Page 15 of Hidden in Memories
13
It is dark in the storage area where Aada Kuus is sitting on the hard concrete floor, weeping. She is below the hotel’s ground floor, where spare equipment is usually kept. At the moment it is almost empty, and Aada has hidden herself in the far corner. She ran down here when she saw the police officer cordoning off the Silver Suite, she had to find a safe space.
Her mind is whirling. She can’t stop shaking after the shock of hearing about last night’s murder.
Someone said it was Ivar from maintenance who found the body, and the police are going to question him. Then they will probably want to speak to all the staff. That means they will come looking for Aada too, ask her if she saw anything.
She clasps her hands tightly together in an attempt to stop them shaking. It doesn’t work.
Aada knows she should have raised the alarm last night when she realized that something terrible must have happened. Instead she rushed away as quickly as she dared.
She is so afraid, and doesn’t trust her memory. Did she really see a masked man holding a bloodstained knife emerge from the Silver Suite?
And did he see her?
He must have done. She remembers those burning eyes.
She lay awake all night, tossing and turning. When she came into work today, it was worse than she could have imagined. There were police officers everywhere. Her colleagues were deeply shaken when they explained what had gone on.
The guest in the Silver Suite, a woman, has been stabbed to death.
Aada lets out a sob. She is ashamed of herself for doing nothing, and at the same time, she is terrified that the murderer will come after her too.
The hairs on her arms stand up at the very thought.
A little voice says that she ought to go to her line manager and tell her what she saw, but she is scared to come forward. She is a foreigner and hardly speaks the language, why should they listen to her?
She knows from bitter experience that the police in her homeland cannot be trusted.
What if the police in Sweden are the same?
Who will protect her then?
14
Hanna and Daniel have been allowed to use a conference room on the first floor, with windows overlooking the dense fir forest outside the hotel. Here too the décor is in burnt tones: The chairs are upholstered in rust-colored fabric, and the carpet is a shade of dark mustard.
Daniel notices that the sun has gone behind the clouds, and it looks dark out there even though it is the middle of the day. No doubt it will start snowing soon.
The gloomy weather matches his mood perfectly. He is finding it hard to shake off the nauseating stench from the Silver Suite, the knowledge that there is a dead woman just along the corridor.
Espen Lund is sitting opposite them. He can’t keep still, and is constantly moving his hands. First of all he adjusts his dark jacket, then fiddles with his leather belt. Finally he concentrates on scratching the back of one hand. His expression says that he has a thousand things to take care of, but no idea where to begin.
Hanna is next to Daniel, with her notepad on the table.
“How long will the Silver Suite be cordoned off?” Espen asks. “It’s not very nice for our guests. We’d like to get in there and clean the place as soon as possible.”
“I can’t tell you that,” Daniel replies.
A crime scene of this caliber will need to be examined many times. The last thing the police want is for someone to go in there and clear up.
“We’ll be in touch as soon as we know more,” Hanna adds.
The manager doesn’t look reassured.
“We need all the information you have about the guest who was staying in the Silver Suite,” Daniel continues. “Her name, how long she was staying—everything you have.”
Espen sweeps his fingertips over the iPad in front of him.
