Marked For Life. Emelie Schepp

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СКАЧАТЬ to suppress the sensation of dizziness that gradually crept up on him.

      * * *

      Forty minutes and ninety-eight kronor later, Henrik Levin had eaten his fill. The Thai buffet had consisted of far too many tasty dishes. Mia Bolander had accompanied him, but chosen something lighter, a salad.

      Henrik regretted his choice of lunch when he got back in the car again. He felt heavy and drowsy and let Mia drive to the police station.

      “Next time can you remind me that I must have salad too,” he said.

      Mia laughed.

      “Please?”

      “I’m not your bloody mother! But all right, then. Does Emma want you to lose weight or what?”

      “Do you think I’m fat, then?”

      “Not your face.”

      “Thanks.”

      “She won’t let you fuck her, is that it?”

      “What?”

      “I mean, you seem to want to go easy on the carbs, which means you want to lose weight. I read online that the biggest motivation for men to lose weight is that they want to have more sex.”

      “I was just talking about a salad. I just want to eat salad next time. What’s wrong with that?”

      “Nothing.”

      “Do you think I’m fat?”

      “No. You’re not fat. You only weigh eighty kilos, Henrik.”

      “Eighty-three.”

      “Sorry, eighty-bloody-three kilos, then. You’re a pudding, right! Why would you want to weigh any less?”

      Mia winked provocatively.

      Henrik remained silent and kept his real reason for wanting to eat lighter to himself.

      Mia didn’t need to know that seven weeks earlier he had embarked on a low-carb diet. He was also aiming to get more exercise on weekdays. But it was hard to keep to his new lifestyle choices, especially when Thai food tastes so much better with rice. After work it was simpler: home, eat, play, bath time, tuck into bed, TV, sleep. His time with his five-and six-year-old kids when he got home was pretty much routine. Admittedly, he hadn’t actually asked his wife, Emma, if he could spend an hour, once or twice a week, at the gym. Hopefully she would say yes. But deep inside Henrik was afraid of what answer he would get. A firm no.

      His wife already resented his spending too little time with the family.

      But he felt that if he were in better shape, they would have better and more frequent sex. To him it was a win-win situation.

      But those few times he had asked Emma for permission just to play football with the local club on a Saturday, he was turned down. The weekends were for the family, she said, and they should be out in the garden, visiting the zoo park, going to the cinema or just spending family time together. She felt she and Henrik needed to nurture their relationship by spending more time cuddling together.

      Henrik didn’t particularly like cuddling. He liked having sex. To him, sex was the greatest proof that you loved your partner, he thought. It didn’t matter when or where you did it. Just that you did it. That wasn’t what Emma thought. For her, it had to be pleasurable and relaxing, and you needed lots of time and the right setting. Their bed still remained her preference and then only when the children weren’t awake. Since Felix, who was afraid of ghosts, insisted on going to sleep every night between them in bed, their opportunities for sex were few.

      Henrik had to settle for the hope that things would get better. This past month he had felt more desire. And Emma had gone along with it too. Once, at any rate. Exactly four weeks ago.

      Henrik smothered a bit of heartburn. The next time it would be only salad.

      * * *

      When Henrik and Mia entered the conference room they were met by the news that police officer Gabriel Mellqvist had fainted while knocking on doors in Lindö. He had been found by an elderly lady who had heard her doorbell ring a number of times. But since she was confined to a wheelchair, she couldn’t hurry to the door. When she finally opened it, she saw the policeman lying on the ground.

      “Luckily Hanna Hultman had come to his aid and in Gabriel’s pocket found a glucose syringe that she jabbed into his thigh,” said Gunnar. “That was the bad news. The good news is that we’ve found a security camera outside the lady’s house. It is directed toward the street—it’s positioned here.”

      Gunnar put an X on the map of the residential area that was hanging beside the time line posted on the wall.

      The whole team was in the room. All except Jana, which pleased Mia.

      “In the best case, the events from Sunday will still be on a server somewhere. I want you, Ola, to check that straightaway.”

      “Now?” said Ola Söderström.

      “Yes, now.”

      He got up.

      “Hang on,” said Henrik. “I think you’ve got some more to do. We’ve confiscated Hans Juhlén’s computer and need to go through it.”

      “Did the interview with Lena Wikström lead to anything?”

      “She doesn’t share Kerstin Juhlén’s picture of Hans. According to Kerstin, Hans always worked on his computer. According to his secretary, Lena, he never did. I think it’s a little odd that they would have such different impressions.”

      Ola, Gunnar and Anneli Lindgren agreed.

      “Lena also didn’t think that Hans Juhlén was as stressed as his wife claimed,” said Henrik.

      “But that’s only what she says. I believe he was bloody worried. I would be too if there had been a lot of shit thrown at me in the newspapers and threatening notes too,” said Mia.

      “Exactly,” said Ola.

      “Lena said that there was always a security aspect concerning asylum seekers who weren’t granted asylum. So we’ve asked for a list of all the people who have sought asylum so far this year,” said Henrik.

      “Fine, anything else?” said Gunnar.

      “No,” said Henrik. Going door-to-door hadn’t produced much, except for the potential security footage.

      “No witnesses?” said Mia.

      “No. Not a one,” said Gunnar.

      “It’s just bloody crazy. Didn’t anybody see anything?” said Mia. “So we’ve got fuck-all to go on.”

      “For the time being we have no witnesses. Zero. Nada. So we’ll have to hope that the security camera will give us something. Ola, check if we can get hold of the images right away,” Gunnar said and turned to Ola. “Then you can go through Hans’s computer. СКАЧАТЬ