The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson Read Free Book Online Page A

with my colleagues and superiors.’
    ‘I understand,’ Efraim said, and ended the call.
    With considerable relief he handed over the relevant paperwork. He would spend his last evening in Stockholm checking on how the investigation into Josephine’s murder was going. He really
wanted to ask how someone with such poor judgement could have been appointed to a post at the Solomon school, but it was none of his business to allocate blame; the members themselves could do
that.
    Efraim’s train of thought was interrupted by the general secretary who had come to find him, his eyes darting from side to side, his forehead shiny with perspiration.
    ‘Has someone else been shot?’ Efraim asked dryly.
    ‘I do hope not, but we’ve had a call from one of the families within our community. Two ten-year-old boys appear to have gone missing. They were supposed to have a tennis
coaching session after school, but they didn’t turn up. And now no one knows where they are.’
    A quick glance out of the window reminded Efraim of the cold and the heavy snowfall.
    A tragedy was rarely an isolated event. But people never learned.
    A grief so deep that it threatened to swallow up all sense and understanding. The interview was necessary, but it would be brief.
    ‘What do you know about your daughter’s boyfriend?’ Fredrika asked the couple sitting opposite her.
    Josephine’s mother and father. They were rather older than Fredrika had expected.
    They were still in shock, their grief fresh and raw. They had seen their daughter in the hospital morgue little more than an hour ago, and now they were back in their apartment, where life
was expected to go on. Fredrika didn’t have the words to explain how that was supposed to happen. Alex had more idea, having lost his wife a few years earlier. Sorrow had etched fine lines on
his face.
    Josephine’s mother glanced at her husband, who answered:
    ‘Not much, and we’re not interested either. We just assumed she would eventually realise what a waste of space he was, and leave him.’
    ‘In what way do you regard him as a waste of space?’ Alex said, making an effort to sound as neutral as possible.
    ‘A man with a criminal record longer than the Torah is hardly likely to have made very many good choices in life.’
    ‘So how come you knew about his background?’
    Josephine’s father sighed and folded his arms.
    ‘Contacts,’ he said tersely.
    In the police, no doubt, Fredrika thought, and decided not to pursue the matter. Alex seemed to be of the same opinion, and changed tack.
    ‘Were you aware that they were living together?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Were they happy?’
    A sound that was somewhere between a sob and a snort escaped Josephine’s mother.
    ‘
Happy?
I’m sorry, is that supposed to be a serious question?’
    She shook her head, angry and upset at the same time.
    ‘Am I to understand that your daughter was dissatisfied with the relationship?’ Fredrika asked gently.
    Or was it just you and your husband who felt that way?
    ‘Interpret it however you want. I’m not saying that happiness is always the same thing, but the relationship between my daughter –
our
daughter – and that man was rotten.’
    ‘Rotten to the core,’ Josephine’s father said, as if he felt that his wife’s words needed further clarification. ‘His only contributions were expensive parties and
problems.’
    ‘He didn’t have a job or an income?’
    ‘As far as we know he had certain resources, shall we say, but no job.’
    ‘Was he violent towards her?’ Alex asked.
    The question made both parents drop their guard. They looked genuinely stunned.
    ‘No. No, I don’t believe he was. She would have told us.’
    Fredrika didn’t think that was something that could necessarily be taken for granted, but it was probably best to leave Josephine’s parents with that delusion.
    ‘Did you see your daughter often?’ she asked.
    ‘Yes, but less so after she moved in with that man.’
    ‘Was