‘Okay, okay,’ said Per, squirming. But he seemed to be listening to his grandfather and taking in his words.

Frans just hoped that this would be sufficient. He knew from his own experience how hard it could be to change paths once you’d started out in a specific direction. But he hoped it wasn’t too late to be giving his grandson a shove on to the right track. That was all he could do now.

‘So, I’ve said what I came here to say.’ Frans removed an envelope from his pocket and set it on the kitchen table in front of Carina. ‘Here are the documents you’ll need to access the money.’

‘Are you sure you won’t stay for a while?’ she asked, still feeling uneasy.

Frans shook his head. ‘I’ve got things to do.’ He turned to leave but paused in the doorway and said quietly, ‘Take care of yourselves.’ Then he raised his hand to give them a little wave before he turned and headed for the front door.

Carina and Per sat at the kitchen table in silence. They had both recognized the finality of Frans’s farewell.

‘This is almost getting to be routine,’ said Torbjörn Ruud drily as he stood next to Patrik watching the macabre business that was now under way.

Anna had offered to babysit, so Erica was present too, observing the digging with ill-concealed eagerness.

‘It can’t have been easy for Mellberg to get permission,’ said Patrik. It was rare for him to praise his boss.

‘From what I heard, it took ten minutes before the guy at the prosecutor’s office stopped shouting at him,’ said Torbjörn, without taking his eyes off the grave, where layer after layer of earth was being removed.

‘Do you think we’ll need to dig up the whole thing?’ asked Patrik, shuddering.

Torbjörn shook his head. ‘If the two of you are right, then the body we’re looking for should be on top. I doubt the killer would have gone to the trouble of burying him at the very bottom, underneath the others,’ he said sarcastically. ‘And he’s probably not in a coffin, so his clothes should tell us if your theory is correct.’

‘How fast can we get a preliminary report on the cause of death?’ asked Erica. ‘If we find him, that is,’ she added, but she seemed convinced that the exhumation would prove her right.

‘I’ve been promised a report day after tomorrow,’ said Patrik. ‘I talked to Pedersen, and they’re willing to move this post-mortem to the top of the list. He can start on it tomorrow and let us know the results by Friday. He stressed that it will only be a preliminary report, but it should be possible to establish cause of death, at least.’

A shout from the men working at the grave interrupted him, and they moved closer.

‘We’ve found something,’ said one of the tech guys, and Torbjörn went over to talk to him. They had a brief conversation, their heads close together. Then Torbjörn returned to Patrik and Erica, who hadn’t dared go any nearer.

‘It looks like someone was buried close to the surface, and not in a coffin. They’re going to have go slower now so as not to destroy evidence. It will take a while to dig out the body.’ He hesitated. ‘But it looks as though you were right.’

Relieved, Erica nodded and took a deep breath. In the distance she saw Kjell coming towards them, but he was stopped by Martin and Gösta, who were there to prevent anyone from getting too close. She hurried over to them.

‘It’s okay. I’m the one who told him about what’s going on here.’

‘No reporters or other unauthorized individuals. Mellberg gave us specific orders to that effect,’ muttered Gösta, his hand level with Kjell’s chest.

‘It’s okay,’ said Patrik, joining them. ‘I’ll take responsibility.’ He gave Erica a sharp look that signified she would be the one who’d bear responsibility for any consequences. She nodded curtly and led Kjell over to the grave.

‘Have they found anything?’ he asked, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

‘It looks that way. I think we’ve found Hans Olavsen,’ she told him, watching with fascination as the techs cautiously attempted to uncover a bundle lying in the hole, which so far was no more than a foot and a half deep.

‘So he never left Fjällbacka after all,’ said Kjell, unable to take his eyes off the work going on in the grave.

‘No, he didn’t. So the question is: how did he end up here?’

‘I presume that Erik and Britta knew he was here.’

‘Yes, and they were both murdered.’ Erica shook her head, as if that might make all the pieces fall into place.

‘He’s been here for at least sixty years. So why now? Why did he suddenly become so important?’ Kjell wondered.

‘You didn’t get anything out of your father?’ asked Erica, turning to look at him.

He shook his head. ‘Not a thing. And I don’t know whether that’s because he doesn’t know anything, or because he doesn’t want to tell me.’

‘Do you think he could have…?’ She didn’t really dare finish the sentence, but Kjell understood what she was getting at.

‘My father is capable of just about anything. Of that I’m certain.’

‘What are you two talking about?’ asked Patrik, coming over to stand next to Erica.

‘We’re discussing the possibility that my father may have committed murder,’ said Kjell calmly.

Patrik was startled by his honesty. ‘And what did you decide?’ he said. ‘We’ve had our suspicions, but your father has an alibi for the time when Erik was killed.’

‘I didn’t know that,’ said Kjell. ‘But I hope you’ve double-and triple-checked your information, because an old jailbird like my father would have no difficulty arranging a false alibi.’

Patrik realized he was right and made a note to ask Martin how closely they had scrutinized Frans’s alibi.

Torbjörn joined them, greeting Kjell with a nod of recognition. ‘So, I see that the fourth estate has been granted permission to attend.’

‘I have a personal interest,’ said Kjell.

Torbjörn shrugged. If the police wanted to allow a journalist to be present, he wasn’t going to interfere. That was their problem. ‘We’ll be done here in about an hour,’ he said. ‘And I know that Pedersen is standing by to start the post-mortem.’

‘Yes, I’ve already talked to him,’ said Patrik, nodding.

‘All right then. We’ll be getting him out of there, and then we’ll see what sort of secrets the lad is hiding.’ He turned and went back to the grave.

‘Yes, let’s see what secrets he has,’ said Erica quietly, staring at the grave. Patrik put his arm round her shoulders.

Chapter 40

The months following her father’s death were confusing and painful. Elsy’s mother continued to tend to her daily tasks and do was what was required of her, but something was missing. It was as if Elof had taken part of Hilma with him, and she no longer recognized her mother. In that sense, she had lost not only her father, but her mother too. The only solace she could find was in the nights that she and Hans shared. As soon as her mother had gone to bed, she would slip downstairs to his room and crawl into his embrace. She knew that it was wrong. She knew that there could be consequences she wouldn’t be able to ignore. But she couldn’t stay away. During those hours when she lay beside him under the covers, his arm around her, his hand gently stroking her hair – during those hours the world became whole again. When they kissed and the passion, by now so familiar and yet still surprising, overtook them, she couldn’t understand how it could be wrong. In a world that could so suddenly and brutally be shattered by a mine, how could love possibly be wrong?

Hans had also been a blessing when it came to practical matters. Their finances were a big worry now that her father was dead; they only managed to scrape by because Hans took on extra shifts on the boat and gave them every krona of his wages.