Vanished by Liza Marklund

is interested in covering this. Then I’ll have to check what you’ve told me with some of the official authorities you deal with. Maybe you could let me have a few names?’
    Rebecka considered this, folding her napkin.
    ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I suppose I could. But you have to appreciate that this is all extremely sensitive, it really is top secret. No one will talk about us, unless I’ve told them it’s okay. Which is why I’d rather get back to you with a list of names.’
    ‘Of course,’ Annika said. ‘When that’s done, I’ll need to talk to some of your cases, someone who’s been erased.’
    The cool smile again.
    ‘That might be trickier. You’ll never find them.’
    ‘Maybe you could ask them to call me?’
    The petite woman nodded. ‘Yes, that’s one option. But they don’t know our routines. We never let them find out how we work, that way they can’t give themselves away.’
    ‘I wasn’t thinking of asking your clients about your working practices. I want to find a vulnerable woman who’s prepared to say, “Paradise saved my life.” ’
    Rebecka smiled broadly for the first time. Her teeth were small and white as pearls.
    ‘I can probably arrange that,’ she said. ‘There are lots of women in that position. Was there anything else?’
    Annika hesitated. ‘Just one thing. What’s your real motivation for doing this?’
    Rebecka quickly crossed both her arms and legs, adopting the classic defensive posture.
    ‘I don’t want to talk about that.’
    ‘Why not?’ Annika said gently. ‘Your organization is fairly unusual, there must have been something that prompted you to set it up?’
    They sat in silence for a few moments. Rebecka’s foot swung back and forth.
    ‘I don’t want you to write about this,’ she eventually said. ‘This is strictly private, between the two of us.’
    Annika nodded.
    The woman leaned forward, eyes wide open.
    ‘As I said,’ she whispered, ‘I was personally threatened. It was an awful experience, absolutely awful. In the end I wasn’t functioning at all, not sleeping, not eating.’
    She looked over her shoulder, her gaze sweeping over the other customers in the bar, then leaned forward even closer.
    ‘I decided to survive. That was how I began to construct this support network. Through my work I discovered loads of people in similar situations. And I decided to try to make a difference, to take responsibility in an area where official organizations weren’t able to.’
    ‘Who was threatening you?’ Annika said.
    Rebecka swallowed, her lower lip trembling.
    ‘The Yugoslavian mafia,’ she said. ‘Have you ever heard of them?’
    Annika blinked in confusion.
    ‘What have you got to do with them?’
    ‘Nothing!’ Rebecka said hotly. ‘It was all a big misunderstanding! It was dreadful. Dreadful!’
    She got up suddenly.
    ‘Excuse me,’ she said, hurrying off to the toilet. On the table she left a little heap of crumpled napkins.
    Annika sat looking in the direction Rebecka had disappeared in. What was this all about? Another tobacco thief?
    She sighed and took a sip of the now lukewarm water, reading through her notes. Although she had written a lot, she knew there were gaps in the story, and she couldn’t see what they were yet. And what did the Yugoslavian mafia have to do with it all?
    The porcelain woman was taking her time. Annika was starting to get impatient, looking at her watch. Her train to Flen would be leaving soon. She paid the bill and had just put her jacket on when Rebecka came back, bright-eyed and carefree.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ the woman said with a smile. ‘The memories are so painful.’
    Annika looked at her, and decided she may as well get the question out of the way.
    ‘Have you got anything to do with those missing cigarettes?’ she asked, sounding slightly stressed.
    Rebecka smiled and blinked innocently.
    ‘Have you lost your cigarettes? I don’t smoke.’
    Annika sighed. ‘Well, I won’t be able to write