The Lost Boy

19

‘Did she get hold of her?’ asked Gösta. He was still looking half-asleep.

‘She didn’t say. She just asked us to come to the office as soon as possible.’

Patrik swore. There was a lot of traffic, and he had to keep changing lanes. When they reached the Refuge offices in Hisingen, he got out of the car and tugged at his shirt. It was soaked with sweat.

‘Come in,’ said Leila quietly when she met them at the door. ‘We’ll sit in the break room. It’s more comfortable than my office. I’ve made some coffee and sandwiches, in case you didn’t have time for breakfast.’

They’d barely had time to eat anything before leaving for Göteborg, so Patrik and Gösta each reached for a roll after they sat down.

‘I hope Marie isn’t going to get into any sort of trouble over this,’ Patrik said. He’d forgotten to say anything yesterday, but when he’d gone to bed he couldn’t sleep because he was worrying that the poor, nervous young woman might lose her job after telling them about Madeleine.

‘Absolutely not. I take full responsibility. I should have told you myself, but my primary concern was for Madeleine’s safety.’

‘I understand,’ said Patrik. It still bothered him that they’d lost so much time, but he could see why Leila had acted as she did. And he never stayed angry for long.

‘Have you managed to get hold of her?’ he asked, finishing his sandwich.

Leila hesitated. ‘I’m afraid we seem to have lost track of Madeleine.’

‘Lost track?’

‘Yes. We helped her to escape abroad. I probably don’t need to go into all the details, but it’s done in a way that will guarantee maximum security. At any rate, she and the children were installed in a flat. And now … now they seem to have left it.’

‘Left it?’ Patrik repeated.

‘Yes. According to our colleague who’s on the scene, the flat is empty, and the neighbour says that Madeleine and the children left yesterday. And they didn’t seem to have any plans to return.’

‘Where could they have gone?’

‘I suspect that they’ve come back to Sweden.’

‘Why would they do that?’ asked Gösta. He reached for another roll.

‘She borrowed some money from the neighbour to buy train tickets. And she has nowhere else to go.’

‘But why come back, considering what’s waiting for her here?’ Gösta was talking with his mouth full, sending a shower of crumbs on to his lap.

‘I have no idea.’ Leila shook her head, and they saw the look of dismay on her face. She was clearly very upset. ‘You have to understand that it’s a matter of an extremely complex psychology. You might wonder why a woman doesn’t leave the first time she gets hit, but it’s more complicated than that. In the end, a form of interdependency exists between the batterer and the victim, and sometimes the woman doesn’t behave in a very rational way.’

‘Do you think she has gone back to her husband?’ asked Patrik in disbelief.

‘I don’t know. Maybe she couldn’t take the isolation any longer and she was missing her family. Even though we’ve worked with these issues for years here at the crisis centre, we still don’t always understand how the women think. And they have to make their own decisions about their lives. They’re free to do as they wish.’

‘How do we go about finding her?’ Patrik was feeling quite helpless. Yet another door had slammed in their faces. He had to talk to Madeleine. She might be the key to everything.

For a moment Leila didn’t reply. Then she said, ‘I’d start with her parents. They live in Kålltorp. She may have gone there.’

‘Do you have their address?’ asked Gösta.

‘Yes, I do. But …’ She paused. ‘You’re dealing with extremely dangerous people. Madeleine and her family may not be the only ones at risk. You may be too.’

Patrik nodded. ‘We’ll be discreet.’

‘Are you planning to talk to him too?’ asked Leila.

‘Yes. I’m afraid it’s unavoidable. But first we’d better talk to our colleagues here in Göteborg and find out what’s the best approach to take.’

‘Be careful.’ She handed Patrik a piece of paper with an address written on it.

‘We will,’ he said, but he wasn’t as confident as he tried to sound. They were heading into deep water now, and the only thing to do was to swim as best they could.

‘Nothing from the airlines?’ said Konrad.

‘No,’ said Petra. ‘They didn’t leave the country. At least not under their own names.’

‘There are plenty of ways to get false passports and identities.’

‘If that’s the case, it’s going to take a while for us to find them. We should investigate all the other possibilities first. Then we’ll know what the most likely scenario might be.’ Petra exchanged a glance with Konrad as they sat at their desks across from each other. Neither of them needed to be any more specific than that. The images they were both envisioning were clear enough.

‘It would be pretty vicious if they killed a five-year-old,’ said Konrad. At the same time he knew that these individuals moved in circles where a human life meant nothing. Killing a child might be unthinkable for some of them, but not for all. Money and drugs had a way of transforming people into animals.

‘I’ve talked to some of her women friends. She didn’t have many, from what I understand, and none of them claim to have been very close to her. But they all say the same thing. Nathalie and Fredrik and their son were supposed to go to their house in Tuscany for the summer. And nobody had any reason to think they hadn’t gone.’ Petra took a sip from the water bottle she always kept on her desk.

‘Where’s she from?’ asked Konrad. ‘Are there any relatives she might be staying with? Something might have happened to prevent her and the boy going to Italy. Marital problems. Or maybe she was the one who shot him.’

‘Some of her friends hinted that it wasn’t a particularly happy marriage, but I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions at this stage. Do you know whether the bullets have been sent over to the lab?’ She took another sip of water.

‘Yes, and they’re being given top priority. The narcotics division has been working for a long time on this guy and the organization behind him, so the case is at the top of their list.’

‘Good,’ said Petra, getting to her feet. ‘I’ll check on Nathalie’s family while you lean on the techs. Let me know as soon as they have anything we can work with.’

‘Okay,’ said Konrad, sounding amused. He had long since grown accustomed to Petra acting as if she was the one in charge, even though they held the same rank. But he didn’t mind, since he’d never been interested in competing for status. He knew that she listened to him, and she respected his judgement and opinions, and that was what mattered most. He picked up the phone to ring the technical team.

‘Are you sure this is the right address?’ Gösta glanced over at Patrik.

‘Yes, I’m sure. And I heard somebody moving around inside.’

‘Then I guess she’s here,’ whispered Gösta. ‘Otherwise they would open the door.’

Patrik nodded. ‘But the question is, what do we do now? We need to get them to let us in voluntarily.’ He paused to think. Then he took out his notebook and pen. He wrote down a few lines and tore out the page. Then he leaned down and slipped it under the door along with his business card.

‘What did you write?’

‘I suggested a place where we could meet. I hope she agrees,’ said Patrik as he started down the stairs.

‘Do you think she might run instead?’ Gösta had to hurry to keep up.

‘I don’t think so. I wrote that we wanted to talk to her about Mats.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ said Gösta as they got into the car. ‘Where are we going?’

‘The Delsjön nature reserve,’ said Patrik, and drove off with a lurch.

They left the vehicle in the car park and walked over to a picnic area at the edge of the woods. Then they waited. It felt great to be out in the country for a change, and the early summer day was as beautiful as could be. Pleasantly warm and sunny with not a cloud in the sky. Birds were chirping, and there was a quiet rustling in the trees.

It took about twenty minutes before they saw a slender woman walking towards them. Her shoulders were hunched, and she kept glancing around anxiously.

‘Has something happened to Matte?’ She had a surprisingly girlish-sounding voice.

‘Why don’t we sit down?’ Patrik pointed to the bench they were standing next to.

‘Tell me what’s happened,’ she said, as she sank on to the bench. Patrik sat down next to her. Gösta chose to stand off to the side and let Patrik handle the conversation.

‘We’re from the Tanumshede police,’ Patrik told her. The expression on Madeleine’s face made his stomach start to churn. He felt like an idiot for not having realized that they would have to deliver the news of Mats’s death. He was going to have to tell this woman that someone who had clearly meant a great deal to her was now dead.

‘Tanumshede? But why?’ Her hands, which were lying on her lap, clenched into fists, and she gave him a pleading look. ‘Matte is from that area, but …’

‘Mats moved home to Fjällbacka after you disappeared. He got a job there and sublet his flat here in Göteborg. But he …’ Patrik hesitated, but then went on. ‘He was shot almost two weeks ago. I’m sorry, but Mats is dead.’

Madeleine gasped for breath. Her big blue eyes filled with tears.

‘I thought they would leave him alone.’ She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

Patrik patted her awkwardly on the back.

‘Did you know that your ex-husband and his friends had assaulted Mats?’

‘Of course I knew. I didn’t believe for a minute that story about a gang of teenagers attacking him.’

‘And that was why you decided to flee?’ said Patrik gently.

‘I thought they would leave Mats in peace once we were gone. Before that happened, I was hoping that things could be worked out. That we could hide somewhere in Sweden. But when I saw Mats in the hospital … I realized that no one connected to us would be safe as long as we stayed here. We had to disappear.’

‘Why did you come back? What happened?’

Madeleine pressed her lips together, and Patrik could tell that she wasn’t going to answer that question.

‘It doesn’t do any good to flee. If Matte is dead … That just proves that I’m right,’ she said, standing up.

‘Is there anything we can do to help you?’ asked Patrik, also getting to his feet.

She turned around. Her eyes were still filled with tears, but her expression was stony.

‘No, there’s nothing you can do. Nothing.’

‘How long were you and Mats together?’

‘That depends on how you look at it,’ she said, her voice quavering. ‘But about a year. It wasn’t allowed, so we kept it secret. We also had to be careful because of …’ She didn’t finish her sentence, but Patrik understood. ‘Matte was so different compared to what I was used to. So gentle and warm. He would never dream of hurting anyone. And that was … new for me.’ She laughed bitterly.

‘There’s something else that I have to ask you,’ said Patrik. He could hardly look at her. ‘Do you know whether Mats was mixed up in anything to do with drugs? Cocaine?’

Madeleine stared at him. ‘Why would you ask that?’

‘A bag of cocaine was found in a litter bin outside the building where Mats lived in Fjällbacka. With his fingerprints on it.’

‘There must be some mistake. Matte would never touch drugs. But you know as well as I do who has access to such things,’ said Madeleine in a low voice. The tears began spilling down her face again. ‘I’m sorry, but I have to go home to my children now.’

‘Keep my card, and call if there’s anything we can do, anything at all.’

‘Okay,’ she said, though they both knew that she would never call. ‘What you can do for me is catch the person who murdered Matte. I should never have …’ She rushed off, sobbing.

Patrik and Gösta stood there, watching her leave.

‘You didn’t ask her very many questions,’ said Gösta.

‘It’s clear who she thinks killed Mats.’

‘Yes. And I’m not looking forward to what we have to do now.’

‘I know,’ said Patrik, taking his mobile out of his pocket. ‘But we’d better phone Ulf. We’re going to need help.’

‘That’s the understatement of the year,’ muttered Gösta.

As the phone rang, Patrik had a nagging sense of uneasiness. For a fraction of a second he saw in his mind a crystal clear image of Erica and his children. Then Ulf came on the line.

‘Did you two have a nice time last night?’ asked Paula. For a change she and Johanna were both home at the same time for lunch. Since Bertil had also arrived for a home-cooked meal, they were all gathered around the kitchen table.

‘Well, that depends on how you look at it,’ said Rita with a smile, which clearly showed the dimples on her round cheeks. In spite of all the dancing she did, her body was still quite curvaceous. In Paula’s eyes, her mother was extremely beautiful, and by all accounts, Bertil felt the same way.

‘That stingy bastard served us cheap whisky,’ muttered Mellberg. Normally he would have enjoyed drinking Johnnie Walker, and he’d never dream of spending his own money on an expensive bottle of whisky. But why would Erling bring out the good stuff if he wasn’t going to offer any to his guests?

‘Yuck,’ said Johanna. ‘Drinking cheap whisky would do anyone in.’

‘Erling poured glasses of expensive whisky for himself and for Vivianne, and then he gave us the cheap kind,’ Rita clarified.

‘How rude,’ said Paula in astonishment. ‘I didn’t think Vivianne was like that.’

‘I don’t think she is. She seemed very nice, and she looked thoroughly embarrassed. But there must be something about Erling that she finds attractive, because they surprised us by announcing their engagement.’

‘Wow.’ Paula tried in vain to imagine Erling and Vivianne together, but she couldn’t. It would be hard to find a more mismatched couple. Well, her mother and Bertil might fit the bill. But oddly enough, she’d started viewing them as a perfect combination. She’d never seen her mother happier, and that was the only thing that mattered. For that reason, it was even more difficult to tell Rita what she and Johanna needed to say.

‘How nice to have you both home,’ said Rita as she served the steaming hot soup from a big pot that she’d set on the table.

‘Yes, especially since it seems like the two of you haven’t been getting along lately.’ Mellberg stuck out his tongue at Leo, making the boy whoop with laughter.

‘Be careful he doesn’t choke on his food,’ said Rita, which made Mellberg immediately stop clowning around. He was deathly afraid of anything happening to Leo, who was the apple of his eye.

‘Chew your food properly for Grandpa Bertil,’ he said.

Paula couldn’t help smiling. Mellberg could be the most annoying man she’d ever met, yet she forgave him everything when she saw the way he looked at her son. Then she cleared her throat, fully aware that what she was about to say would be like a bomb exploding.

‘Well, you’re right that things have been a bit chilly between us lately. But yesterday Johanna and I had a chance to talk things over, and …’

‘You’re not going to split up, are you?’ asked Mellberg. ‘It would be impossible to find somebody new. There aren’t many dykes around here, and you’d probably never meet anyone else.’

Paula rolled her eyes and prayed for patience. She counted backwards from ten and then said:

‘We’re not breaking up. But we …’ She cast a glance at Johanna for support.

‘We just can’t live here any more,’ Johanna said.

‘You can’t live here?’ Rita looked at Leo as her eyes filled with tears. ‘But where are you going to move? How are you … and the boy …?’ Her voice broke and the words didn’t seem to want to come out in the right order.

‘You can’t move back to Stockholm. I hope you’re not even considering that,’ said Mellberg. ‘Leo can’t grow up in a big city like that. You understand that, don’t you? He might grow up to be a delinquent or a drug addict or something equally bad.’

Paula refrained from pointing out that both she and Johanna had grown up in Stockholm without suffering any damage. She realized that certain topics weren’t worth arguing over.

‘No, we’re not going to move back to Stockholm,’ Johanna hastened to say. ‘We’re happy here. But it might be hard to find a flat in the area, so we’re going to have to look in Grebbestad and Fjällbacka too. Of course the best thing would be if we could find one nearby. But at the same time …’

‘At the same time, we do need to move,’ said Paula. ‘You’ve both been incredibly helpful, and it has been fantastic for Leo, but we need to have our own place.’ She squeezed Johanna’s hand under the table. ‘So we’ll just have to take whatever we can find.’

‘But Leo needs to see his grandpa and grandma every day. That’s what he’s used to.’ Mellberg looked as if he wanted to pull the boy out of his high chair and hold him close, never to let him go.

‘We’ll do what we can, but we need to move as soon as possible. Then we’ll see what happens after that.’

Silence descended over the table, and only Leo was his usual cheerful self. Rita and Mellberg exchanged worried glances. The girls were going to move and take the boy with them. That might not be the end of the world, but it certainly felt like it.

It was impossible to forget the blood. The red colour had looked so garish against the white silk. She was filled with a terror that was worse than anything she’d ever felt. And yet the years she’d lived with Fredrik had been filled with frightening moments – episodes that even now she refused to think about, pushing them instead to the very back of her mind. Instead, she tried to focus on Sam and his love.

On that night she had stood there, frozen in place, staring at the blood. Then she had sprung into action, moving with a determination that she hadn’t known she possessed. Their suitcases were already packed. She was wearing her nightgown, and in spite of the fear she felt, she took the time to pull on a pair of jeans and a sweater. Sam could wear his pyjamas. She picked him up and carried him out to the car after loading everything else into the vehicle. He wasn’t asleep, but he didn’t say a word.

Everything had seemed so quiet. The only sound was a faint rumbling from the sparse nighttime traffic. She hadn’t dared think about what Sam might have seen, or how it had affected him, or what his silence meant. He usually loved to chatter, but he hadn’t said a word. Not one word.

Nathalie drew up her legs and wrapped her arms around her knees as she sat on the dock. She was surprised that she didn’t feel restless after two weeks on the island. But the days seemed to have raced by. She hadn’t yet decided what to do next, or what the future might hold for Sam and herself. Who knew if they even had a future? She had no way of knowing whether she and her son would be targeted by the people Fredrik was associated with, or whether they would be safe hiding out here. She would have preferred to withdraw from the world entirely and stay on Gråskär for ever. That was easy enough to do in the summertime, but when winter arrived, they wouldn’t be able to live here. And Sam needed friends and other people. Real people.

But he had to get well before she could make any decisions. Right now the sun was shining, and the sound of the sea lapping against the bare rocks lulled them to sleep at night. They were safe in the shadow of the lighthouse. Everything else could wait. And with time, the memory of the blood would fade.

‘How are you feeling, sweetheart?’ She felt Dan wrap his arms around her from behind, and she had to fight not to pull out of his embrace. She had emerged from the darkness and was able to see her children again, to spend time with them and feel the love she had for them. But she still felt dead inside whenever Dan touched her or gave her that entreating look.

‘I’m okay,’ she said, wriggling out of his arms. ‘Just a little tired, but I’ll try to stay up for a while. I need to retrain my muscles.’

‘Which muscles?’

She tried to smile at his joke, the way she always used to whenever he teased her. But she managed only a grimace.

‘Could you go and get the children?’ she asked him, wincing as she bent down to pick up a toy car lying on the kitchen floor.

‘Let me get that,’ said Dan, quickly reaching down to get the toy.

‘I could have done it,’ she snapped, immediately regretting her tone of voice when she saw his hurt expression. What was wrong with her? Why did she have this empty hole in her chest where all her feelings for Dan used to be?

‘I don’t want you to overdo it, that’s all.’ Dan stroked her cheek. His hand felt cold against her skin, and she forced herself not to push it away. Why was she reacting like this to him, when she knew that he loved her so much and he was the father of the child she had wanted so badly? Had her feelings for Dan vanished when their son took his last breath?

Anna suddenly felt overwhelmed with fatigue. She couldn’t bear to think about this right now. She wanted to be left alone so she could rest until the children came home and her heart would fill with the love she felt for them. A love that had survived.

‘Will you go and pick them up?’ she murmured, and Dan nodded. She didn’t dare look at him, because she knew that his eyes would be filled with pain. ‘I need to lie down and rest for a while.’ She turned away and slowly went upstairs.

‘I love you, Anna,’ he called after her.

She didn’t reply.

‘Hello?’ Madeleine called out as she came in the door.

The flat was abnormally quiet. Were the kids asleep? It wouldn’t be so strange if they were. They’d arrived late last night, and Kevin and Vilda had both gotten up early this morning, excited to be visiting their grandparents.

‘Mamma? Pappa?’ Madeleine said, lowering her voice. She took off her shoes and hung up her thin coat. For a moment she paused in front of the hall mirror. She didn’t want them to see that she’d been crying. They were worried enough as it was. But it was such a joy to see her parents. Last night, dressed for bed and looking bewildered, they had opened the door. Then the wary expression on their faces had given way to big smiles. It had felt so good to be home again, even though she knew that the sense of security she felt was both an illusion and only temporary.

Everything was chaos. Matte was dead, and she realized that deep in her heart she had been hoping and praying that somehow they would find a way to be together.

She stood in front of the mirror, tucked her hair behind her ear, and tried to see herself as Matte had seen her. He’d told her that she was beautiful. She couldn’t understand it, but she knew that he’d meant it. She could see it in his eyes every time he looked at her, and he’d had so many plans for what their future together could be. Even though she was the one who had made the decision to flee, she had still believed that one day his plans would be realized. Tears welled up in her eyes again. She looked up at the ceiling to prevent them from running down her cheeks. With an effort she blinked the tears away and took a deep breath. For the sake of her children, she needed to pull herself together and do what needed to be done. There was no time for grieving right now.

She turned and headed for the kitchen. That was where her parents spent most of their time. Her mother liked to knit, while her father sat at the table doing crossword puzzles, although lately he’d switched to sudoku.

‘Mamma?’ said Madeleine from the doorway. She stopped abruptly.

‘Hi, honey.’ That voice, so gentle yet laced with contempt. She would never be able to escape from it.

Her mother’s eyes were filled with fear. She was sitting on a chair facing Madeleine, with the muzzle of a gun pressed to her right temple. Her knitting was on her lap. Madeleine’s father sat in his usual place near the window; a muscular arm wrapped around his neck made sure that he didn’t move.

‘We’ve been talking about the old days, my parents-in-law and I,’ said Stefan calmly. Madeleine saw how he pressed the gun even harder against her mother’s temple. ‘It’s nice to see you again. It’s been a long time.’

‘Where are the children?’ asked Madeleine, her voice little more than a croak. Her mouth had gone dry.

‘They’re in a safe place. Those poor kids. It must have been traumatic for them to be in the hands of a psychotic woman and not be allowed to see their father. But we’ll make up for lost time now.’ He grinned, and his teeth flashed between his lips.

‘Where are they?’ She had almost forgotten how much she hated him. And how scared she was of him.

‘I told you, they’re safe.’ He pressed the gun even harder, and her mother winced with pain.

‘I was thinking of coming to see you. That’s why we came home,’ she pleaded. ‘I realized that I’d made a mistake. I came back to make things right.’

‘Did you get the postcard?’

It was as if Stefan hadn’t heard a word she said. Madeleine couldn’t understand how she’d ever found him attractive. She’d been so in love with him, convinced that he looked like a movie star with his blond hair, blue eyes, and chiselled features. She was flattered that he’d chosen her, when he could have had any woman he wanted. She was only seventeen and not very worldly. Stefan had courted her, showering her with compliments. The other side of him – his jealousy and need to control – hadn’t come out until later. And by then it was too late. She was already pregnant with Kevin, and her self-esteem was so dependent on Stefan’s opinion and attention that she couldn’t leave him.

‘The postcard arrived,’ she said, feeling suddenly very calm. She was no longer seventeen years old, and she had met a man who loved her. She pictured Matte’s face and knew that she owed it to him to be strong. ‘I’ll go with you. Just leave my parents alone.’ She shook her head at her father, who was trying to get up. ‘I need to work this out. I shouldn’t have left. That was the wrong thing to do. We’re going to be a family now.’

Stefan suddenly took a step forward and struck her across the face with the gun. She felt the steel slam against her cheek and dropped to her knees. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Stefan’s thug force her father back down on to his chair. She wished with all her heart that her parents didn’t have to get involved in this.

‘We’ll see about that, you whore.’ Stefan grabbed her by the hair and began dragging her away. She struggled to stand up. The pain was horrible; it felt as if her whole scalp was being torn off. Still gripping her hair, he turned around and aimed his gun towards the kitchen.

‘You’re not going to say a word about this. You’re not going to do a fucking thing. Or else this will be the last time you’ll see your daughter. Understand?’ He pressed the gun against Madeleine’s temple and looked first at her mother, then her father.

They nodded mutely. Madeleine didn’t dare look at them. If she did, she’d lose all courage, lose the picture of Matte that she held in her mind, the image that was telling her to be strong, no matter what. She kept her eyes fixed on the floor as she felt a burning sensation at the roots of her hair. The gun was cold against her skin, and for a moment she wondered whether she’d feel the bullet boring into her brain or whether the light would simply go out.

‘The children need me. They need us. We can be a family again,’ she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

‘We’ll see about that,’ Stefan said. His tone of voice scared her more than his grip on her hair, more than the gun pressed to her head. ‘We’ll see about that.’

Then he dragged her towards the front door.

‘Everything points to Stefan Ljungberg and his pals,’ said Patrik.

‘So his wife is back in town?’ asked Ulf.

‘Yes, and his kids too.’

‘That’s not good. She should have stayed as far away from that guy as possible.’

‘She didn’t want to tell us why she came back.’

‘There could be a thousand different reasons. I’ve seen it happen so many times before. They get homesick, they miss their family and friends, or their life after running away doesn’t turn out the way they’d imagined. Or the guy finds them and threatens them, so they decide they might as well come back.’

‘Are you aware that organizations like the Refuge sometimes provide help that’s not necessarily legal?’ asked Gösta.

‘Yes, but we choose to turn a blind eye to that sort of thing. Or rather, we choose not to waste any resources on it. They step in when society fails. We can’t protect these women and children the way we should, so … Well, what can we do?’ He threw out his hands. ‘So she thinks that her ex might be responsible for the murder you’re investigating?’

‘Yes, that’s what she seemed to think,’ said Patrik. ‘And we have enough evidence pointing in that direction that we’d like to have a talk with him.’

‘As I told you before, that’s not going to be easy. Partly because we don’t want to jeopardize the ongoing police investigations regarding IE and their activities. And partly because it’s best to stay out of the way of these guys, if at all possible.’

‘I’m aware of that,’ said Patrik. ‘But since the leads we’re following all point to Stefan Ljungberg, I’d consider it a dereliction of duty not to talk to him.’

‘I knew you were going to say that.’ Ulf sighed. ‘Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll bring along one of my best officers, and then the four of us will have a talk with Stefan. Not an interrogation, nothing aggressive that might provoke him. Just a little conversation. We’ll take it nice and easy and see what we can find out. What do you say to that?’

‘Okay. We don’t really have much choice.’

‘Good. But we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning. Do you have a place to stay tonight?’

‘I suppose we can stay with my brother-in-law.’ Patrik cast an enquiring glance at Gösta, who nodded. Then he took out his mobile to ring Erica’s brother Göran.

Erica was disappointed when Patrik phoned to say that he wouldn’t be home until the following day, but she quickly got over it. What a difference that was from when Maja was the twins’ age. Back then, if he had called to say he was going to be delayed, she would have been seized with panic at the thought of spending a whole night alone with the baby. Now she would miss not having Patrik next to her in bed, but she wasn’t worried about taking care of three children on her own. Things seemed to have settled down, and she was glad that this time she was able to enjoy her babies in a way that had never been possible with Maja. That didn’t mean that she loved her daughter any less – not at all. She just felt calmer and more confident with the twins.

‘Pappa will be home tomorrow,’ Erica told Maja, who didn’t answer. She was watching Bolibompa on TV, and wouldn’t have noticed if bombs were falling outside the window.

Erica had fed the twins and changed their nappies. Content and full, they had fallen asleep in the cot that they shared. And for once the rooms downstairs were reasonably tidy. She’d had a burst of energy and done some cleaning after coming home from the day-care centre. Even now enough energy remained that she was feeling a bit restless.

Erica went into the kitchen, made herself a cup of tea, and thawed out a few buns in the microwave. After pondering what to do, she fetched the stack of papers about Gråskär and sat down next to Maja with her tea, buns, and ghost stories. Soon she was deeply immersed in the world of phantoms. She longed to show all of this to Nathalie.

‘Shouldn’t you be going home to your girls?’ said Konrad, looking up at Petra. He could see that outside their office windows in Stockholm’s police headquarters on Kungsholmen, the streetlamps had come on.

‘Pelle is taking care of the kids tonight. He’s worked such long hours lately that it will do him good to spend a bit of time at home.’

Petra’s husband ran a café in Söder, and it was a constant juggling act for the two of them to coordinate their daily schedules. Sometimes Konrad wondered how she and Pelle had ever managed to have five children, since they were so rarely at home at the same time.

‘Have you made any progress?’ He stretched out his back. It had been a long work day, and his muscles were starting to ache.

‘Her parents are dead, and she has no siblings. I’ll keep looking, but she doesn’t seem to have any relatives to speak of.’

‘I can’t help wondering how she ended up with a guy like that,’ said Konrad. He turned his head from side to side to release the tension in his neck.

‘I don’t think it’s hard to work out, considering the sort of person she is,’ said Petra drily. ‘One of those women who lives off her good looks and whose only goal in life is to find a man to support her. She doesn’t give a damn where the money comes from and she spends her days shopping and getting beauty treatments and having long lunches with her women friends at Sturehof.’

‘Oh dear,’ said Konrad. ‘Sounds like someone is slightly biased.’

‘I will personally strangle any of my daughters who turn out that way. If you ask me, anyone who gets mixed up in that world has only themselves to blame. It’s the price you pay when you choose to close your eyes and ignore the fact that the money smells.’

‘Don’t forget, there’s a child involved here too,’ Konrad reminded his colleague. Her expression softened at once. Petra was tough, but she was also more warm-hearted than most, especially when it came to children who were threatened in some way.

‘Yes, I know.’ She frowned. ‘That’s why I’m sitting here even though it’s ten o’clock at night and Pelle is probably living through a re-enactment of the mutiny on the Bounty at home. It’s certainly not because I’m worried about some rich guy’s wife, at any rate.’

She continued tapping the computer keys for a few moments and then logged out.

‘Okay, that’s enough. I sent off some queries, but I don’t think we’ll make any further progress tonight. We’ve got a meeting with the narcotics team at eight in the morning, so we can all go over the case together. Right now it’s better for us to get a few hours’ sleep so we’ll be awake and alert.’

‘Makes sense.’ Konrad got up. ‘I hope tomorrow will be more productive.’

‘Otherwise we’ll have to call on the media for help,’ said Petra with a look of disgust.

‘I’m sure they’ve already got wind of the story.’ Konrad was past getting upset over newspaper reporters meddling in the work the police were doing. And he didn’t have such a black-and-white view of journalists as Petra did. Sometimes they helped, sometimes they interfered. Either way, they weren’t about to disappear, and he didn’t think it did any good to keep tilting at windmills.

‘Good night, Konrad,’ said Petra as she strode down the corridor.

‘Good night,’ he said and switched off the light.