Read Online MemoRandom: A Thriller by Anders de La Motte - Free Book Online

confused. Apart from that, not bad.” He was clutching the piece of paper in one hand, keeping it under the covers, out of sight of the thin-haired man in the visitor’s chair.
    “The doctor said something about gaps in your memory?”
    Sarac tried to force a smile, then glanced down at the note that the nurse had written for him.
    You’ve had a mild stroke.
    You were involved in a car accident in the Söderleden Tunnel on November 23, 2013.
    Your doctor’s name is Jill Vestman.
    The gaps in your memory are . . .
    “Temporary,” he said quickly. “That’ll improve as soon as the swelling goes down a bit.”
    At least Sarac had no trouble remembering Kjell Bergh. Hehad recognized his balding, overweight boss the moment he walked through the door. Bergh was the sort of man who could never be taken for anything but a police officer, even though he didn’t wear a uniform. There was something about the way he held himself and his weary but watchful eyes. Almost forty years in the force had left their mark.
    “So how much do you remember?” Bergh adjusted the vase of flowers he had just put on the bedside table. There was a note of tension in his voice.
    “The accident and the days leading up to it are a bit of a jumble,” Sarac said. “The weeks before too. But all that’s only—”
    “Temporary.” Bergh nodded. “Yes, you said.”
    “The car accident. Can you tell me what happened?” Sarac said.
    Bergh shrugged his shoulders and pushed his thin glasses up onto his forehead.
    “You drove straight into one of the concrete barriers in the Söderleden Tunnel. Next to the exit for Skanstull. Head-on, no rubber on the road to suggest that you braked, according to the traffic unit. Molnar’s group got there just after the accident and managed to put the fire out. I heard that a couple of the guys were in tears, it looked so bad.”
    Sarac nodded and gulped.
    Bergh leaned closer to the bed. Sarac suddenly noticed the dark patches under the man’s eyes.
    “We had to open the safe,” Bergh said in a low voice. “It’s standard procedure when a handler . . . I mean, we weren’t sure if you were going to make it.”
    Sarac nodded, trying to work out why he didn’t want to tell his boss the truth about the gaps in his memory. His sense of unease began to grow again. It made him clutch the piece of paper even tighter.
    “Kollander was there, as head of Regional Crime. He and I used our codes, all according to protocol,” Bergh went on, pulling a face. Sarac’s heart immediately began to beat faster. “Yourenvelope was empty, David.” Bergh’s voice was so low now that it was almost a whisper. “No backup list, no names, nothing.”
    Sarac slowly shook his head. He could feel the headache gathering strength in his temples. Suddenly there was the sound of voices out in the corridor and Bergh glanced quickly over his shoulder. Then he leaned even closer to Sarac, so close that it was possible to smell the garlic on his breath.
    “I managed to get the head of Regional Crime to hold back on filing an official complaint. Or at least wait a few days, until we’d had a chance to talk to you. None of us want Dreyer and the Internal Investigation team snooping about the department again.” Bergh licked his lips. “Kollander’s wetting himself. Says we might have a mole in the department. Someone selling information. It’s only a matter of time before he goes running to the district commissioner, and you know what that would lead to.”
    Sarac gulped again and tried to moisten his lips. But his tongue felt as if it were glued to the roof of his mouth.
    “Forty years in the force, only three left to retirement. None of that would count for anything when it comes to Operation Clean Threshold. Just look at what they did with the Duke. The district commissioner has set her sights on becoming the next national police chief, and nothing’s allowed to spoil her pitch. Nothing!” Bergh’s face was now bright