flochten had been missing for more than twenty-four hours and no one seemed to know where she had gone. She hadn't contacted either her family or her boyfriend back home in the Netherlands.

  Besides, they didn't have anything better to do. The summertime drought had set in, and the investigation of the decapitated horse had come to a standstill. It was a mystery who the perpetrator could be and where the head might be found.

  They first checked at the front desk to see whether Martina's valuables were still in the safe where they'd been kept. Everything was there: her passport, her Visa card, and her insurance documents. So she hadn't left the country—at least not voluntarily.

  They met Martina's roommate, Eva Svensson, on the stairs of the main building. She had shoulder-length ash blond hair, and she was wearing a white cotton camisole, a skirt, and sandals. As she led the way over to the youth hostel, they asked her about Martina.

  "Does she have a boyfriend?" asked Jacobsson.

  "She's seeing this guy back in Holland, or at least she was when she left home. But I actually think she met someone else here on Gotland."

  "Why do you think that?"

  "She's been gone a lot, and sometimes she slips away without giving any explanation."

  "So this isn't unusual? For her to be missing?"

  "The difference is that she hasn't called anyone. She always calls."

  "How well do you know Martina?" Knutas carefully studied the young woman.

  "Not too well. We liked each other at once, and we had a lot of fun right from the start. The course began with two weeks of theory at the college in Visby, so we were in town all the time. Then Martina started going off on her own in the evenings. During the second week I hardly saw her at all."

  "Did you share a room in Visby, too?"

  "No, we all had our own dorm rooms, so we didn't keep tabs on each other the same way we do here. Since we've been here at Warfsholm, she's often gone off on her own. Her excuse is that she has errands to run or that she wants to meditate, but I don't believe it. She's not the type."

  "Has she ever been gone for a whole night before?"

  "One night last week she slept somewhere else. She claimed that she was going to meet some friends of her family in Visby. They usually come here on vacation."

  "Do you know who they are? These friends?"

  "No. I never asked her, and she never told me. I'm not from here, so I wouldn't know them anyway."

  "Couldn't that be what's happened now? That she's simply visiting friends?"

  "I don't think so. She would have called."

  "If she has a boyfriend here, who could it be?" asked Jacobsson.

  "I actually have no idea. I've been trying to figure it out, to see if there's something going on between her and someone in the group, but it's hard to tell because she jokes around with everybody."

  "Why didn't you ask her?"

  "I've tried, but she always changes the subject as soon as I bring it up."

  "Who would she have an opportunity to meet other than the students in the course? You don't have contact with many other people, do you?"

  "No, although there are other guests staying at the hotel and the campground nearby. And she might have met someone in Visby earlier."

  When they stepped into the entryway of the youth hostel, they could tell at once that the building was a venerable old place, even though it had been remodeled. In the hall hung a bulletin board with instructions for everything from parties to fishing trips to the laundry room. From upstairs came the smell of toast, and subdued voices could be heard conversing. The room that Eva and Martina shared was on the ground floor, almost at the end of the corridor. It was long and narrow and cramped, with a window on one wall. A modest, iron-framed bunk bed stood on each side of
the room, with barely enough space to walk between them. A sink with a mirror above it was fastened to one wall. Every nook and cranny was filled with clutter. A tape player stood on the wide windowsill along with bottles of hairspray, cosmetic bags, perfume, nail polish, bags of chips, and CDs. Clothing was either strewn about or hanging from the posts of the top bunks. Several books about the Viking Age signaled that archaeology students were staying in the room. Knutas gave up as soon as he stood in the doorway and saw all the mess. He let Jacobsson search the place on her own. There wasn't enough space for both of them anyway.

  He sat down outside, actually lit his pipe for a change, and made a number of phone calls to see to it that the site was secured. He spoke to Erik Sohlman, who wanted to wait to do a technical examination of Martina's room. For the time being, they had no reason to suspect that a crime had been committed.

  Meanwhile, Jacobsson did her search of the room. Eva had told her which side was Martina's, and Jacobsson began systematically going through the girl's belongings. Her toiletry case was there, containing her toothbrush and a pack of birth control pills, which revealed that Martina hadn't taken any pills since Friday, July 2—which was several days ago. If she had left voluntarily, she would have taken her toiletry case with her, thought Jacobsson as she opened the suitcase that had been shoved under the bed. In addition to clothing it held a number of books, an unopened carton of cigarettes, and some makeup. In a slot she found a photograph of a young man with dark hair and brown eyes. Jacobsson turned it over, but there was nothing written on the back.

  She slipped the picture into her pocket so she could ask Eva about it later and then looked around the cramped room. There wasn't much else to search. Except for the bed, of course. Carefully she removed the floral-patterned cover. There was a rustling sound, and under the pillow she found a page torn out of a newspaper. She sat down on the edge of the bed and unfolded the page. It was an article from Gotlands Allehanda, which had done a story on the first excavation course of the summer. The article was about what the students would be doing and where they came from. A picture showed the excavation leader, Staffan Mellgren, and several of the students in action out in the field. Jacobs-son studied the article with surprise. Why would Martina keep it under her pillow?

  That was where someone would usually keep something that was especially precious, maybe even hiding it there.

  Staffan Mellgren was smiling broadly at the camera; the others could be seen in the background. He had to be twice as old as Martina. Jacobsson knew that Mellgren was married and had children. He was well known on Gotland because of his work at the college and at the archaeological excavations. Had they been seeing each other? Was he mixed up in her disappearance?

  She hurried off to find Knutas.

  Johan was awakened by a bang outside the window. With great effort he got out of bed and pulled aside the curtain.

  The pastry shop across the street was getting its daily delivery. The bakery truck was parked in the narrow alley, and the driver was taking out boxes, which he loaded onto a hand truck. The owner of the pastry shop then took the hand truck and with a clatter disappeared through the back door. That meant that it couldn't be more than six in the morning. With a groan Johan went back to bed and pulled the covers over his head. The deliveries were made at six on weekdays, at eight on the weekend. He had learned that by now. If he had known in advance that this upheaval was going to take place every single morning, he would have made Swedish TV arrange for a different apartment.

  Wrapped up in the warm covers, he lay there thinking about Emma and their newborn child. He had spent nearly the entire weekend over at the hospital. He wasn't allowed to sleep there, since it was already overcrowded, and Emma had to share a room with two other women who had just given birth.

  The delivery of their baby was the biggest event of his life so far. The experience of becoming a father was more overwhelming than he could have imagined.

  His mother and youngest brother had flown over from Stockholm on Saturday. She could hardly contain her joy at becoming a grandmother. Her first grandchild. Ever since the death of Johan's father a couple of years ago, her life had been very lonely. Johan had always been close to his mother, and he knew that she missed him now that he was working on Gotland. In his role as the eldest son, he had largely functioned as a replacement for his father after his death.

  With the birth of the child, Johan realized that everything was going to be different. From now on he had to make his own family his first priority. He had suddenly become a family man with all new responsibilities. He found the thought both appealing and frightening.

  The head office in Stockholm had sent flowers, but Grenfors expected Johan to be back at work right after the weekend. He had been assigned to cover the island, and they had agreed that he would wait to take any paternity leave until fall. He now regretted that decision. All he wanted to do was spend time with his new family.

  The insistent buzzing of his cell phone interrupted his ruminations. I really need to change the ringtone, he thought as he flew out of bed to grab the phone from under his clothes, which were piled in a heap on the chair. He now paid attention to his phone in a whole different way. Emma might be calling him.

  Instead the call was from Niklas Appelqvist, one of the few personal friends Johan had on Gotland. Even though Niklas was ten years younger, they enjoyed each other's company, mostly because they shared an interest in sixties rock 'n' roll. Johan had gotten to know the young archaeology student a year earlier, in connection with a murder case. Niklas lived in the same building as a newspaper photographer on a disability pension who had been found murdered in the basement. Niklas had helped Johan by giving him a number of tips during the investigation. When Johan moved to the island, they started spending time together.

  "Hi, how're things going?"

  "Fucking great," Johan managed to say. He cleared his throat and wearily sat down. "I became a father on Friday."

  "Really? That's great! Congratulations! Boy or girl?"

  "A girl," said Johan, feeling himself smile.

  "Did everything go all right?"

  "Well, it was a little dramatic for a while, but she got here just fine. So beautiful. Eight pounds two ounces, and twenty inches long."

  "Wow. How's Emma?"

  "Good, although she's really tired, of course."

  "We need to celebrate this." Niklas sounded enthusiastic. "Let me take you out for a beer tonight."

  "Thanks, but I can't. I'm going to bring Emma and the baby home from the maternity ward. Maybe another time."

  "Okay. By the way, I heard about something that might interest you."

  "What's that?"

  "A girl who's studying archaeology has disappeared. She's taking an excavation course at the college. Students from all over the world come here to work on a dig during the summer."

  "How long has she been missing?"

  "Since Saturday night. They're really upset about it over at the Warfsholm youth hostel where she's staying. Apparently she disappeared after the Eldkvarn concert on Saturday, and no one has seen her since. I know a girl who's helping out with the course, and she just told me about it."

  "Do you have someone visiting you this early?"

  "You mean this late."

  "What's her name?"

  "The girl who disappeared or my visitor?"

  "The one who's missing, of course."

  "Martina something or other." Johan could hear Niklas murmuring to someone in the background. "Martina Flochten. She's from the Netherlands."

  "Flochten," repeated Johan. "How old is she?"

  "Young. Twenty-something."

  "Okay. Thanks."

  Shit, what bad timing. There was nothing he would rather do than go over to see Emma and the baby, but he was the only TV reporter on the island. The story of a missing girl had to be checked out, even though the whole thing sounded a bit vague. He called the hospital, and according to the nurse who answered, Emma and
the baby were fine. Both were asleep at the moment. They had stayed at the maternity ward longer than planned because the breast-feeding hadn't started the way it should.

  His concern must have been audible in his voice, because the nurse assured Johan that it was completely normal and nothing to worry about: The breast-feeding would undoubtedly proceed as it was supposed to within a few days. He wondered if this was how his life was going to be, now that he'd become a father. Constant worry about all sorts of things.

  It was eight forty-five. He phoned Knutas but was told that the superintendent would be busy all morning, and no one could or would say anything about the missing young woman. He took a shower, shaved, and gulped down a cup of coffee and ate a piece of toast. Then he called Pia. She could pick him up in fifteen minutes. They decided to drive straight out to the Warfsholm hotel and youth hostel.

  The hotel consisted of a late-nineteenth-century wooden building painted yellow, with a lovely tower. It stood on a headland overlooking the sea. On one side of the building was an idyllic sandy beach. Beyond it could be seen the bird sanctuary at Vivesholm, where the spit of land stuck straight out into the water. On the other side of the building was the harbor, which, with its silos and wind-power station, formed a sharp contrast to the beach.

  When Johan and Pia got out of the car in the parking lot, they discovered a police car. Two uniformed officers were walking along the beach and talking to families with children. The news team went down to the water and admired the view of the nature preserve on the islands of Big Karlsö and Little Karlsö.

  "What's that?" asked Johan, pointing at something that was sticking out of the water just beyond the harbor entrance.

  "That's the wreck from a freighter, the Benguela, that went aground out there. It must have been at least twenty years ago now."

  "What happened?"

  "The freighter was coming from Södertälje, on its way to Klintehamn. The accident happened in the winter. I think it was early morning. It was foggy, with a strong wind, and the vessel went aground so hard that they couldn't get her to budge."