Christer Tholin [Tholin - Secrets?

T he train rumbled into the underground station. Elin watched the platform, searching for the sign with the name of the stop: Rdhuset . So she had already made it to Kungsholmen , one of Stockholms central islands and where she lived. Just two more stops before she would have to get off, and from there it was barely ten minutes to her apartment. Another workweek ended, and as was so often the case, a pretty dull one at that. She hadnt had much to do. Tobias, her boss, was out of the office most of the time, and she had had to sit at her desk and answer the phone. This was not at all what she had imagined.

For two years now, Elin had been working for a company called Secure Assist. She had only taken the job because in the beginning Tobias had promised her that, little by little, he would groom her to work in the field as a private investigator. Except that Tobias hadnt yet asked her a single time, let alone given her an assignment. Luckily, Lars, one of the private detectives, had asked for her twice in the past year. Those had been amazing assignments, and they had given her a chance to prove herself. She had even solved the second case almost entirely by herself. Yes, to some extent she had forged ahead without authorization, but she knew exactly what would happen if she asked permission for every move. Someone else would get the assignment, or they would tell her it was all too risky. Still, her heart was set on this job: her great dream in life was to be a good detective. And her education was the perfect fit. She had graduated with an IT degree, and she was also an outstanding close-combat fighter. Add to that her intuition and exceptional creativity when it came to finding out information. But Tobias liked to bet on more conventional careers, in other words, people who had formerly worked as bodyguards or security personnelor, even better, for the customs office or, like Lars, the police. Elins build may also have been an issue: she was small and slight, while Lars was close to 62, with broad shoulders. Unfortunately, there was nothing Elin could do about that, so she tried to use forceful behavior to make up for her lack of stature. Then again, being small could sometimes be an assetlike when you needed to hide.

Two young men shoved past her to get to the two empty window seats in Elins section. Otherwise, the train was packed. And no wonderit was rush hour on a Friday afternoon. Elin watched them. One was wearing earphones, with the cables tucked into his jacket pocket, and he was tapping his foot in time to the music that only he could hear. The other was holding a smartphone to his ear and talking about some newfangled program he absolutely had to buy. The train sped along as Elins thoughts returned to her problem. She was determined to get another assignment, preferably with Lars. Lars owed her, anyway. Shed already saved his ass twice: the first time, as he lay unconscious on the ground after an explosion and shed hauled him out of the fire danger zone; and the second time, when two child abductors were threatening him with a rifle. Both operations had happened at the end of the previous year. Now it was almost summer, and since then shed done nothing but sit in the office and, other than secretarial work, procured some information now and then. That left her seriously frustrated. Nothing had helpednot talks with Tobias or pleading with Lars. The answer was always the same: there were no suitable assignments. True, most of the jobs consisted of boring sentry duties or humdrum surveillances, but Elin would have preferred even those to the office.

Finally, Elin set herself a deadline: if her job showed no basic change for the better by the end of the year, she would hand in her notice. She had already started to implement a parallel plan and had registered her own company. In Sweden, that was easy to do, and within one hour she had filled out all the online forms and digitally signed and submitted them. Just a week later, her company was official. She had chosen the simplest form of business: everything was in her name and, aside from a small registration fee, had cost nothing since there was no need to contribute your own capital. So now she had her own company that covered all the functions of a private detective. Still, it wouldnt be easy to run a business alongside her current job. According to her contract, all sidelines were subject to approval. Elin could probably ignore that: surely no one would notice, and anyway, what she did with her free time was her business. What weighed more heavily on her mind was that it was direct competition for Tobiass company, and if that came out, it would be grounds for tossing her out on the street without notice. That also made it hard to advertise: she had to be sure that no one could trace the ads to her. She had already posted a couple using the simplest means, namely, several online platforms. She had done so without using either her own or her companys name, and as a contact address, she had listed an email that bore no relation to her name and that was a Gmail account. The posts had been running for two weeks now, and she had constantly checked that account, but so far not a single inquiry had come through. The whole thing was more of a test flight, and she had no idea if she could actually swing an assignment. For one thing, it was highly competitive work, and it also depended on the type of job. After all, she couldnt just disappear from the office and devote herself to that. As long as she could handle her business in the evenings and on weekends, it would be doable. But why worry if she hadnt yet gotten a single request? What was that saying? Dont trouble your head about problems you dont yet have.

Elins thoughts turned to the coming weekend. Maja, her partner, was traveling. As a judo and karate instructor, shed been asked to hold a weekend class in Copenhagen, so Elin found herself alone and without any plans. She had secretly hoped that a job request would come through after all, but nothing had materialized so far. Never mindshed come up with another idea.

As the train pulled in to the Stadshagen station , Elin grabbed her purse, rose, and pushed her way through to the door.