Island Getaway, An Art Crime Team Mystery Read Online Free

like she could use
someone to look out for her. He couldn’t just leave her there, to
fend for herself. Clothes or no clothes.
    “Well,” Fredrik said when he didn’t answer,
“if you’d bothered to answer your phone, you’d have known I got
caught in a traffic jam on E4 on my way up there.”
    Nick yanked his mind away from Annika Holst
with no clothes. “You mean, you’re not here? You don’t have the
bag?”
    “I’m still on the other side of Arlandastad
Golf Club,” Fredrik said, naming a landmark Nick knew was several
miles away. “So no, I don’t.”
    “But if you didn’t take the bag, who
did?”
    There was a pause. “I guess I can assume you
didn’t?”
    “I thought you did! You were supposed
to! That’s why I called you, wasn’t it?”
    “If you’d bothered to answer your phone,”
Fredrik said again, “you would have known that I couldn’t
have.”
    Yeah, yeah. This really wasn’t the time to
rehash that particular argument. “Listen. She’s in the bathroom,
and I don’t know how much time I have. I’ll have to talk fast.
While she was waiting for her suitcase, someone pushed her onto the
baggage carousel. Sent her sprawling. Hurt her. By the time I got
her off—” and her skirt pulled down to her knees again, “—the
overnight bag was gone. We looked all over for it, and it’s
nowhere.”
    “Lost and found...” Fredrik began.
    “Don’t you think I thought of that? I’m
telling you, the damn thing’s gone!”
    There was a beat of silence, while they both
thought deep and not particularly satisfying thoughts. As far as
Nick was concerned, he would much rather just go back to thinking
about Annika with no clothes.
    “Who’d take it?” Fredrik wanted to know.
“ We know what might be inside, but no one else does. So
who—?”
    “She carried the damn thing onboard like she
was carrying spun gold. Someone could have decided it looked
interesting just from that.”
    “Maybe,” Fredrik agreed. “Or maybe someone
knows something we don’t.”
    “Maybe.”
    They stood in silence for a moment. It
wasn’t a comfortable silence.
    “You still need me to get there?” Fredrik
asked.
    It didn’t take long to decide. Good thing
too, because he didn’t have long. Any second now, Annika Holst
could come back out of the bathroom. “No. I’ve got this. I’ll get
her settled in a hotel and call you later. Maybe the bag’ll turn
up. Maybe someone took it by accident, thinking it was theirs, and
when they realize it, they’ll call the police.”
    There were a few honest people in the world.
When faced with a priceless national treasure they’d accidentally
picked up at the airport, some of them might do the right
thing.
    “I’ll make sure every precinct knows to be
on the lookout for it,” Fredrik said. “They’ll let me know if it
comes in somewhere.”
    “If it hasn’t turned up by tomorrow, we’ll
have to figure out something else. Meanwhile, someone should have a
look around for leftover black overnight bags. If someone took hers
by accident, they would have left their own.”
    “I’ll take care of it,” Fredrik said.
    “Pull the passenger list while you’re at it.
See if anything pops. If someone was following her, there has to be
a connection somewhere.”
    Fredrik agreed. “You just keep an eye on
her. Until we know anything for sure, it’s best you stick close. If
whoever took that bag knew what was in it, and it wasn’t just
random, he’s already shown he’s willing to hurt her.”
    True. “I won’t let her out of my sight. Not
until we know more about what’s going on.”
    “Good,” Fredrik said.
    “I’ll deal with things here. I’ll get the
bag reported stolen through the proper channels and see what she
wants to do next. I’ll call you when I know something.”
    “I’ll let you work your magic. Unless the
bag turns up. Then I’ll send you a text.”
    “Please do. Sorry about that beer.”
    “We’ll celebrate when the case is