Easy Money

14

JW was soon a real hot ticket. The rings spread on the water after the party at Lovhalla Manor. The talk about the rager went on for weeks: how crazy Nippe’d been, how funny Jet Set Carl’d looked when he’d run riot, the killer jokes Lollo’d made, how randy Nippe was all the time. The gossip exaggerated the drinking, the dancing, the scandals, and the rush, to JW’s advantage.

He made good money in the weeks that followed. Abdulkarim loved him. He painted their brilliant plans for the future, fantasized-they were going to own this town. JW didn’t know if he should take Abdul seriously or if he was kidding around. The Arab talked so damn much.

JW stopped driving the gypsy cab, let another guy take over. Checked with Abdulkarim first. It was cool with the Arab.

JW saw himself with new eyes: business baron, blow bringer, bitch banger-got three girls home in two weeks. A personal record. He felt like a mini Nippe.

During the days, he went berserk in the boutiques. Two new pairs of shoes to call his own: Gucci loafers with the gold buckle, and Helmut Lang boots for the winter. He bought a suit, Acne design with visible seams at the cuffs. It was hip, possibly too hipster. Maybe not the correct, strict style. He gorged himself on new shirts with double cuffs: Stenstroms, Hugo Boss, Pal Zileri. Bought new jeans, pants, socks, belts, tank tops, and cuff links. The best buy of all was a cashmere coat from Dior, for the winter. The price was twelve thousand kronor. Expensive, sure, but it costs to be on top. He hung it in front of his bed so it’d be the first thing he saw when he woke up in the morning. Coat for a king.

JW loved every minute. He didn’t save a cent.

As for the Ferrari, he kept repeating to himself: There’d been two cars like it in Sweden that year. It shouldn’t be impossible to find someone with a connection to them, someone who’d known Camilla or at least knew more than the police. Peter Holbeck, the owner of one of the cars, had hardly used his. Anyway, it didn’t seem likely that Camilla would’ve had anything to do with the guy; the dude was never in Sweden. That left the leasing company, Dolphin Finance, Ltd. The company’d filed for bankruptcy a year ago-that was obviously shady.

JW looked up info about the company with the National Registry of Incorporated Companies. It was bought as a shelf company, Grundstenen, Ltd., but had immediately changed its name to Leasing Finance, Ltd. Six months later, it changed its name to the Finance ER of Stockholm, Ltd. A year later, it changed its name again, this time to Dolphin Finance, Ltd. Three name changes in less than three years. The fish stink was unmistakable. The same person’d been on the board ever since the storage company’s buyout, a certain Lennart Nilsson, born March 14, 1954. JW looked the man up with the Civil Population Registry.

Lennart Nilsson was dead.

JW ordered a copy of the documents connected with the bankruptcy case.

Peculiar information: Lennart Nilsson was a known user from Nacka and had died of cirrhosis. According to the compulsory information the administrator of the bankrupt estate was obligated to supply in case of eventual falsifications, the man was probably a cover, a so-called front man.

JW’d reached a dead end. The Ferrari was leased by a company that’d gone under and whose only physical representative had passed away. How would he proceed now?

The only thing he could think of was to get in touch with the administrator of the bankrupt estate personally. He called, got a secretary on the line, and asked to speak with the lawyer. According to the secretary, there were tons of hurdles. Every time JW called, she said, “Can you call back? Unfortunately, he is in a meeting at the moment.” JW asked her to tell the lawyer to call him. He thought that should be enough. The lawyer jerk never called back. JW had to keep at it. Took over a week to reach him.

Finally, they were able to talk. A real anticlimax for JW. The lawyer/administrator didn’t have any more information than what was written in the documents he’d ordered. The company hadn’t kept any books, had no employees, and there were very sparse annual financial reports. The accountant wasn’t in the country, and it wasn’t clear who owned the stocks.

All the leads to the Ferrari ended in a bankruptcy that seemed Criminal with a capital C. It was blatantly obvious that something wasn’t right, but JW’d stopped thinking about the car for a few days. There wasn’t much more he could do.

He tried to let it go.

Didn’t work. He couldn’t escape his thoughts. His sister was missing and there had to be a way to learn more.

Four years ago, a policeman had told JW’s family the odds: “Normally, the unfortunate fact is that if we don’t find a missing person within a week, the person is most likely dead. The risk of that is nine out of ten.” The police kept explaining, “Most often, the person hasn’t been the victim of a violent crime. As a rule, there are accidents, like drowning, heart attacks, unfortunate falls. The body is usually found. On the other hand, if it isn’t, it can be a sign that other circumstances brought about the death.”

Memories of the conversation with the police gave JW ideas. He knew Camilla’d last been heard from on the night of April 21 of the year she went missing. At the time, she called a friend, Susanne Pettersson, who was also the only known acquaintance of Camilla’s that the police’d been able to dig up in Stockholm. She’d told the police she didn’t know anything. Her only connection to Camilla’d been that they studied together at Komvux, a continuing-education center. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t given her more thought before.

In JW’s opinion, the police couldn’t have done a particularly thorough job; they must’ve seen the pictures of Camilla in the Ferrari. Still, it wasn’t mentioned in the reports JW’s family’d been shown. They could’ve missed other things, too.

JW grasped desperately at the poor odds-one in ten missing people wasn’t dead.

Maybe Camilla was still alive.

He had to know more; he felt he owed it to his sister. A week after he heard about the dead board member of Dolphin Finance, Ltd., he called Susanne Pettersson. They talked for a bit. She’d never completed her studies, never gotten her GED. Now she worked as a salesclerk at H amp;M in the Kista Mall. When he suggested they meet up, she asked if their phone conversation wasn’t enough. It was obvious that she didn’t have an interest in digging deeper into the Camilla story.

JW went out to Kista anyway. Wandered around the brightly lit mall until he found the H amp;M store and asked for Susanne. He introduced himself to her.

They stood in the middle of the shop floor. There were few customers in the store at that time of day. JW wondered how it could be worthwhile to keep the place open.

Susanne had bleached-blond hair, but dark roots were visible at the base of her scalp. She was dressed in skinny jeans tucked into a pair of high boots, and a pink top with print across the chest: Cleveland Indians. Her entire body language screamed, I don’t want to talk to you. Arms crossed, gaze glued somewhere other than on JW.

JW tried to pressure her, gently. “What subjects did you study together?”

“I had to redo almost everything. Math, language arts, English, social science, history, French. But school was never my thing. I wanted to be a lawyer.”

“It isn’t too late.”

“It is. I have two kids now.”

JW sounded genuinely happy, “That’s great! How old are they?”

“One and three, and it’s not great. Their good-for-nothing dad left five months before the youngest was born. I’ll stay in this store till the cellulite finishes me off.”

“I’m sorry. Don’t say that. Anything can happen.”

“Sure.”

“It can, I promise. Would you please tell me more about Camilla?”

“But why? The police asked all they needed to know four years ago. I don’t know anything.”

“Relax. I’m just curious. You know, I hardly even knew my own sister. I was just wondering what kind of classes you took together and stuff.”

“I would’ve been a good lawyer-you know, I can really argue when I need to-and then Pierre came along and fucked it all up. Now I’m here. Know what a salesclerk makes?”

JW thought, The chick could never have been a lawyer. Totally lacks focus.

“You don’t remember which classes you took with Camilla?”

“Hold on. I think we were in the same language arts and English classes. Used to do our homework together, study for the tests. She got good grades even though we cut a lotta class. I got shit grades. Never knew how the hell Camilla did it. But then, I didn’t really know her that well.”

“Do you know if she hung out with anyone else?”

Susanne was quiet for a beat too long.

“Not really.”

JW looked her in the eyes. “Please, Susanne. I care about my sister. Don’t I have a right to know what happened to her? Don’t I have the right to ask you these questions? I just want to know more about Camilla’s life. Please.”

Susanne twisted uneasily, looked toward the empty registers, as if she had to go help some invisible customer. Obviously uncomfortable.

“I don’t think she was friends with anyone else in her Komvux classes. Camilla sort of kept to herself. But ask the language arts teacher, Jan Bruneus. He might know.”

“Thanks. Is he still at Komvux, do you know?”

“No clue. Some made it; some didn’t. I never finished. Haven’t set my foot in that place since and don’t plan to, either. And I don’t know anything about Jan. But there are a lot of salesclerks who’ve made a load of money. Won reality-TV shows and stuff like that. Camilla might’ve done something like that.”

Susanne said she really had to get back to work. JW got the hint, went home. Wondered about Susanne’s last comment. Reality TV and Camilla-what was the connection?

He thought that he had to concentrate on school and selling C, couldn’t waste more time playing detective. The Susanne Pettersson trail didn’t lead anywhere. The chick would’ve already said something if she knew something, wouldn’t she?

JW was at home studying when Abdulkarim called his cell phone. The Arab wanted to meet up-preferably today. They decided to meet for lunch at the Hotel Anglais on Sturegatan, near Stureplan.

JW kept reading. He couldn’t let his studies slip. He’d made a deal with himself: Go ahead and snort, deal, make millions and be happy-but don’t flunk out of school. He saw that kind of thing among the boyz. There were two types of people for whom Daddy picked up the tab. The knowledge that they’d never have to worry about money made one type into lazy, disinterested, stupid freeloaders. They couldn’t care less about their studies, failed their exams, made fun of people who were ambitious. They wanted to do their own thing, pretended to be entrepreneurs, visionaries. In the end, things worked out no matter what. The other type got anxious, knowing they’d never have to lift a finger for their own livelihood. They wanted to prove themselves, had to prove themselves, to create their own successes, to earn the right to the fortunes they were going to inherit anyway. You found them at the Stockholm School of Economics, in law school, or in London. They sat till one in the morning with group projects, before quizzes, tests, oral exams. If they could fit it in, they had part-time jobs, at law firms, banks, or with Dad. They strove and achieved-got somewhere on their own merit.

JW wasn’t the kind of guy to take shortcuts, not really. Sure, he could probably live on C for a few years, but he still wanted the safety. Study a lot, never flunk out.

He packed up his books. Undressed and got into the shower.

With practiced technique, he held the showerhead in his hand with the stream of water angled away from him, as he tried to set the right temperature. Why was it that no matter how you turned the dial, it was impossible to get it right? Too hot. A nanotwist to the left-too cold.

He began by running the water over his legs. The blond hairs flattened downward when the stream of water washed over them. He put the showerhead back in its holder, let the water pour over his hair, head, and torso. Turned up the heat.

Tried to forget about Camilla. Thought about Sophie instead. What was he doing wrong? He’d thought he was going to score with her at the Lovhalla Manor party. Instead, he’d ended up with Anna, her best friend. Anna was nice and all, but she didn’t have that extra something. How retarded was it to fuck Anna? Gossip about the party’d spread so widely, it might as well have been in the tabloids. Sophie could’ve found out. Maybe she was pissed.

Sophie in JW’s eyes: pretty as hell, body like a bikini model, sexy like a Playboy Bunny, charming like an intelligent talk-show host. And she had brains, too. Wrestled him to the ground verbally every time they had a discussion. Radiated smarts every time she opened her mouth. One-upped his jokes with a twinkle in her eye. But that wasn’t all-she seemed nice, too, even though she’d dissed him like a typical Lundsberg prep school chick. She got top grades, ten out of ten. He had to see her more, but without the boyz. Alone.

JW turned up the heat even more. Thought about peeing in the shower but didn’t. Wasn’t his style.

Maybe he didn’t have enough game. Maybe he should ignore Sophie. Not be so obviously into her. Not seem so happy to see her. Talk to her less and hit on her friends more. JW hated the tail game. And yet he was an expert at playing his own game in front of the boyz. But when it came to Sophie, he just wanted to hold her every time she was near. Hug her, kiss her, and all that. How the hell would he be able to act ice-cold? Sure, he could pick up girls at bars. Pull some one-liners. Get ’em in bed. Bag ’em. Brag in front of the boyz. But the serious stuff was trickier. The real game was wily.

He turned the heat up again. That’s what he always did; began with a temperature that was hard to perfect and felt good at first but got too cold after a couple of minutes. Made hot even hotter. In the end, the water was almost scalding. The mirror fogged up; the bathroom turned into a steam room.

Time to have lunch with Abdulkarim. JW got out of the shower and readied himself in the bathroom. Put on Clinique Happy under his arms and Biotherm moisturizer on his face. Putting wax in his hair was the last thing he did-the goo was so difficult to get off his fingers. He looked at himself in the mirror and thought: I look good.

He stepped out of the bathroom. Shivered. Got dressed. Put on the cashmere coat-a boy with class. Put his new MP3 player, a tiny Sony, in his pocket and put the earbuds in. They didn’t stay very well, tended to fall out. He tried to wedge them in at an angle. Put on a Coldplay song and walked down toward Sturegatan. It was a bright day. It was already twenty past three.

The Hotel Anglais was half-empty. Two waitresses sat at a table, folding napkins in prep for the night. Behind the bar, a guy in jeans and a T-shirt was sorting bottles of booze. Sly and the Family Stone was playing from the hidden speakers. Only two guests sat at a table. Abdulkarim didn’t appear to have arrived yet.

One of the napkin-folding chicks walked up to him. Led him to a table by the windows, far from the other guests. He ordered a coffee. Looked out through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Out toward Sturegatan. Humlegarden was right across the street. He thought about the first time he’d treated Sophie and Anna to a hit in the park. The gateway to the network. That was a little over five weeks ago now. He’d gotten to know more new people during that time than during his entire life. Cocaine-controlled chum cartels.

There weren’t a lot of people on the streets at three-thirty in the afternoon on a weekday. A couple of stressed-looking bankers in dark blue suits hurried past. Two moms, each pushing a baby carriage with one hand and holding a cell phone in the other, strolled up toward the park. One of them was pregnant again. JW thought about Susanne Pettersson. He’d be bitter, too, if he was in her situation. A lady walked by with a pug on a leash. JW leaned back in his chair and pulled out his cell phone. Fired off a text to Nippe, asking what the plan was for the night: Drinks at Plaza, maybe?

“ Salam aleikum. How’s school going?” Abdulkarim’s shrill voice, almost unaccented. JW looked up from his texting.

Abdul stood by his table. At least as much wax in his hair as in JW’s, but shaped differently. Some sort of pageboy look. Abdulkarim was always dressed in a suit, with the cuffs of his shirt peeking out of the jacket. As if he were some honest, hardworking banker or lawyer. What gave him away were the pants. They were three times baggier than the current fashion and had old-man pleats in the front. In 1996, the rest of the pants world had moved on and left Abdulkarim behind. The only thing he got right was a stylish silk handkerchief tucked into his breast pocket. Abdulkarim had a gait with attitude, a constant five o’clock shadow, and dark, glittering eyes. The heart of it: The Arab was the definition of a blatte playboy.

JW replied, “School’s good.”

“Isn’t college a little gay? Buddy, when you gonna realize there are faster roads to success? I really thought you’d have understood that by now.”

JW laughed. Abdulkarim took a seat. Waved his whole arm in order to get the attention of one of the waitresses. True Abdul the Arab. His gestures were too big. Un-Swedish, unreverent.

Abdulkarim ordered sesame-marinated, finely sliced filet of steer and noodles. Trendy. In the same breath, he managed to say that he wanted the waitress’s number, that she ought to change the music, and that he wondered whether the steer’d been well hung. He laughed for five minutes at his own joke.

JW ordered a seafood soup with aioli.

“Very good to see you like this. Was getting tired of just buzzing on the phone all the time.”

“You’re right. We need to get together, to celebrate. These are glorious times, Abdulkarim. If you can get me more, I need more. You know that.”

“Times are fattening you up. You switch that out, like I told you?” Abdulkarim pointed to JW’s cell phone.

“Nope, not yet. Sorry. I’ll buy a new one this week. Sony Ericsson’s latest. Have you seen it? It’s got a super-high-def camera. Really damn sweet.”

Abdulkarim imitated him. “‘Really damn sweet.’ I know your story. Stop talkin’ like you lived in Ostermalm since the cradle. Plus, I want you to buy a new cell phone today. Damn it, you gotta watch yourself. We do good business, you and me. Too good to fuck up because of bad phones, if you know what I mean.”

The Arab could seem silly sometimes, but JW knew the guy was a real pro. Cautious, never used words like police, cops, risk, cocaine, coke, or drugs in public. Knew that restaurant employees and customers could eavesdrop better than a gramps with his hearing aid turned up to max. Knew the police easily tapped cells, tracked contracts. Abdulkarim’s rules were safe. Always call from a pay-as-you-go SIM card, exchange the card every week, preferably switch phones every other week.

“You know, I got two other guys selling. They do good. Not as good as you, no, but okay. We can talk numbers on the phone. Prices are going down. My boss’s suppliers, they’re not perfect. Think there’re at least two middlemen between them and the wholesaler.”

“Why don’t you go straight to the wholesaler?”

“First of all, it’s not really my call. I work for the boss and don’t run my own fuckin’ business. I thought you knew that. Second of all, I think the wholesaler’s in England. Hard to read. Hassle to negotiate with. But we’re not here to talk about purchasing prices today. Not at all. What I want to tell you is, we need salespeople. In the boroughs, the projects. Someone who knows that market. Someone who can sell to other retailers. Someone who knows the business and the tricks, if you know what I mean. The prices are going down. The product is getting popular in Stockholm’s satellites. At the beginning of last year, the proportions were something like twenty borough, eighty inner city. At the end of last year, it was fifty-fifty. You with me, my man? The boroughs are waking up in winter, and loving the snow. It’s not just inner-city people, your upper-class buddies, and the partyers doing this stuff anymore. Everyone is. Svens, niggers, teenagers. It’s populist stuff. Folksy. Like IKEA, H amp;M. We’re talking bigger volume. We’re talking lower purchase prices. Growing margins. You follow, college boy?”

JW loved the Arab’s parley. He spoke better Swedish than expected, like a real businessman-serious business. The only thing that put him off was the fact that Abdul seemed scared of his boss for some reason. JW wondered why.

“It sounds interesting. For sure. But you know, the boroughs aren’t my turf. I can’t sell there. I don’t know anybody there. That’s just not me.”

“I know that’s what you want people to think about you. That’s fine with me. You got your market and you do good. But listen up.” Abdulkarim leaned across the table. JW got his drift, pushed his plate to the side. Crossed his arms and leaned his chest in closer.

Abdul looked him in the eye and lowered his voice. “There’s a guy, a Chilean or somethin’, who just broke outta the joint. I remember him from a couple years back, a clocker without much of a clue. But now talk has it the guy knows the northern boroughs like you know the bathrooms at Kharma. Learned even more on the inside. The joint’s a better school than all the projects combined. I know some of his buds from Osteraker. They say he’s smart as hell. The Chilean pulled off quite a show five or six weeks ago. Fucking Cirque du Soleil. Climbed over the wall and disappeared in the woods. A twenty-three-foot wall, you dig? The guards just stood there twisted up like question marks. He’s a good guy. But right now he’s a guy under a fuckload of pressure. I know he hasn’t left the country yet. He’s got what we need. Most important, he’ll work for cheap in exchange for me taking him on.”

“What am I supposed to say? I don’t know about all that. Don’t know why you’d want to get involved with some guy who’s obviously gonna attract the cops like flies to shit.”

“Right now, at this stage, I’m not gonna get involved with him. You are. I want you to find him. Flatter him. Pay him. Take care of him. Then he’ll help us tighten our grip on the boroughs. But don’t scare him; remember, he’s on the run. But that’s the whole point. You dig, my man? Since he’s on the run, he’ll get dependent on us providing for him, giving him a safe place to stay, keeping him undercover.”

JW didn’t like what he was hearing. At the same time, it was like he’d tasted blood, whet his appetite for the Arab’s business. He’d been hesitant in the beginning, but now the sun just seemed to keep on shining. Maybe the Chilean runaway idea wasn’t so bad after all.

“Why not? Let’s try it. How and where do I find this Chilean?”

Abdulkarim laughed out loud. Praised JW. Praised Allah. JW thought, is Abdul getting religious, or what?

The Arab leaned in even closer and gave JW the info. The little he knew. The runaway’s name: Jorge Salinas Barrio. The guy was from Sollentuna and his family consisted of a mom, a plastic papa, and a sister. Abdulkarim’s best piece of advice: “Go to Sollentuna and talk up some of the right people. It should give you something, inshallah; just make it obvious you’re not a narc.”

He ended by tucking a bag in JW’s jacket pocket. JW felt with his hand-bills. He looked at Abdul, who held up all ten fingers. “There are this many bills in there and a piece of paper with six names on it. That’s the best help I can offer.”

JW fished out the slip of paper. All the names except for one sounded Spanish. The money was, as the Arab put it, “for getting all the homeys in Sollis to dish about el runaway-o.”

JW finished his soup. Abdulkarim settled the bill.

They walked out. It was chilly outside.

JW started thinking. This could be big. This could be a little conglomerate all on its own.

He was going to track down that Chilean.

He walked home. Had trouble studying. Couldn’t concentrate. His mind kept wandering. He stretched out on the bed and tried to read the last issue of GQ.

His cell phone rang. JW realized he’d forgotten to keep his promise to Abdulkarim about getting a new one.

Jet Set Carl’s voice on the other end of the line.

What the hell? What could he want?

After saying hi, Carl said, “JW, Lovhalla Manor was such a great fucking time. Totally insane.”

“Ridiculous. We’ve gotta do that again sometime.”

“For sure. Really damn sweet that you could help bring the party. I really think everyone appreciated it.”

“Nice to hear. I tend to be able to find a way to bring some fun, so to speak.”

“Did you know I jumped the shit out of a couch? Totally busted it.”

JW gauged his tone-no problem, okay to laugh.

Carl scoffed.

“It was a real piece, too. Designer.”

“You’re kidding? What’d Gunn say?”

More laughter. I mean, Gunn? Please.

They chatted about the awesome dinner, Nippe’s game, that Jet Set Carl’d paid fifteen big ones to fix the couch, that Gunn must’ve wondered why everyone was sneezing up a storm the morning after.

In JW’s mind, the same question kept coming back to him: Why is Jet Set Carl calling me?

He didn’t have to wait long for an answer. “It’s my birthday and I’m having a big party at my house. Think you could bring some fun?”

JW was used to the slang and the roundabout way of saying things. Even so, it took him a sec to catch on. “You mean C? Of course. How much do you need?”

“Hundred and fifty grams.”

JW: brain freeze.

Jesus.

He tried to sound unperturbed, “That’s a lot, but I think I can get it. Just have to check the amount first, make sure it’s cool.”

“I don’t want to be a drag, but I have to know pretty soon. I’ll call you back in an hour. If you don’t know, I’ll ask someone else. What’s your price?”

JW did some rapid mental arithmetic. It was dizzying-if he could get a hold of the amount, that is. Maybe he’d be able to push the purchase price down to five hundred. Could charge Carl at least a thousand. Left for him: at least seventy-five grand.

Jesus Christ Superstar.

“I’ll do my very best, Calle. I’ll call you as soon as I know.”

Jet Set Carl thanked him. He sounded like he was in a good mood.

They hung up.

JW sat on the bed-with the stiffest hard-on in northern Europe.

Dagens Nyheter, daily

October

Tonight,the Stockholmpolice began a major offensive against organized crime. The goal is to eradicate at least one-third of the 150 specifically targeted persons from the criminal underworld-and to deter young people from taking up a life of violent crime.

The offensive, classified as “Nova,” was actually supposed to begin over six months ago. The planned action had to be postponed because resources were allocated to a number of other recent highly publicized investigations.

But the first hit took place tonight. Hundreds of police officers from various divisions, including special operations from the gang unit, took part in a number of crackdowns in different parts of the city and the surrounding boroughs. The result of the work is not yet known and the district police have not answered any of Dagens Nyheter’ s questions.

Through Nova, the district police hope to combat the networks of more or less career criminals who are behind violent crime, protection racketeering, drug trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution, and cigarette smuggling. The project’s action plan states that violent crime is on the rise in the Stockholm area and that the likelihood of criminals bearing arms has increased.

The strategy is to first and foremost strike out against the leaders of these criminal networks. In connection with the offensive, 150 known criminals across the region have been pinpointed as being of special interest. The goal is that at least fifty of these will, “by means of distraction or force of law,” be “made to refrain from criminal activity in the long term.” None of these persons is currently serving time or is charged with crimes that can lead to more than two years in prison.

The goal is to be reached within two years, at the latest.