The Crow Girl Read Online Free

herself was going to talk to Ivo Andrić.
    After the meeting she went back to her office and called home. It was already after six o’clock, and it was her night to cook.
    ‘Hi! How’s your day been?’ She made an effort to sound cheerful.
    As a couple, Jeanette and Åke were fairly equal. They shared the everyday chores: Åke was responsible for the laundry and Jeanette for the vacuuming. Cooking was done according to a rota that involved their son, Johan, as well. But she was the one who did all the heavy lifting when it came to the family finances.
    ‘I finished the laundry an hour ago. Otherwise pretty good. Johan just got home. He said you promised to give him a lift to the match tonight. Are you going to make it in time?’
    ‘No, I can’t,’ Jeanette sighed. ‘The car broke down on the way into the city. Johan will have to take his bike, it’s not that far.’ Jeanette glanced at the family photograph she’d pinned up on her bulletin board. Johan looked so young in the picture, and she could hardly bear to look at herself.
    ‘I’m going to be here for a few more hours. I’ll take the metro home if I can’t get a lift from someone. You’ll have to phone for a pizza. Have you got any money?’
    ‘Yeah, yeah.’ Åke sighed. ‘If not, there’s probably some in the jar.’
    Jeanette thought for a moment. ‘There should be. I put five hundred in yesterday. See you later.’
    Åke didn’t reply, so she hung up and leaned back.
    Five minutes of rest.
    She closed her eyes.
     
    Hurtig came into Jeanette’s office with the recording of that morning’s anonymous phone call to the emergency call room. He handed her the CD and sat down.
    Jeanette rubbed her tired eyes. ‘Have you spoken to whoever found the boy?’
    ‘Yep. Two of our officers – according to the report, they arrived on the scene a couple of hours after the call was received. Like I said, they took a while to respond because the emergency operator got the address wrong.’
    Jeanette took the CD out of its case and put it in her computer.
    The call lasted twenty seconds.
    ‘One-one-two, what’s the nature of the emergency?’
    There was a crackle, but no sound of a voice.
    ‘Hello? One-one-two, what’s the nature of the emergency?’ The operator sounded more circumspect now, and there was the sound of laboured breathing.
    ‘I just wanted to let you know there’s a dead body in the bushes near Thorildsplan.’
    The man was slurring his words, and Jeanette thought he sounded drunk. Drunk or on drugs.
    ‘What’s your name?’ the operator asked.
    ‘Doesn’t matter. Did you hear what I said?’
    ‘Yes, I heard that you said there’s a dead body near Bolidenplan.’
    The man sounded annoyed. ‘A dead body in the bushes near the entrance to the
Thorildsplan
metro station.’
    Then silence.
    Just the operator’s hesitant ‘Hello?’
    Jeanette frowned. ‘You don’t have to be Einstein to assume that the call was made somewhere near the station, do you?’
    ‘No, of course. But if –’
    ‘If what?’ She could hear how irritated she sounded, but she had been hoping that the recording of the call would answer at least some of her questions. Give her something to throw at the commissioner and the prosecutor.
    ‘Sorry,’ she said, but Hurtig just shrugged.
    ‘Let’s continue tomorrow.’ He stood up and headed for the door. ‘Go home to Johan and Åke instead.’
    Jeanette smiled gratefully. ‘Goodnight, see you in the morning.’
    Once Hurtig had shut the door she called her boss, Commissioner Dennis Billing.
    The chief of the criminal investigation department answered after four rings.
    Jeanette told him about the dead, mummified boy, the anonymous phone call, and the other things they’d found out during the afternoon and evening.
    In other words, she didn’t have much of any significance to tell him.
    ‘We’ll have to see what the door-to-door inquiries come up with, and I’m waiting to hear what Ivo Andrić has