‘Who says we have to? What’s done is done.’

‘But I don’t know how we can live with it. For God’s sake, we have to…’ The rest of the sentence disappeared in an inaudible mumble.

Then Kenneth spoke again. Now he sounded annoyed. But there was something else in his voice. Fear.

‘Pull yourself together, Magnus! It won’t do any good to talk about it. Think of Cia and the children. And Lisbet.’

‘I know, but what the hell should I do? Sometimes I can’t help thinking about it, and then in here it feels like…’ It was too dark to see what he was pointing at.

After that it was impossible to make out any more of the conversation. They lowered their voices, mumbling their words, and then went back to join the others. Ludvig pressed the pause button and froze the image of two shadowy figures, seen from the back.

‘Did your father ever see this?’ asked Patrik.

‘No, I kept it to myself. Usually he was the one in charge of the videocassettes, but I shot this one on the sly, so I hid it in my room. I have a few more in the wardrobe.’

‘And you’ve never seen this before?’ Paula sat down next to Cia, who was staring at the TV, her mouth agape.

‘No,’ she said. ‘No.’

‘Do you know what they were talking about?’ asked Paula, placing her hand on Cia’s.

‘I… no.’ Her eyes were fixed on the dark figures of Magnus and Kenneth. ‘I have no idea.’

Patrik believed her. Whatever it was that Magnus was talking about, he had kept it well hidden from his wife.

‘Kenneth must know,’ said Ludvig. He pressed the stop button, took out the cassette, and placed it back in its holder.

‘I’d like to borrow that,’ said Patrik.

Ludvig hesitated for a moment before he put the cassette in Patrik’s outstretched hand.

‘You won’t wreck it, will you?’

‘I promise that we’ll take good care of it. And you’ll get it back in the same shape it’s in right now.’

‘Are you going to talk to Kenneth about it?’ asked Ludvig, and Patrik nodded.

‘Yes, we are.’

‘Why hasn’t he mentioned anything about this before?’ Cia sounded confused.

‘That’s what we’d like to know too.’ Paula patted her hand again. ‘And we’re going to find out.’

‘Thank you, Ludvig,’ said Patrik, holding up the cassette. ‘This might turn out to be important.’

‘You’re welcome. I just happened to think of it because you asked if they’d ever quarrelled.’ He blushed to the roots of his hair.

‘Shall we go?’ Patrik said to Paula, who stood up. To Ludvig he added in a low voice, ‘Take care of your mother. Call me if you need anything.’ And he pressed his business card into the boy’s hand.

Ludvig stood in the doorway, watching the police officers drive away. Then he closed the door and went inside.

Time passed slowly in the hospital. The TV was on, showing an American soap opera. The nurse had come in and asked Kenneth if he’d like her to change the channel. But when he didn’t answer, she had left.

The loneliness was worse than he’d ever imagined. His grief was so great that the only thing he could manage was to focus on his breathing.

And he knew that she would come. She had waited a long time, and now there was nowhere to run to. But he wasn’t afraid; he welcomed her appearance. It would rescue him from the loneliness and the sorrow that were tearing him apart. He wanted to go to Lisbet so he could explain what had happened. He hoped she would understand that he had been a different person back then, and it was because of her that he had changed. He couldn’t bear the thought that she had died with his sins before her eyes. That weighed on him more than anything else, making each breath an effort.

He heard a knock on the door, and Patrik Hedström, the police officer, came into his field of vision. Behind him was a short, dark-haired female colleague.

‘Hi, Kenneth. How are you feeling?’ The officer had a serious expression on his face. He went to get two chairs and brought them over to the bed.

Kenneth didn’t reply. He just kept looking at the TV. The actors were performing in front of a background of poorly constructed stage sets. Patrik repeated his question, and finally Kenneth turned his head towards his visitors.

‘I’ve felt better.’ What was he supposed to say? How could he describe what it really felt like? How it burned and stung inside of him, how it felt like his heart was about to burst? Any answer would sound like a cliché.

‘Our colleagues have already been here to see you today. You met with Gösta and Martin earlier.’ Kenneth saw Patrik glancing at his bandages, as if trying to imagine what it must have felt like to have hundreds of glass shards piercing his skin.

‘Right,’ said Kenneth listlessly. He hadn’t said anything then, and he wasn’t going to say anything now. He was just going to wait. For her.

‘You told them that you didn’t know who could be behind what happened this morning.’ Patrik looked at him, and Kenneth stubbornly met his gaze.

‘That’s right.’

The police officer cleared his throat. ‘We don’t think you’re telling the truth.’

What had they found out? Suddenly Kenneth panicked. He didn’t want them to know, didn’t want them to find her. She had to finish what she’d begun. That was his only salvation. If he paid the price for what he’d done, he would be able to explain it to Lisbet.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He looked away, but he knew they’d seen the fear in his eyes. Both of the officers had noticed. They took it as a sign of weakness, as an opportunity to get at him. They were mistaken. He had everything to win and nothing to lose by keeping silent. For a moment he thought about Erik and Christian. Above all, Christian. He’d been dragged into this even though he was not to blame. Not like Erik. But he couldn’t take the others into consideration. Lisbet was the only one who mattered.

‘We’ve just paid a visit to Cia. We saw a video that was taken at a Midsummer party at their house.’ Patrik seemed to be expecting a reaction, but Kenneth had no idea what he was talking about. His old life, with parties and friends, now seemed so far away.

‘Magnus was drunk, and the two of you slipped away to have a smoke. It seemed that you wanted to make sure no one could hear you.’

He still didn’t understand what Patrik was getting at. Everything was a hazy blur. Nothing was distinct or clear any more.

‘Magnus’s son, Ludvig, filmed the two of you without your knowledge. Magnus was upset. He wanted to talk to you about something that had happened. You got annoyed with him and said that what was done was done. You told him to think about his family. Do you remember any of this?’

Oh yes, Kenneth did remember. It was still a bit vague, but he recalled how he had felt when he saw the panic in Magnus’s eyes. He could never work out why the topic had come up on that particular evening. Magnus had been aching to talk about it, to make amends. And that had scared him. He had thought about Lisbet, about what she would say, how she would look at him. Finally he’d been able to calm Magnus down – that much he remembered. But from that moment on, he had expected something to happen that would make everything crack wide open. And that’s exactly what had happened, only not in the way he’d imagined. Because even in the worst possible scenarios he had pictured in his mind, Lisbet had still been alive to reproach him. Leaving always a slim chance that he’d be able to explain. Now things were different, and justice would have to be done for him to be able to explain. He couldn’t let the police ruin his chances.

So he shook his head, pretending that he was trying to recall.

‘No, I don’t remember that.’

‘We can arrange for you to watch the tape, if that might jog your memory,’ said Paula.

‘Sure, I can look at it. But I can’t imagine that it was anything important, or I would have remembered. It was probably just drunken rambling. Magnus got like that once in a while when he was drinking. Melodramatic and sentimental. Trivial matters got blown all out of proportion.’