Monday June 10th
All his senses were shut down. Neither smell, nor sight, hearing or taste existed any longer. Was it really dark in here or had he gone blind? Patrik couldn’t even think clearly if he even had any thoughts left. His feet and wrists were still bound up. The blood had dried in the deep wounds and he had lost the feeling in them from the too tight cable ties. The hours melted into each-other and Patrik didn’t know anything not even if it was day or night. He was breathing erratically and felt as though the oxygen was about to run out. When Petros entered the room he held his nose and made a face.
”Damn it you look bad.” He stared at Patrik with no sympathy, scratched his crotch and coughed a little. ”And you’ll not become any more beautiful if you don’t sign today. I’m tired of nagging and you only have this day before…”
Patrik could hardly grasp what the accountant had just said to him, it was a blurred sound.
”So you want to sit up. Well, why not, it might be better that way”, Petros said and roughly took hold of Patrik’s suffering body. ”You’ll have one more chance”, the accountant continued decisively. He handed over a pen and a bunch of papers but however much he wanted to Patrik couldn’t sign them. He was too weak and injured. ”Very well, it will have to be my way then.” Petros went and got the black bag standing just outside the door, squatted and opened the bag with the different tools. A small scalpel appealed to him and he held it in front of Patrik’s eyes.
”Do you see what this is?”
Patrik couldn’t open his eyelids. They were too swollen. Suddenly he was at Marstrand. The children were running around on the rocks and playing happily while he and Linn were sitting grilling sausage on the sandy beach. Everything was so clear until he felt a burning pain in his nose.
”If you wonder what I’m doing I’m cutting up your nostrils.” The scream made Petros jump. He started cutting even deeper. The blood was pulsating and pouring down Patrik’s cracked lips.
”Now I will cut away the other nostril, sit still now so I don’t miss with the scalpel.”
Patrik screamed until there was no more breath in him. The bright red blood collected on his chin before dripping down on to the dirty mat. He drifted on the brink between consciousness and unconsciousness. Behind his eyelids Klas and Céline were dancing and laughing, holding hands on a summer meadow. Linn, who was dressed in a flowery dress, sat on a red and white checked picnic cloth clapping her hands with a lovely smile on her lips. Then it all went black and Patrik faded deeper into oblivion. .
Monday June 10th
Exhaustedly Nikki parked the car outside the police station and noted that it was already 15.30. In the parking lot she met up with Carlos and Daphne who were just climbing into the Land Rover. They looked stressed.
”They have found Karl’s car in the Pafos harbour. Forensics are already there so we thought we’d join them”, Daphne said while jumping into the police car.
”Do you want me to come as well?” Nikki asked while putting her sunglasses on top of her head.
”You’re needed at the station”, Carlos said and took a bite from his gooey chocolate croissant. ”If you could contribute anything to this investigation?” he muttered loud enough for Nikki to hear it. Nikki shook her head with disgust while she watched the dust swirling in the air as Carlos did a ridiculous fast start. She went up to the Panther who was sitting cleaning himself on the lowest step. The afternoon sun was still hot and while Nikki stroked the cat she wondered if Patrik’s disappearance had anything to do with the murders. When her thoughts finally stopped doing cartwheels she got up and went into the kitchen, took a raw-food bar and continued over to Sam.
”Anything new?”
”As a matter of fact- yes.” His voice was dark and steady and Sam smiled widely at her. ”I just got the call lists from Cyta. They have managed to track down Patrik’s mobile phone.”
”Patrik’s mobile?” Nikki’s pulse increased rapidly and a small hint of hope entered her stomach.
”It’s in the harbour of Pafos, or rather…”, Sam corrected himself and looked up. ”The last contact with Cyta’s antenna was made there anyway.”
”When was that?”
”At five past eleven Saturday night.”
”We have to start looking. What resources do we have?” Nikki quickly got up from the chair and biting her little fingernail started pacing the conference room.
Make sure you’re bloody alive now Patrik.
”I’ll call Carlos, they’ll be there any minute now.”
While Sam talked to his boss Nikki thought of where Patrik could be. It had been two days that his mobile hadn’t been on after all. Was the battery flat or was it switched off on purpose? And why didn’t he get in touch? They had called after all and sent a number of messages to him. The thoughts continued churning in her head and Nikki knew that she had forgotten something. Sporadically she started jotting down some words on an empty sheet of paper. When she looked through her notes a few minutes later there was one thing that made her more alert than the others. The accountant. Quickly she searched on Google for all accounting firms in Cyprus.
”Carlos and Daphne have found Karl’s car. It was not damaged. Forensic will take it in for a thorough investigation when Barbro arrives with the car keys. Then they will check with the restaurants at the harbour to find out whether anyone had seen Patrik. By the way, do you have a photo of him which we can enlarge and print out?” Sam stretched his hands over his head and yawned widely.
”Of course.” Nikki took out her mobile and went through all the pictures in the gallery. She found one where Patrik was standing in front of his sailing boat and one close-up where you could see his face clearly. She mailed both pictures to Sam who in turn printed out a number of them.
”I just thought of something”, Nikki said and jumped up to sit on the desk. ”Patrik came to Cyprus to see his accountant. After meeting up with him last Friday he came back and was in a pretty bad mood. He was upset about something, the question is what?”
Sam listened with interest and chewed frenetically on his pen. ”Do you by any chance know the name of the accounting firm or the accountant?”
Nikki shook her head. ”Sorry. I just searched for accounting firms and found about 25 of them here in Cyprus. Three of them are here in Pafos. In addition I thought I’d check with Linn, Patrik’s wife. She might know something.” Expectantly Nikki took out her mobile from her back pocket and dialled Linn’s mobile number while walking into the kitchen.
”How good that you answered the phone Linn. Are you OK?”
”No, or what should I say?” Linn cleared her throat and Nikki could hear how she was fighting not to cry. ”I have tried calling Patrik thousands of times but his mobile is dead.” Linn burst out crying and Nikki had a bad conscience for not being by her side.
”But sweetheart, you’ll see we’ll soon find him. At least I have good news, we’ve managed to track down his mobile. Some police at Pafos harbour are now looking for him.”
If he’s not already cooling down in the morgue.
Nikki could hear Linn gasping for air. ”Is he alive? I have to go there…”
”Honey, let the police take care of this. Think positive instead and affirm that we’ve already found him and you’ll see that everything will be alright.”
”But I can’t just sit here staring at the wall. I’m going crazy soon.”
”I know but I don’t really know what you could do. By the way, a question. Do you know the name of Patrik’s accountant or the name of the firm he is using here in Cyprus?”
The phone went quiet for a few seconds and Nikki could hear how Linn had a sip of something. As long as it’s not wine she had time to think before Linn started speaking again.
”Unfortunately I don’t know the name of the firm but I do know the man’s name was Petros. His wife was called Daniela but she tragically got killed in a car accident a few years ago.”
Her whole body was screaming that Nikki should go to the harbour and help look for Patrik but her conscience told her to go home to Linn. Impatiently she carried the tray with coffee to the conference room and decided at the same time to go home early. She would suggest to Linn that they should go knocking on doors by the harbour. That would hopefully calm them both down.
”I found out that Patrik’s accountant is called Petros”, Nikki said and had a sip of tea.
”Did you say Petros?” Sam looked through the list of accounting firms on Google and at the same time he pushed away a strand of hair falling in his eyes. ”Hang on a minute, one of the accounting firms here in Pafos is called Mr. Petros Christou & CO.”
Monday June 10th
Linn was lying like a wet rag on the double bed in the guest room when Nikki came home. Her blond hair was matted and she didn’t look too healthy. The short turquoise beach-dress was wrinkled and had rolled up around her thighs so that her washed-out cotton-pants showed. The smell of alcohol permeated the bedroom and Nikki noticed two empty bottles of rose’ wine standing on the bedside table together with a half full wineglass. Disappointed she opened the window facing the sea and the flowery curtain started fluttering slowly. She was startled when she heard Linn’s thick voice behind her.
”You know, I accused Patrik of being unfaithful since he had a suite at the Grecian Hotel. And now he’s gone.”
Nikki turned around and looked into Linn’s foggy gaze under her half closed eyelids. She sat down on the side of the bed. An ice-cold hand was squeezing her heart and her guilty conscience surfaced again.
”Ah, why would Patrik have something on the side when he has you and the kids? That was the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. He’ll soon turn up and then he’d better have a bloody good explanation as to why he’s been away.”
”I didn’t recognize Patrik when I came down to Cyprus. He seemed…stressed and…off. Something was bothering my husband, I could tell.”
”Linn....can you remember if Patrik said something which could be important for the investigation? Anything, just think carefully.” Nikki noticed that Linn still wasn’t sober and wondered where she had got the wine from. She must have gone down to the little kiosk opposite the block of flats, Nikki sadly thought.
Half heartedly Linn tried sitting up against the wall. Nikki quickly came to her aid with a helping hand and balanced her between two big pillows.
”I don’t know Nikki. We didn’t talk so much, we mostly fought.” Linn shrugged helplessly before slurring a bit more: ”Patrik accused me of coming unannounced to Cyprus as though I was stalking him.” She snorted. ”And there was me just trying to surprise him...to try and repair our troubled relationship.” Linn turned her head down on the pillow decorated with butterflies and screamed at the top of her voice. Her little tired body was shaking heavily. Nikki bent over, hugged and comforted her as well as she could.
She is only skin and bone. Sorry Linn. Sorry for stealing your husband, but I promise on my honour that he’s yours now. We’ll just try and sort you and your abuse out and we’ll find Patrik. Alive.
”Hush now.” Nikki cradled Linn in her arms until she calmed down.
”Do you think my husband is unfaithful?” Linn looked at her with fear in her eyes.
Nikki stiffened and felt her pulse racing. ”Absolutely not, stop thinking like that. Patrik is happy with you and the children, full stop.” She felt like a hypocrite and wished more than anything that the affair had never taken place.
”I know that we haven’t been doing that well this past year.” Linn refused to give up. ”I just thought of something…do you think Patrik would disappear to think about our marriage?” Linn opened her blood-shot eyes and Nikki could see her chin trembling.
”No, that’s a stupid theory. On the other hand I think you need to eat something. What do you think, should I go shopping while you take a shower?”
”I’m not hungry. I just want to sleep and wake up tomorrow to realize that what I’m going through is just a bad nightmare.”
It took Nikki fifteen minutes to find a free parking spot in Pafos’ harbour. There were people everywhere and she followed the crowds down toward the water. The sun was still hot and a number were in the sea cooling down. Smart thing to have a public beach here in the middle of the harbour she thought and went into an ice-cream bar to buy a bottle of water. Nikki had a few gulps before calling Daphne.
They decided to meet outside Steve’s Cafe’ in fifteen minutes time. Since she had let her hair down when leaving the flat Nikki felt hot. She easily turned it up into a knot on top of her head and instantly felt cooler. It was crowded and sweaty on the promenade. Everybody was hustling and the noise was loud. The doormen tried everything to fill their outdoor restaurants, but Nikki just smiled when she went past them although some were far too insistent. She felt her mobile vibrating in her hand and Nikki answered by saying her surname.
”Are you getting anything done or are you swimming the whole day?”
”Hi Hogstrom. I wish. Unfortunately we don’t have time but we could really do with it. It’s insanely hot here.”
”Enjoy it because in Gothenburg it’s 16 degrees and raining. Not really great.”
”We have around 40 in the shade during the day. The brain doesn’t really work well then.” Nikki chuckled and tried to find a secluded place and went toward the changing rooms by the public beach.
”Listen, Goran just found some new information regarding Sten Arvidsson. His wife Dikla obviously came from Syria. She was killed there by government troops in the summer of 2011. By mistake.”
”Syria?” Nikki turned toward the sea. Some boys were fishing on the pier and it looked really peaceful. She herself felt inadequate and dirty from all the lies.
”We haven’t found anything else about him. I don’t know if this is a lead you can follow up but at least I wanted you to know. Have you been able to identify the victim from the golf club?”
”No, not yet. You know, I just thought of something, what if the victim is Swedish and somebody has reported him missing in Sweden?”
”Damn it, I didn’t think of that. I’ll check it immediately and send you the list of missing persons.”
”That’s right, we found Karl’s car in the harbour this afternoon. Forensics are going through it right now. Then we’ve finally managed to track down Patrik’s mobile phone, it’s also somewhere in Pafos harbour but we don’t know where as yet. By the way how is it going with Patrik’s call lists from his mobile?”
”I phoned my contact at Telia and the lists will arrive in later today. Do you still think that Patrik is the latest victim?”
”I don’t know. Both Linn and I are constantly calling and sending messages to his mobile but unfortunately there is no reply. I’m actually quite worried.
”But listen lighten up now, don’t be pessimistic. Try being professional and think rationally. Why would anybody want to murder him?”
”I’ve asked myself the same thing and fortunately I can’t think of any reason.”
Nikki was really hungry now. When Linn had fallen asleep she’d only had time for a quick shower. Then she had eaten an apple on the way to the harbour. Her stomach was grumbling and Nikki promised herself that she would take the time to eat and order something nice after work. She approached Steve’s Café and saw her colleagues directing some lost tourists.
”How is it going?”
Daphne was twisting her hands. ”Not very well actually. We’ve knocked at every restaurant and bar here in the harbour and nobody has seen anything suspicious.”
”Sam helped me print out these photos of Patrik. I thought it might make our search easier.” Nikki gave them a bundle each while glancing at one of the photos. She felt hard-pressed. The situation had drastically changed since she got off the plane a couple of days ago. It wasn’t only the murders that would have to be solved even if her former lover was found. Alive as well.
Carlos stared at the photos and lit up a cigarette. The smoke drifted straight into the faces of Daphne and Nikki who started coughing and frantically waving their hands.
”Excuse me, next time look where you blow the smoke and pollute the air please.”
Carlos pretended not to hear anything, took another drag and blew out the smoke in the same direction again. ”It was a bloody brilliant idea of Sam’s to make these copies. Trust a man to think about something smart like this.”
Nikki didn’t swallow the bait but just wished that Carlos would swallow his sarcasm once and for all.
”Why don’t we concentrate on the task of finding Patrik instead. I suggest dividing and do the same round we’ve just finished”, Daphne said.
Nobody had seen or recognized the picture of Patrik when they once again gathered by the Café. Nikki didn’t know what to think or feel about it all. Had he never been in the harbour area or had he simply been just another tourist?
”OK, I think we should continue with the boats. There aren’t that many with lights on so we should be able to do it before we fall asleep standing up.” Daphne stifled a yawn with her arm and looked questioningly at the others.
”Good suggestion”, Nikki said. ”We’ll take a pier each and start from down by the fort.”
Carlos moaned and pulled out a chocolate croissant from his front pocket. Nikki looked at Daphne and they both knew what they were thinking of. Yuck, putting that mushy piece of cake in your mouth considering where it had been. They giggled and could hardly stop since they were so tired. Carlos who didn’t catch on continued chewing as usual. In addition some flakes of the crust had got stuck in his bushy moustache so Daphne and Nikki completely broke down in an hysterical attack of laughter. The ring from Carlos’ mobile phone made them both pull themselves together and they were biting their tongues not to start giggling again. Nikki felt such a relief at being able to laugh; it had been a long time.
”That was Sam. He’s spoken to Cyta again and asked them to do another tracking of Patrik’s mobile. But this time there was no success unfortunately.”
”Damn it!” Nikki kicked a stone and looked out over the crowded tourist area. A salmon pink flamingo was standing there as usual, charming the people outside the restaurant with the same name and the level of noise had increased dramatically. ”Have you heard from Neo by the way?”
”Sure, I spoke to him a couple of hours ago. He is starting the autopsy of the sand bunker victim early tomorrow morning”, Daphne replied.
”Did he say anything about the victim’s age or anything else which could be valuable?”
”No, he hadn’t had time even to look at the corpse yet.”
Nikki sighed loudly and looked into Daphne’s eyes framed with black eye-liner. ” I spoke to my boss earlier this evening and I’ll get a list of all men reported missing at home in Sweden. There could actually be a possibility that the latest victim was Swedish, maybe a bit far-reaching….”She shrugged and stifled another yawn.
”It doesn’t hurt checking, all tips are welcome”, Carlos answered and lit yet another cigarette.
The three police continued walking towards the piers. Nikki was happy she had put on some cool silk-shorts and a thin matching vest in this heat. Not exactly police clothing but what could she do? She didn’t have a clue that she would be on duty when she packed her suitcase back home.
”Wow, what a yacht”, Nikki exclaimed in surprise. ”Gee, it’s big.”
”Money Talks”, Carlos informed her. ”Belongs to the Russian Mafia.”
”The Mafia? But why haven’t you said something about the Mafia being on the island? Imagine if they are the ones taking Patrik and murdering Sten and Karl?”
”So far we haven’t got them for any murder. The only thing we know is that they are dealing with weapons, drugs and probably extortion too, so called protection money.”
”OK”, Nikki said, giving in. ”What do you think, we’ll start with the Mafia boat and then split up, or what?”
A guard outside Money Talks caught Nikki’s attention and her trained eye could see that he was armed. All of a sudden she felt naked.
”Damn it, I don’t have a gun.”
Carlos laughed out loud while drying the sweat from his forehead.
”But sweet-heart, what would you do with a gun? We’re not in the Wild West, this is actually Cyprus.”
Nikki glared angrily at Carlos but made an effort not to answer the stupid comment.
”Nikki has a point, though”, Daphne interfered. ”What if something were to happen?”
”What could happen?” Carlos questioned with a wicked grin.
”But what the hell”, Daphne hissed back. ”We’re actually in the middle of three different murder investigations. There is at least one killer on the loose, if not more.”
”Forget it.” Carlos killed the conversation and went up to the guard dressed in a suit outside the yacht, showed his police ID and explained his business.
”Unfortunately we haven’t seen this man or anybody looking like him”, the guard answered and uninterested gave the picture of Patrik back. Carlos and Daphne started walking away but Nikki stayed there, boiling inside.
”Hang on a minute. Is this the way you’ve behaved while looking for Patrik?”
”What?” Daphne asked with her hands on her waist.
”You bloody have to ask to come onboard at least and talk to somebody else but the guard. The yacht belongs to the bloody Russian Mafia. They can hide anything or anyone in there.”
”But we don’t have a search warrant and then we can’t butt in like that.”
”But you could always ask, don’t you think?”
Daphne shook her head. ”We don’t work like that. I’m sorry, but we have to do it our way.”
Nikki was close to breaking point and took three deep breaths. She knew that there was no use shouting but she had to show her displeasure in some way. Finally they split up and Nikki went out on one of the lit piers. The first five sailing boats were dark. When she approached the sixth she saw a blond head in the colourful hammock in the front of the boat.