‘Don’t forget the drawings,’ said Sanna, sniffling as she pointed to some papers lying on the table.

‘What drawings?’

‘Erica brought them. Someone sent them to Christian’s old address in Göteborg.’

Patrik stared at the pictures and then carefully gathered them up. What had Erica been up to now? He needed to have a talk with his wife as soon as possible; this demanded a proper explanation. At the same time, he couldn’t deny that he felt a certain sense of anticipation when he saw the drawings. If they turned out to be important, it wouldn’t be the first time Erica had stumbled upon a crucial piece of information.

‘You’re certainly doing a lot of babysitting lately,’ said Dan as he came into Erica and Patrik’s house. He had rung Anna on her mobile, and when she explained where she was, he had driven over to Sälvik.

‘Uh-huh. I don’t really know what Erica is mixed up in, and I’m not sure I want to know, either,’ said Anna, as she sauntered over to Dan and turned her face up for a kiss.

‘So they won’t mind if I crash the party?’ said Dan. In the next second he was almost bowled over by Maja, who threw herself into his arms. ‘Hi, cutie! How’s my girl? You’re still my girl, right? You haven’t found some other guy, have you?’ said Dan, looking stern. Maja laughed so hard that she started hiccupping, and she rubbed her nose against his, which he took to mean that he hadn’t lost his high-ranking status.

‘Did you hear what happened?’ asked Anna, her expression suddenly turning serious.

‘No, what?’ asked Dan, hoisting Maja up and then dropping her down. Considering how tall he was, Maja was getting quite a ride, much to her delight.

‘I don’t know where Erica is, but Patrik had to go off to Badholmen. Somebody found Christian Thydell there this morning – hanged.’

Dan stopped instantly, which left Maja upside down. She thought it was all part of the game and laughed even louder.

‘Are you kidding me?’ Dan slowly put Maja down on the rug.

‘No, but that’s all Patrik told me before he raced off. Christian is dead.’ Anna didn’t know Sanna Thydell very well, but occasionally she would run into her, which was inevitable since so few people lived in Fjällbacka. Now she was thinking about those two little boys.

Dan dropped on to a chair at the kitchen table, and Anna tried to chase away the images that kept cropping up in her mind.

‘Bloody hell,’ he said, staring out of the window. ‘First Magnus Kjellner, and now Christian. Not to mention Kenneth Bengtsson, who’s in the hospital. Patrik must be up to his ears with this investigation.’

‘I’m sure you’re right,’ said Anna, pouring some juice for Maja. ‘But let’s talk about something else, okay?’ She always got very upset thinking about other people’s troubles, and her pregnancy had made her a hundred times more sensitive. She couldn’t stand to hear about anyone having difficulties.

Dan understood the signals and pulled her close. He closed his eyes and placed his hand on her stomach, spreading out his fingers.

‘Soon, sweetheart. Soon he’ll be here.’

Anna’s face lit up. Every time she thought about the child, it felt as if nothing bad could reach her. She loved Dan so much, and she practically burst with joy whenever she thought about how the small creature inside her was uniting the two of them. She stroked Dan’s hair, murmuring:

‘You need to stop saying “he”. Because I think we’ve got a little princess inside here. I think this baby kicks like a ballet dancer,’ she teased him.

After having three daughters, Dan was longing for a boy. At the same time, Anna knew that he would be overjoyed with the baby, no matter whether it was a girl or a boy. Because it was their child.

Patrik dropped Gösta off at Badholmen. After thinking for a moment, he decided to drive home. He needed to talk to Erica and find out what she knew.

As soon as he stepped inside, he paused to take a deep breath. Anna was still there, and he didn’t want to drag her into any dispute that he had with Erica. Anna had the annoying habit of always siding with her sister, and he didn’t need two people facing him in the opposite corner of the ring. But after thanking Anna – as well as Dan, who had turned up as an extra babysitter – Patrik tried to make it as clear as possible that they should leave him and Erica in peace. Anna picked up on what he wanted and took Dan with her, although he had a bit of a struggle before Maja would let him go.

‘I assume that Maja isn’t going to the day-care centre today,’ said Erica cheerfully, glancing at the clock.

‘Why were you at Agneta’s house talking to Sanna? And what were you doing in Göteborg yesterday?’ asked Patrik in a sharp tone of voice.

‘Er, well, I…’ Erica tilted her head, trying to look as sweetly innocent as she could. When that brought no response, she sighed and realized that she might as well confess. She had intended all along to tell Patrik everything; he had just beat her to it.

They sat down at the kitchen table. Patrik clasped his hands in front of him and stared her straight in the eye. Erica took her time as she decided where to begin.

Then she explained how she couldn’t stop wondering why Christian had always been so secretive about his past. So she had decided to work backwards and drive to Göteborg, to the address where he had lived before moving to Fjällbacka. She told Patrik about the kindly Hungarian man and about the letters that had arrived for Christian. But he had never received them because he hadn’t left any forwarding address. Erica took a deep breath and then explained how she had surreptitiously read through the case material and hadn’t been able to resist listening to the cassette tape. And how she had heard something that had stuck in her mind, until she realized that she needed to get to the bottom of it. That was the reason for her visit to Sanna earlier that morning. She also told Patrik what Sanna had said. About the blue dress and what was almost too awful to comprehend. When Erica was finished, she was out of breath and hardly dared look at Patrik, who hadn’t moved a muscle since she began her report.

He was silent for a long time, and she swallowed hard, prepared for the worst lecture she’d ever received in her life.

‘I just wanted to help you,’ she added. ‘You’ve been looking so tired lately.’

Patrik stood up. ‘We’ll talk more about this later. I need to go back to the station. I’m taking the drawings with me.’

Erica sat staring into space for a long time after he was gone. This was the first time since they’d known each other that he’d left the house without giving her a kiss.

It wasn’t like Patrik not to call back. Annika had phoned him several times since yesterday, leaving him a message that she needed to speak to him, but not explaining why. She wanted to tell him in person what she had found.

When he finally arrived at the station and she saw his exhausted expression, she was even more worried. Paula had told her that she’d ordered Patrik to stay home and take it easy, and Annika had silently applauded the decision. Lately she’d been thinking of doing the very same thing.

‘You were looking for me?’ said Patrik as he entered her office behind the glass separating it from the reception area. She spun around in her chair.

‘Yes, and it hasn’t been easy to reach you by phone,’ she said, peering at him over the rims of her computer glasses. The tone of her voice wasn’t reproachful, just concerned.

‘I know,’ said Patrik, sitting down on the visitor’s chair next to the wall. ‘I’ve had a lot on my mind.’

‘You need to take better care of yourself. I have a friend who hit the wall a few years ago, and her health still isn’t a hundred per cent. It’s a long way back up once you let yourself hit bottom.’