He remained sitting with the receiver in hand for half an hour, just staring into space. Couldn’t believe it. What the hell were they doing? He’d served them the Komvux teacher’s head on a platter. Of course, Jan Bruneus had something to do with Camilla’s disappearance.
Sometimes he considered sending Fahdi to take care of Bruneus. Exert some pressure of his own to make the teacher talk.
JW ran his C business irreproachably. But as long as Camilla’s face was the first thing on his retina every morning, he couldn’t find peace.
The following day, he called his mom. He hadn’t spoken to her in two months.
“Johan, you never call and you don’t pick up when I try to call.” The first thing she did was guilt-trip him. No wonder he didn’t call more often.
“I know, Mom, I’m sorry. How are you guys?”
“As usual. Nothing changes up here.” JW understood. Grief still lay like a lid over her voice.
“I heard from a girlfriend yesterday that there’d been a picture of you in Svensk Damtidning. I ran right away and bought the magazine. I was going to call you today. How fun, Johan. At the princess’s party and all. Did you see the king?”
“I did, actually. He was happy and seemed nice.”
“I had no idea you knew those people.”
“They’re friends from school. Nice people.”
“Dad won one of those lottery things you scrape yesterday. Can you imagine? He scraped three one thousands. We didn’t see it at first. We scraped it together. The most we’d won before was three hundred kronor.”
“Well, that’s great. So, did you buy more tickets?”
“No. We went out for dinner in Robertsfors.”
The story made JW happy. As far as he knew, they hadn’t gone out to eat, not even to Robertsfors’s only decent restaurant, since Camilla’d disappeared.
“Mom, there’s something I want to tell you.”
Margareta was silent. Could tell by JW’s voice what it was about.
“The police have new information about Camilla.”
He heard her breathing on the other end of the line.
He kept talking. Told her the whole Jan Bruneus story. When he was finished, Margareta asked how he knew.
He avoided answering.
“Mom, you have to call the police. I know you don’t like doing it, but you have to. Find out if they know anything else. Put pressure on them to keep the investigation open. We have the right to know what happened.”
“I can’t do it. Dad’ll have to call.”
JW spoke to Bengt. His dad was in a bad mood. JW explained again. It was as if his father didn’t want to understand. He asked stupid questions. “Why did she cut so many classes? She must’ve known that bad attendance would mean lower grades.”
The frustration grew. Finally, JW almost yelled, “If you don’t call the police, I won’t talk to you anymore!”
An ugly threat. Low. But what was he supposed to do?
He apologized.
Bengt promised to call the police.
JW sat on the bed in his beautiful new apartment. He pulled his legs up and hugged them to his chest.
Thought about calling Sophie. Telling her everything about his parents. About Camilla.
No, he couldn’t do it.
The next day, he busied himself with the regular: Abdulkarim’s project, the C business, expansion plans, the collaboration with Jorge. Preparations with Abdulkarim and Jorge for the big C delivery. The Arab’d deliberately dried up the market. Wanted to press up the prices before the shipment’s arrival. It meant more time to study for JW, which he needed. He leaked information to Nenad like a sieve. Called him a few times a week with reports. It was starting to feel normal.
And then, on a day in June, the message arrived: The cabbages in England’d finished growing. They were big and dense enough. In a week, they would arrive, packed in containers.
JW and Abdulkarim’d contracted a real transportation company, Schenker Vegetables, Ltd. They’d booked storage spaces around town where the shit would be stored, conferred with the Brits about price guarantees and quality control, made sure the right drivers handled the load. Organized and planned to the max.
Soon they’d flood Stockholm’s boroughs with massive quantities of C.
JW and Jorge’d calculated, contemplated. Organized the dealers in accordance with the new quantities that would be available.
The early summer air was thick with excitement.
Within a few months, if all went according to plan, JW would be a multimillionaire.
LINDSKOG MALMSTROM LAW FIRM
BANKRUPTCY ESTATE INVENTORY DEED
A. GENERAL INFORMATION
DEBTORS
Stockholm’s Video Specialist, Ltd., 556987-2265
The Video Buddy, Ltd., 55655-6897
Registered location: Stockholm
Registered Representatives
Member of the Board Christer Lindberg
Ekholmsvagen 35
127 48 SKARHOLMEN
Deputy Eva Groberg (deceased)
Portholmsgangen 47
127 48 SKARHOLMEN
ACCOUNTANT
Mikhael Stoianovic
SHARE CAPITAL
100,000 kronor
DAY OF INSOLVENCY
June 10 of this year
BANKRUPTCY ADMINISTRATOR
Goran Grundberg
B. OVERVIEW OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
The bankruptcy estate inventory deed shows the following:
ASSETS
(Primarily assets from cash registers, inventories, and current assets in the form of VHS and DVD films)
11,124.00
LIABILITIES
Prioritized debts (tax claims)
174,612.00
FLR § 11
Nonprioritized debts
43,268.00
Estate’s deficit
206,756.00
The estate inventory has been approved by the company’s registered representative.
C. INTRODUCTION
GENERAL
Since a while back, I have been investigating a number of companies that are suspected of being a part of a so-called money-laundering scheme. The debtors in question, Stockholm Video Specialist, Ltd. (referred to below as Video Specialist), and the Video Buddy, Ltd. (referred to below as Video Buddy), are suspected of being a part of a group of companies with connection to the so-called Yugoslavian Mafia in Stockholm. Other companies included in the same sphere are Clara’s Kitchen amp; Bar, Ltd., Diamond Catering, Ltd., and the Demolition Experts in Nalsta, Ltd. The companies are involved in varying fields of business, but the so-called shadow owners are probably the same.
DEBTORS
Christer Lindberg acquired Video Specialist in September of last year from Ali Koyglu, who previously operated a dry-cleaning business on the premises. According to Christer Lindberg, the purchase price was 130,000 kronor. We have been unable to confirm that figure with Ali Koyglu. Christer Lindberg acquired Video Buddy in the course of the same month from Oz Izdan, who previously operated a video-rental business on the premises, under the company name Karlaplans Video, Ltd. Christer Lindberg has informed us that he is unable to recall the purchase price. Oz Izdan has refused to answer questions regarding the sale. According to Christer Lindberg, no written documents were drawn up over the sale.
Christer Lindberg has not been active as director. He has had nothing to do with the accounts, nor played an active part in the decision-making process of the companies in question.
BACKGROUND AND DATE OF COMPANIES’ INSOLVENCY
The debt largely constitutes tax liabilities. The companies have probably been run in order to launder money for the shadow owners. Secret accounts have been kept, which reveal that the companies’ actual proceeds amount to the following (average numbers calculated based on the first six months of operation): Video Specialist, 52,017 kronor; Video Buddy, 46,122 kronor. The figures reported to the tax authorities between November and March of the current year show heavily inflated profits for both companies. This money has not been derived through the revenues of the companies’ business.