The Swedish Sex Bomb (LSD, #7)

12. Wish

Wish

From Malmö back to Stockholm is about six hundred kilometres, a six-hour drive. It gives us time to talk about what could have happened with Agneta. So far, I could avoid the topic, but now, also Frieda is worried; this story might not have a happy ending: "Be honest, Benny... Do you believe Agneta is still alive?"

I don't answer right away. I look around, at the green countryside, at the little lake behind the fir trees, at the bird of prey above a field. What can I say?

I say: "When someone you love is no longer there, she leaves an empty space. When she's dead, this space fills with sadness. When she has only disappeared, the space fills with hope. I can't choose what happened, but I can choose what I want to believe. I choose hope."

"And when you find out she's been murdered... Do you fill that space with hate? Revenge?"

"No. Revenge is a negative emotion. We need to think positive. I'm wishing and hoping she's still alive. Wishful thinking is a powerful thing. If you wish for something hard enough, it's a scientific fact that the chances of getting a positive result go up significantly. If you change the way to look at things, the things you look at change. I wish and I hope she's still alive, and I want her to be still alive, and I can't believe anyone could harm such a fantastic person as your sister is, but when the victim isn't found within thirty-six hours after her disappearance, there's not a high chance she'll return without damage..."

Frieda does her best to fight back a tear, but it escapes her eye, anyway. I give her a tissue and say: "Crying doesn't solve the problem, dear. You should do what I do: wish she's okay, wish it with all the positive thinking you have in you. It's the best we can do. Positive thinking and smile. Even when you look Death in the eye, the best is to laugh at Him and say: «I'm not afraid of you. I've done great things; people will remember me and love me forever. That makes me immortal.» Even if Agneta is dead, you won't forget her and you will make sure everyone in Sweden and beyond will know what an immortal woman she was. And until then, we keep an eye on that black sedan that's been following us since we left Malmö."

"Why?"

"Why is he following us? I have no idea. We should ask him. Or did you mean why we should keep an eye on him? That's easy. That traffic sign over there tells us there's an exit to a restaurant coming up. I have a sudden wish for a cup of coffee, caused by my curiosity to find out if the man in the black car takes the same exit or not."

Frieda plays with the mirror on her side of the car, trying to get a better view of the man in the black car, but he stays too far behind us to show his true face.

"Use my spiPhone. It has a 500 Megapixel camera. If you take a photo, you can enlarge it and count even the amount of pimples he has on his face. But please be careful. We don't want him to notice we know he's there."

Frieda takes my spiPhone, I activate it with my voice control, and she takes a photo into the mirror. Smart thinking. Quickly, she enlarges the result on the screen and shows it to me: "Do you know who this is?"

I glance at the photo, shortly, because I'm driving and have to keep my eyes on the road.

"He looks like that actor who plays about every villain in this year's Hollywood movies, so he must be a nice guy."

I glance again. His face does look familiar. "I've seen him behind a newspaper at the train station, when we were waiting for the train to Gothenburg, pretending he was Arvid the Dentist. And if I remember well, I've seen his face also between the fifty or sixty people, glued to the windows of that five-star restaurant in Gothenburg, watching how Magic Megan almost kissed Marvellous Margaret."