He put his hand on her head. He felt a pulsing under the skin. Close and fragile. His hand pressed harder, and she slid farther down. Still she laughed at him. The water closed around her legs, splashing as her heels struck the bottom of the tub.

He could hear Father’s voice, far far away, at the front door. It rose and fell and didn’t sound as if it would return for a few minutes yet. He could still feel the pulsing under his palm, and she had started to whimper. Her smile came and went, as if she wasn’t sure whether she was happy or sad. Maybe she could feel through his hand how much he hated her, how much he detested every second he had to spend in her presence.

It would be so much better without her, and without all that crying. He wouldn’t have to see the joy on Mother’s face when she looked at the baby, or the absence of joy when Mother turned to look at him. It was so obvious. Whenever Mother shifted her gaze from Alice to him, it was as if a light went out. The light died.

Again he listened for Father. Alice seemed to have decided not to burst into tears yet, and he smiled back at her. Then he carefully placed his arm under her head, for support, just as he’d seen Mother do. With his other hand he pulled away the seat that was holding her in a reclining position. It wasn’t easy. She was slippery and kept squirming about.

At last he got the bath seat out and cautiously pushed it aside. Now all of her weight was resting on his left arm. The sweet, suffocating smell was getting stronger. Feeling sick, he turned his head away. He felt her eyes burning his cheek and her skin was wet and slippery against his arm. He loathed her because she brought that smell back to him, because she forced him to remember.

Slowly he pulled his arm away and looked at her. Her head fell back towards the tub, and just before it struck the water, she took a breath to scream. But by then it was too late, and her little face disappeared under the surface. Her eyes stared up at him through the rippling water. She flailed her arms and legs, but she couldn’t pull herself up. She was too little, too weak. He didn’t even have to hold her head down. It came to rest on the bottom, and the only thing she could do was move it from side to side.

He squatted down, leaned his chin on the edge of the bathtub, and watched her struggle. She shouldn’t have tried to take his beautiful mother away from him. She deserved to die. It wasn’t his fault.

After a while her arms and legs stopped moving and slowly sank. He felt a great calm spread through him. The smell was gone and he could breathe again. Everything would be the way it used to be. With his head tilted, resting against the cold enamel, he looked at Alice, who now lay very still.

‘Come in, come in,’ said Ulf Rosander, looking groggy with sleep, although he was fully dressed. He motioned for Patrik and Paula to enter.

‘Thanks for agreeing to see us on such short notice,’ said Paula.

‘No problem. I just had to phone my workplace to say that I’d be a little late. Considering the circumstances, they understood completely. We’ve all lost a colleague.’ He headed for the living room, and they followed.

It looked as if a bomb had gone off in the room. Toys and all sorts of other items were scattered everywhere. Ulf shoved aside a pile of children’s clothing so that they could sit down on the sofa.

‘It’s always chaotic in the morning before the kids have to go off to the day-care centre,’ he apologized.

‘How old are they?’ asked Paula as Patrik leaned back, letting her take the lead. As a police officer, he never underestimated the value of small talk.

‘Three and five,’ said Rosander, his face lighting up. ‘Two girls. They’re my second brood. I also have two sons from a previous marriage who are fourteen and sixteen. But they’re living with their mother at the moment, or the house would look even worse.’

‘How are the kids getting along, since there’s such a big age difference?’ wondered Patrik.

‘Much better than expected, actually. The boys are real teenagers, so things don’t always go smoothly. But the girls worship them, and the boys like their little sisters too. In fact, the girls call them the Elk Brothers.’

Patrik laughed, but Paula looked mystified. ‘It’s from a children’s book,’ he told her. ‘Just wait a few years, and you’ll understand.’

Then he turned serious as he said to Rosander, ‘Well, as you probably heard, we’ve found Magnus.’

The smile on Rosander’s face instantly disappeared. He ran his hand through his hair, which was dishevelled enough already.

‘Do you know how he died? Did he go down in the sea?’

That was an old-fashioned way of referring to a shipwreck, but a common expression for people who lived in a community so close to the water.

Patrik shook his head. ‘We don’t know yet. But right now it’s more important to find out what happened on the morning he disappeared.’

‘I understand. But I don’t really know how I can help.’ Rosander threw out his hands. ‘The only thing I know is that he phoned to tell me he was running late.’

‘Was that unusual?’ asked Paula.

‘For Magnus to be late?’ Rosander frowned. ‘Now that you mention it, I don’t think it had ever happened before.’

‘How long had you been driving to work together?’ Patrik discreetly removed a little plastic ladybird that he’d been sitting on.

‘Ever since I started working at Tanum Windows five years ago. Before that, Magnus always took the bus, but we got to talking at work, and I said that he could ride with me. In return he could pay his share of the petrol.’

‘And during these five years, had he ever phoned before to say that he’d be late?’ Paula repeated her question.

‘No, not once. I should have thought of that earlier.’

‘How did he sound when he rang?’ asked Patrik. ‘Calm? Upset? Did he say why he was delayed?’

‘No, he didn’t. I can’t be sure about this, because it’s been a while now, but I don’t think he sounded quite himself.’

‘What do you mean by that?’ Patrik leaned forward.

‘Upset is probably too strong a word, but I got the impression that something was wrong. I thought maybe he’d had a row with Cia or the kids.’

‘Was there something he said to give you that idea?’ asked Paula, exchanging a glance with Patrik.

‘No, not really. The conversation lasted about five seconds. Magnus phoned and said that he was running late and that I should just go on ahead if he took too long. He’d make it to work on his own. Then he hung up. I waited for a while, and then I left. That was all. I assume it was his tone of voice that made me think that there’d been some sort of trouble at home.’

‘Do you know whether they had any problems in their marriage?’

‘I never heard Magnus say a single bad thing about Cia. On the contrary. They seemed to get on really well. Of course it’s impossible to tell what goes on in other families, but I’ve always thought of Magnus as a happily married man. Mind you, we didn’t talk much about those sorts of things. It was more about the weather and football.’

‘Would you say that the two of you were friends?’ asked Patrik.

Rosander hesitated before answering. ‘No, I wouldn’t really say that. We drove to work together and we chatted now and then at lunch, but we never socialized or anything like that. I don’t really know why not, because we enjoyed each other’s company. But everyone has their own circle of friends, and it’s hard to change things like that.’

‘So if something was bothering him, or if someone had upset him, he wouldn’t have confided in you?’ Paula asked.

‘No, I don’t think he would have. But I did see him five days a week, so I should have been able to tell if he was worried about something. He was just the same as always. Cheerful, calm, and confident. A really great guy, to put it simply.’ Rosander looked down at his hands. ‘I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.’