The first man to be kidnapped was a youth by the name of Johann Christianson.

Christianson was 26, just out of college by two years and had started a new job as a textbook salesman, specializing in marketing. He lived alone in his apartment, and his parents lived on the continent. He had few friends, mostly business associates, and no known enemies.

He was last seen at a pier diner by a few of his colleagues. He'd stayed late at the diner on his laptop, for work, preferring the sound of the ocean to the drone of his air conditioner. None of the waitresses remember seeing him leave, but it was presumed evening when he either departed for home or was taken. None of his belongings were found left at the diner, no calls had been made, and he never made it home.

Christianson was pronounced missing by his colleagues after they hadn't seen or heard from for about two weeks. They stated that the reason they hadn't placed an inquiry previous to that was because he was a man of quiet habits, not going out much and working from his apartment. Christianson has been reportedly missing for almost two months.

The second man to go missing was a man of similar standing; 25 years of age, lived alone near the port, and had a job as a secretary in the local hospital. He was last seen by his neighbor, an old woman, when she'd said goodbye to him during his departure for the grocery store. He never made it to the store, and he never went back home. Jensen Abreham has been missing for about seven weeks.

The police started suspecting serial kidnappings only when a third man, Lars Skold, 27, was reported missing, last seen exiting the bank six and a half weeks ago. He had been staying in a hotel along the pier while he was visiting relatives. It was the day before he would return home to Norway.

Kurt Wallander sat back in his desk chair with his knuckles to his lips, listening to Martinsson's report on the kidnap victims. His forehead was a maze of worry lines, and the more he listened, the deeper the lines got.

"All young men, all caucasian, all dissappeared from the same area," drawled Martinsson. He pranced around the table, handing out manilla folders to each of the officers. Kurt opened his to see three pictures, one of each man. They looked young and expectant, something Kurt knew he'd never be again. He sighed and flipped through the files; missing reports, inquiries, and entraneous information on the victims.

"Is there anything else that might connect them?" piped up Anne-Britt from her corner. She gesticulated to her open envelope. "Any money, any women? Did any of them go to school together?"

"All of the victims were from different schools in different parts of the country," Martinsson explained, his arms crossed, "and they'd all moved to their current place of residence within the past two years. Not one of them had any girlfriend or equal significant other, and each of them ranked somewhere within the lower middle class. No money, no women, and they hadn't known each other previously, at least not to anyone's knowledge."

The young officer cast his eyes around the table, where the team continued to flip through his report. Nyberg looked up.

"Were these their first jobs?" he asked. "I mean, had they done anything before this? Maybe they'd all worked together in the past, and then broke away to find new careers." The rest of the team nodded distractedly at the posed question. Martinsson sighed and flipped through his folder, which contained files he hadn't bothered to copy for the others.

"I made sure to dig up everything I possibly could, relevant or irrelevant to the case," he explained, "that includes past proffessions. Let's see..." His fingers flitted through several sheets of paper, before he finally found and pulled out three leaves of information. He glanced over them and shook his head.

"Christianson had worked in an automobile repair shop... Abreham in a pizza parlor, and... Skold had lived with his parents. Still no connection."

Kurt ran a hand over his face in contemplation. Why would someone do this; kidnap three totally different men who are almost exactly the same, and for what ulterior motive, if there even was one? Perhaps the kidnapper simply had an affinity for young, white, single males. Had this happened anywhere before? Had any other countires dealt with a similar case? Had anyone checked the CCTV for possible footage of the kidnapper? Could there be more than one person taking these men?

By the time Kurt wondered if he should ask any of these questions out loud, Martinsson had already gone back to his computer, Lisa and Anne-Britt back to their desks, and Nyberg was probably headed back to the mortuary. The detective inspector decided he'd be better off in his own office. He gathered up his folder and headed that direction.