Free Call Me Princess by Sara Blædel Page B

Susanne , Louise mumbled, noticing that Lars was looking at with her with a questioning expression on his face. To a certain extent, she felt sympathy for Susanne and how she had secretly tried to forge a path out of her mother’s domination by carefully trying to create her own happiness and look for a husband and family. In her peculiar living situation, the only refuge that was free from her mother’s ever-watchful eye was the Internet. Her seemingly uncharacteristic turn to online dating now made more sense than ever.

8
    C AMILLA ANSWERED HER PHONE SO FAST, L OUISE SUSPECTED she’d been sitting there with her hand hovering over the receiver.
    “What did Susanne Hansson’s mother say when she called you?” Louise began, without even saying hello.
    “Susanne Hansson?” Camilla’s attempt to feign ignorance did not succeed.
    “Knock off the subterfuge,” Louise insisted. “I really want to know what her mother told you. I just don’t get why she even contacted you. What did she want?”
    The length of time it took Camilla to respond told Louise that her friend was considering whether or not she could get something in exchange for her information.
    “She didn’t understand why the paper hadn’t reported the assault,” Camilla finally said. “She feels like all you ever read about is rapes, but then no one was interested in such a crime against her own daughter.”
    “She really ought to be grateful for that,” Louise huffed.
    “Well, she wasn’t!” Camilla said, sounding jovial but then quickly becoming serious. “It sounds like an awful story. I haven’t been able to get Lieutenant Suhr to confirm the chain of events, which I’m assuming means I’m pretty close... or maybe the actual details are even worse, and that’s why he’s being so tight-lipped about it.”
    “It may also have something to do with the fact that we’d like to keep things quiet so we can work the case,” Louise interrupted.
    “I’d be happy to fill you in on what the mother said, if you’ll tell me what happened.”
    “Enough already, Camilla. I’m not telling you anything. Whatever you get on this one has to come from Suhr. But I have the feeling that there’ll be some information later today. Your phone call put enough pressure on Suhr that he’s insisting we come up with something to tell you.”
    “Good,” Camilla said, clearly satisfied that her call had triggered a reaction. As a result, she decided to fill Louise in on the details of the mother’s phone call.
    “She told me she found her daughter in a pool of blood, with her hands and feet tied behind her back, beaten, and gagged. The guy who did it had tried to suffocate her by stuffing a block of wood in her mouth—”
    “Stop!” Louise cried into the phone. “No pool of blood, no attempted suffocation! Outside of the police report, I mean. You don’t need to tell me any more. Save yourself some trouble and don’t put your name on that garbage, you’ll just end up having to retract the whole story later.”
    Camilla was so audibly disappointed that Louise guessed she must have finished writing most of the article already.
    “It’s nowhere near as sensational as all that,” Louise said, trying to sound convincing as she pictured Susanne’s puffy face. “The most dramatic aspect of the case is that the girl has a mother who is an unbelievable blabbermouth.”
    “Maybe,” Camilla cut her off; “but obviously the mother didn’t fucking arrange for her daughter to be raped so she could enjoy her fifteen minutes of fame.”
    “No, of course not; but now that the opportunity has presented itself, she certainly doesn’t seem to be being shy,” Louise countered.
    “That may be,” Camilla said pensively. “I think I’m going to have another chat with her.”
    “You won’t get anything out of her. Michael Stig is with her now, and he is usually quite effective at persuading people to put a lid on things.”
    “Ha,” Camilla said dryly.