Free The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson Page A

shock.
    ‘Who?’ he whispered. ‘Who’s after me?’
    The man raised his gun.
    ‘I am after you. I am the Paper Boy.’

I t was such a beautiful day that you just wanted to get in the car and head out of the city. Drive out into the country and let the children go crazy in the snow.
    But a conscientious person like Fredrika Bergman couldn’t do that. Not with a murder and two missing boys to think about. The morning passed in silence as she and Spencer moved around the
apartment like two restless souls, getting the children ready for day care.
    ‘So you’ll pick them up this afternoon?’ she said eventually as she stood in the doorway with her son and daughter in the double buggy.
    ‘Of course.’
    Of course.
    Now Fredrika had agreed that he could go away for two weeks, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.
    Very wise.
    Fredrika had hardly slept. The missing boys and memories of the past had kept her awake. In the middle of the night, at God knows what time, she had glanced over at Spencer and realised that he
too was wide awake, lying on his side and watching her in the darkness. He couldn’t settle either.
    ‘I don’t know what I’d do if you left me,’ he had whispered. ‘Are you sure it’s okay if I go?’
    He had reached out and touched her chin.
    The desire came from nowhere, and she had leaned over and kissed his forehead. His cheeks. His chin. And his mouth.
    ‘Of course it is,’ she had whispered in return.
    The clear air and open sky made life seem even more tranquil as she left the apartment block and ploughed through the fresh snow with the buggy. She was taking the children to day care,
then she was going to work. One foot in front of the other. Always moving forwards, never backwards.
    Soon she would be there. Get to grips with the case of the missing boys.
    She offered up a silent prayer that it wouldn’t be too late by the time they found them.
    It was as if Stockholm had become a different city overnight. Someone had shot a teacher, standing on the pavement surrounded by children. And the two boys who had disappeared on their way
to a tennis lesson were still missing.
    ‘I can’t lead both investigations,’ Alex Recht said to his boss first thing in the morning.
    ‘I’ve asked for the murder to be handed over to the National Crime Unit. I’d like you to focus on the boys.’
    Alex was frustrated.
    ‘But I’ve already made a start on the murder!’
    ‘Yes, but we didn’t know these boys were going to disappear. I’ve spoken to a colleague in the NCU; they’re very familiar with Josephine’s boyfriend, and would
like to take over the case as part of their own work in mapping serious organised crime.’
    But what if Josephine had been shot for some other reason? What if her death had nothing to do with her boyfriend?
    In that case they would have to pick it up later. They had the capacity to run only one of the two investigations. Alex’s team was still incomplete.
    ‘We can’t have a team that consists of just two people,’ he had said when it had first been suggested that he should lead a special investigative unit once more.
    ‘Absolutely not. You’ll have a core team of three, as before. Recruitment will be down to you. If you need additional resources, all you have to do is ask and I’ll allocate
colleagues on a temporary basis to assist with any ongoing preliminary investigations.’
    But recruitment took time, and at the moment the team consisted of Alex and Fredrika. They had put together an advertisement for the third member, and had started to go through the applications
as they came trickling in, but so far none of them had been particularly impressive.
    Fredrika sailed into the office, her cheeks rosy after walking to work in the cold; her eyes were brighter than they had been the previous day. Playing the violin was clearly doing her good.
    ‘Forget the teacher,’ Alex said. ‘We’re working on the boys.’
    Fredrika leaned against the