Missing by Karin Alvtegen Read Free Book Online

purse, hanging on a strap round her neck underneath her clothes.
    Soon she would have enough saved up. With this money she would finally reach the goal she had fought hard to achieve. Her decision to live differently one day had been utterly sincere and thinking about it had buoyed her up during the last five years. She wanted to change. Instead of always moving on, she wanted a country cottage to live in. It would be her home, where she could peacefully lead her life in her ownway. Maybe she would grow vegetables, maybe keep some hens. Draw water from her own well. She didn’t dream of comfort, just four walls that were hers alone.
    Peace and quiet.
    She had investigated and found that about 40,000 kronor would be enough, if you were prepared to live without electricity and running water in unglamorous countryside, somewhere obscure. That was exactly what she wanted. In the far north her kind of place might be even cheaper, but the thought of the long hard winters frightened her. She would keep struggling for a little longer instead.
    During the last five years she’d put away as much as she possibly could of the monthly alms from her mother. Once in that purse the money simply didn’t exist any more, no matter how cold or hungry she was.
    Just a few more years and then she’d have enough …
    She put the notes down on the table in front of her, arranging them in a star pattern. She always went to the bank to exchange the money she received for new crisp notes.
    Notes that her mother had never touched.
    After a while, looking at her money made her feel better again. It usually cheered her up. The next stage in recovering her fighting spirit would be a visit to an estate agent to keep informed about movements in house prices.
    She gathered up her money, put it safely back in the purse, pushed the chair neatly back in place at the table and locked the door behind her. Her steps were lighter now.
    Â Â Â Â 
    She got as far as Ringen. A glance at one of the posters on the newspaper kiosk made her sense of calm evaporate. Now her problems were no longer about surviving for another day.
    Now she was on the run.
    Â Â Â Â   
    WOMAN CHARGED WITH
BUTCHERY MURDER .
    Â Â Â Â 
    That was the headline. There was a picture of a woman with a caption underneath naming her: Sibylla Forsenström, 32 years old.
    Â Â Â Â 
    â€˜Dear Sibylla, don’t look so sour. Please try to smile at least.’
    Obedient as she was back then, she had tried. The effect was ghastly. Whatever she might have looked like seconds earlier, it couldn’t have been worse than this. Even her mother presumably thought so, because she’d hidden the picture away until now. Curling tongs had been applied to her fringe, symmetrically on either side of the central parting, and the tips of the curls plastered against her temples. Her eyes had that unmistakable cowed look.
    She was feeling nauseous now. Nineteen kronor left. The paper cost eight.
    There has been a breakthrough in the investigation of the ‘ritual slaughter’ of Jörgen Grundberg (51) in his room at the Grand Hotel last night. A woman suspect, Sibylla Forsenström (32) is wanted by the police and has been formally charged in her absence. As The Express learned yesterday, this is the woman with whom the 51-year-old was seen on Thursday evening. The receptionist on duty that night has now told the police that Mr Grundberg himself booked a room for the woman, who gave what turned out to be a false name. The wanted woman managed to get through the police cordon early on Friday morning, leaving behind several articles including a wig that she allegedly wore the previous evening. The police also found a briefcase which, some sources suggest, may contain the murder weapon. The police are not prepared to reveal any details about the weapon. Fingerprints on the briefcase identified the woman as Sibylla Forsenström. The same prints were found