Closed Circles (Sandhamn Murders Book 2) by Viveca Sten Read Free Book Online Page B

Nonnegotiable.
    If their love were revealed, the consequences would be unimaginable. Indi was vigilant. The family must not be affected. The children came first.
    Martin turned off his computer and sighed. He hated these weeks of vacation when everyone else spent time with relatives and friends. Vacation meant a long string of barbecues no one truly wanted to attend. Half of the couples at these events politely lifted their glasses to one another while thinking about someone they were seeing on the side.
    After observing all these seemingly happy couples, he was glad he’d never married. He’d rather be single for the rest of his life than live a lie. It was better to wait for an honest e-mail than to participate in a hypocritical marriage.
    He downed his cognac and went to pour himself another glass.

T UESDAY, THE FIRST WEEK

C HAPTER 12
    As soon as his eyes opened, Thomas was wide awake. He lay on the edge of the double bed that dominated the corner of Carina’s small studio apartment in Jarlaberg, not far from the Nacka police station.
    Carina was rolled up in a tight ball on the left side of the bed. Her dark hair covered half of her face. Her dimples were invisible when she slept. She looked more like a teenager than a twenty-five-year-old woman.
    They were fourteen years apart in age, a gap that seemed much greater at times. The youth and enthusiasm that had first drawn him to her now made him feel old. He was closer to forty than to thirty. Before long, he’d be middle aged.
    Looking back, he was no longer sure how this relationship with Carina Persson, the boss’s daughter, had begun. He hadn’t chased her. In fact she wasn’t really his type, if he had any type at all.
    His ex-wife, Pernilla, had been tall and thin like him. They’d met at a pub one evening while he was out with some friends from the police academy. They’d started hanging out after that. She’d studied at Berghs School of Communication and then taken a job as a project leader at an advertising firm. They’d finished their studies at the same time. They’d moved in together shortly after that and gotten married. The only thing missing had been a child.
    They’d tried for years to conceive, deciding finally to join the wait for artificial insemination. Before they’d reached their turn in line, the miracle had happened.
    He remembered the magical moment when Pernilla had held a stick with two blue lines in her shaking hand. It had seemed so incomprehensible. Finally, finally—a small life was taking shape in her womb.
    Then the catastrophe. They couldn’t deal with it. Everything they’d waited for, everything they’d hoped for—all gone. If Emily hadn’t died from SIDS, perhaps they’d still be married, but grief and guilt had destroyed their marriage. They’d divorced almost two years ago.
    For a long time, he couldn’t look at another woman. His long-time friend Nora kept trying to match him up with various single friends, but he had no interest. He felt only indifference.
    Carina was always at the police station. She’d had to put in a massive amount of overtime during their murder investigation last summer. She never complained, even when the days were long. She’d worked through endless lists and compilations in their hunt for information.
    One day she’d invited him to lunch. After a few lunches, she’d suggested dinner. After that, they’d gone to the movies. One thing led to another, and now he slept at her place several days a week.
    Thomas looked over at her.
    She didn’t resemble her fat father in the least. She didn’t have his bad moods either. She was cute as a button, petite with dark hair and a nice figure.
    Thomas insisted they keep their relationship quiet at the station. He didn’t want his colleagues to know, and certainly not her parents. Carina had gone along with this so far, but she was beginning to question the secrecy. She planned to leave her job at the station soon. Then they would no longer