The Disappeared Read Online Free Page B

you earlier on today,’ Alex said.
    ‘Really?’
    Alex immediately looked brighter, cautiously optimistic.
    ‘We miss you. We were hoping you’d be ready to come back soon, perhaps in the summer?’
    Fredrika felt ridiculous.
    ‘Well actually . . . I could come back before then.’
    ‘Wonderful. When were you thinking of?’
    Should she tell him? Should she explain that her partner had suddenly announced that he wanted to spend some time at home with Saga after all? That things were difficult at work, and he couldn’t face going in?
    Suddenly she asked herself if she even wanted to come back to work. The days with Saga had been wonderful. Fredrika had been pregnant at the same time as several of her friends, and they had met up almost every week during her maternity leave. They would think she had lost her mind if she rang and told them she had started work so suddenly.
    ‘I could start off working part time – say seventy-five per cent?’
    ‘From when?’
    She hesitated.
    ‘Tomorrow . . .?’
    Margareta Berlin, head of Human Resources, had a meeting with Fredrika a little while later. She didn’t normally concern herself with routine matters, but when she realised it was to do with the staffing of Alex Recht’s team, she sent for Fredrika.
    ‘Thank you for coming.’
    Fredrika smiled and sat down.
    ‘I was just on my way home, so I hope this won’t take too long . . .’
    ‘No, of course not.’
    Margareta gathered up some papers and placed them in the filing cabinet behind her. She was tall and strong, or rather powerfully built. Fredrika didn’t want to describe her as fat, but she gave an impression of sturdiness.
    ‘How are you?’ she asked.
    The question gave Fredrika a bad feeling.
    ‘Fine. Thank you.’
    Margareta nodded.
    ‘You look well. I just wanted confirmation, really. How’s Alex?’
    ‘You’ll have to ask Alex about that.’
    ‘But I’m asking you.’
    There was a brief silence as Fredrika considered the question.
    ‘I think he seems OK. Better, anyway.’
    ‘I think so too. But I have to admit that things weren’t too good for a while.’
    She leaned across the desk.
    ‘I’ve known Alex for over twenty years, and I want nothing but the best for him.’
    She paused.
    ‘But if he’s guilty of misconduct, if he turns out not to be up to the job, then I will have to act.’
    ‘Who says he’s not up to the job?’ Fredrika asked, sounding more confused than she would have wished.
    ‘Nobody, so far. But I’ve been told on the quiet that he’s been unnecessarily hard on certain colleagues. You could say he’s been doing my job.’
    She laughed softly.
    Fredrika wasn’t laughing. She had the greatest respect for Margareta Berlin, not least because she had finally put a stop to Peder Rydh’s nonsense. But Fredrika’s loyalty lay with Alex, not with the head of HR. She hadn’t expected this to cause any kind of conflict.
    ‘Anyway,’ Margareta said in conclusion. ‘I just wanted to give you an opening in case you feel you need to talk at some point in the future.’
    ‘About Alex?’
    ‘Or anything else.’
    The meeting was over, and Fredrika got ready to leave.
    ‘This new case,’ Margareta said as she stood in the doorway.
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘I remember what Alex was like when he led the investigation into Rebecca Trolle’s disappearance.’
    Fredrika waited.
    ‘He was like a man possessed. It was the last case he dealt with before he was given the chance to form his own team, the one you and Peder belong to. He took the fact that we didn’t find her very badly.’
    ‘And you’re afraid things will be too much for him now she’s finally turned up?’
    ‘Something like that.’
    Fredrika hesitated, her hand resting on the door handle.
    ‘I’ll keep an eye on him,’ she said.

WEDNESDAY

4
    It was a fantastic spring, Malena Bremberg thought, as she dealt with the flowers that one of the residents in the care home had received from her son. All those hours of