Prime Time by Liza Marklund Read Free Book Online Page B

technical wiz. Eleven.
    She couldn’t figure out who number twelve could be. It was time to make contact.
    She picked up her phone and dialled Anne Snapphane’s number. It was busy.
    ‘Annika, Annika Bengtzon … Annika Bengtzon!’
    The voice came from the direction of the cars over by the Garden Wing. She turned, peering through the rain to make out who it was.
    It was Pia Lakkinen, one of her former associates at Katrineholms-Kuriren. The reporter had just got out of her car. Pia pulled up the hood of her raincoat and hurried over to Annika.
    ‘It’s been ages!’ she exclaimed. ‘It’s great to see you.’
    They shook hands and Annika tried to smile. But she didn’t share Pia’s enthusiasm. As a rule she disliked overly friendly approaches by fellow reporters when they were at the scene of a murder, and the fact that they had worked on the same paper at one time made things worse. Annika had quit her job in order to work for Kvällspressen in Stockholm, and many of her associates at Katrineholms-Kuriren had seen this as her passing judgement on their paper.
    ‘Well, how are things at KK ?’ Annika asked.
    Pia sighed theatrically.
    ‘Oh, it’s the same old grind. Lousy planning, no leadership, all that … and now all this rain too. Has it let up at all, you think?’
    Annika searched for the right words, a platform to stand on, to no avail. The other reporter didn’t notice Annika’s uneasiness, she was adrift herself and rattled away nervously.
    ‘And now this,’ Pia said, ‘right in the middle of the holidays. A murder, here in Flen. It’s totally unreal – you never expect something like a killing to happen in a quiet place like this …’
    Annika looked around her, searching for Bertil Strand, or anyone at all, just to escape from her former associate. Pia Lakkinen noticed the dismissal without accepting it.
    ‘I guess this kind of stuff happens all the time in Stockholm,’ she said.
    ‘Actually, the most brutal murders tend to be committed in rural areas, in small towns and communities,’ Annika countered coolly.
    Her statement had the desired effect. Pia suddenly looked shocked and worried.
    ‘Do you think they’ll catch the killer soon?’
    ‘Hard to say,’ Annika replied. ‘Twelve people are being interviewed up at the castle as we speak.’
    Pia Lakkinen’s eyes opened wide.
    ‘Really?’
    Despite the pouring rain, Annika stood up straighter: she was the one in the know. And KK wouldn’t hit the shelves until Monday, so she could afford to be generous.
    ‘Nearly all of them belong to the TV team involved with the show,’ she continued. ‘A few are guests or reporters on the job. I know who all of them are but one.’
    The small-town reporter looked defeated.
    ‘It’s hard to get information when you don’t know the police officers,’ Pia said. ‘I don’t know what the Crime Squad from Stockholm is doing here.’
    ‘It’s an old tradition that Stockholm is prepared to assist police forces all over the country,’ Annika explained. ‘But these guys are from the Homicide Division. They’re pros.’
    Pia Lakkinen glanced over at the castle.
    ‘As far as I can see, they just seem to be milling around.’
    ‘They always start by searching the grounds,’ Annika said, ‘for shoeprints and stuff like that. They work from the outside in, you could say. Do you know what time the police were called in?’
    The reporter shook her head.
    ‘The news flash was sent at 9:41 a.m.’
    ‘Yeah, but someone was already on the scene by then, probably regular beat cops from Katrineholm or Eskilstuna. They established the fact that there was a dead body in an OB bus parked behind the New Wing. By the time the news flash was dispatched they probably had sealed off the crime scene and isolated the witnesses already. I don’t think Forensics or any detectives had made it here by then, but they were on their way.’
    Pia Lakkinen looked impressed.
    ‘Is she still in there?’
    ‘Probably.