The Black Path by Åsa Larsson Read Free Book Online Page A

gang of suits who’d got together for a group photo in the snow here in Kiruna. What the hell was it about? I remember laughing because they weren’t dressed for the weather at all. No overcoats. Thin black shoes. They stood there in the snow lifting their feet up like storks. They just looked so funny. And she was there…”
    He beat his forehead as if to get the coin to drop down into the machine and pay out.
    Rebecka Martinsson and Anna-Maria Mella waited patiently.
    “I’ve got it…” he said, clicking his fingers. “It was that former resident of Kiruna who’s got one of those new mining companies. They were having their company meeting or something like that up here…Oh, what’s the matter with my brain!
    “Come on!” he said pleadingly to Rebecka and Anna-Maria. “It was on the news before Christmas.”
    “I fall asleep on the sofa after the children’s programs,” said Anna-Maria.
    “Oh!” exclaimed Alf Björnfot. “I’ll ask Fred Olsson. He’s bound to know.”
    Inspector Fred Olsson was thirty-five, and completely indispensable as the unofficial computer expert for the entire building. He was the one everybody rang when the computer had frozen or when they wanted to download music from the Net. He had no family, so he was happy to come over in the evening and help his colleagues with their electronics at home if need be.
    And he kept an eye on people in town. He knew where the villains lived and what they were up to. Bought them a coffee from time to time and kept himself informed. He knew the fine-meshed net of power. Knew which of the important people in town were watching each other’s backs, and whether it was because they were related, because they had something on each other, or because they were doing each other a mutual favor.
    Alf Björnfot got up and plodded along the corridor and down the stairs to police headquarters.
    Anna-Maria gave Rebecka a signal, and both women ran after him.
    On the way to Fred Olsson’s office, Alf Björnfot suddenly turned back to the pursuing women and shouted:
    “Kallis. Mauri Kallis, that’s his name. He was born here, although it’s a long time since he moved away.”
    Then he carried on toward Fred Olsson’s office.
    “What’s Mauri Kallis got to do with anything?” Anna-Maria muttered to Rebecka. “It was a woman we found.”
    All three of them were standing in the doorway of Fred Olsson’s office.
    “Fredde!” puffed the prosecutor. “Mauri Kallis! Didn’t he have a meeting up here with a load of bigwigs in December?”
    “He did,” said Fred Olsson. “Kallis Mining has a company here in town called Northern Explore Ltd., one of the few companies of theirs that’s listed on the stock exchange. A Canadian investment company sold off all their holdings at the end of the year, so there were a lot of changes on the board….”
    “Can you find a picture of the meeting?”
    Fred Olsson turned his back on the three people who had popped up in his doorway and switched on the computer. The three visitors waited patiently.
    “They elected somebody from Kiruna, Sven Israelsson, onto the board,” said Fred Olsson; “I’ll do a search on him. If I look for Mauri Kallis I’m bound to get thousands of hits.”
    “I’ve got a vague memory of a gang of suits standing in the snow having their photo taken,” said Alf Björnfot. “I think the woman in the ark was in that picture.”
    Fred Olsson tapped away at his keyboard for a little while. Then he said:
    “There. Looks like it is her.”
    On the screen was a picture of a group of men in suits. In the center of the picture stood a woman.
    “Yes,” said Anna-Maria. “She’s got that antique nose, it kind of starts up between her eyebrows.”
    “Inna Wattrang, head of information,” read Alf Björnfot.
    “Bingo!” said Anna-Maria Mella. “Get her identified. Inform her next of kin. I wonder how she ended up on the marsh.”
    “Kallis Mining has a cabin in Abisko,” said Fred