Page 115 of Hidden in Memories
He desperately continues to shout, until all that remains are rasping sobs. His nose is blocked with mucus and tears, his body is shaking so uncontrollably that he bangs his forehead on the roof. His head starts pounding, and somehow the concrete pain steadies him a little.
He manages to gain control of his breathing, makes an effort to think.
What actually happened?
The last thing he remembers is going outside for a cigarette. Someone tapped him on the shoulder.
Then everything went black.
The panic comes flooding back with such force that he feels dizzy.
He must have been kidnapped.
But why?
91
They have been waiting for news for hours now, and Hanna has dozed off on Henry’s sofa. When her phone wakes her, it is almost five o’clock in the morning. She is dizzy with the lack of sleep, and there is a dull ache at the back of her head.
Henry is fast asleep on the other sofa, opposite her. His cheek is resting on a cushion, his ear on the armrest.
“Hello?” Hanna says breathlessly.
A colleague on patrol is on the other end of the line.
“Have you found Filip Wretlind?”
The wind crackles in the microphone as the officer explains why he is calling.
“No, but we just picked up a guy who was staggering along the E14 and we drove him home. He was still drunk. He’d had a nap at a friend’s house, then woke up and decided he had to get home to Björnen. He told us he’d seen another guy outside Supper who was in an even worse state than him, so drunk that his companion was practically carrying him. I think our guy wanted to show himself in a better light, but the thing is that the young man he saw matches Filip Wretlind’s description.”
Hanna tightens her grip on the phone.
“So what time was this? When he saw him?”
“Around eight in the evening, apparently. Our witness said he was wearing a dark-blue Moncler jacket.”
The time fits with what Emily told her.
And the clothing.
“Did he see where Filip went?”
“He said the two of them were heading toward the parking lot at the train station. The person we think was Filip was barely capable of walking. He was being dragged along.”
Hanna frantically tries to process this new information.
If Filip had been drugged, or suffered a blow to the head, that could explain why he appeared to be so drunk. According to Emily he hadn’t been drunk at all—in fact he’d had only one beer during the course of the evening.
“Did your informant notice anything about the person he was with? Was it a man or a woman?”
“It was a tall man, but our guy has no idea what he looked like. He doesn’t recall much, just that he was wearing a dark hat pulled well down over his forehead.”
“Age?”
“Again, no idea.”
“Did he see if they drove away?”
