‘Welcome. I’m Walter Heed. We spoke on the phone.’

Patrik and Paula introduced themselves and were duly escorted out of the reception area.

Those shoes must be special-order, thought Patrik, staring in fascination at Walter’s feet. They were like small boats. Paula gave Patrik a poke in the side. Embarrassed, he made an effort to look straight ahead.

‘Come in. This is my office. Would you like a cup of coffee?’

They both nodded and were immediately served coffee from the vending machine out in the hall.

‘So, you need information on an assault case, is that right?’

Patrik merely nodded in reply.

‘I have the file here, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to tell you much.’

‘Could you give us a brief summary of the facts?’ asked Paula.

‘Of course. Now, let me see …’ Walter opened the folder and swiftly scanned a few documents. He cleared his throat. ‘Mats Sverin returned home late to his flat on Erik Dahlbergsgatan. He wasn’t sure of the exact time, but he thought it was not long after midnight. He’d been out to dinner with some friends. The victim’s memory was rather hazy afterwards, because he suffered severe blows to the head, and there were gaps in what he could recall.’ Walter raised his eyes from the folder and continued his report without referring to the file again. ‘In the end, what we managed to get out of him was that a bunch of young thugs were standing outside his front door. When he told one of them off for taking a piss there, they attacked him. But he couldn’t give us a clear description or even tell us how many there were. We interviewed Mats Sverin on several occasions after he regained consciousness, but unfortunately we learned very little.’ Walter sighed as he closed the file folder.

‘And that’s as far as you got with the investigation?’ asked Patrik.

‘Yes. There was too little to go on. And no witnesses. But …’ He hesitated and then took a sip of his coffee.

‘But what?’

‘This is just speculation on my part …’ Again he hesitated.

‘We’d appreciate anything you can give us,’ said Paula.

‘Well, the whole time I had the feeling that Sverin knew more than he was telling. I have no proof, but when we were talking to him, he seemed to be holding back.’

‘You mean he knew who attacked him?’ asked Patrik.

‘I have no idea whether he did or not.’ Walter threw out his hands. ‘As I said, it was just a sense that he was withholding information. But you know as well as I do that there are lots of reasons why a victim might choose to remain silent.’

Patrik and Paula nodded.

‘I wish I could have devoted more time to the case and dug up more information. But we just don’t have the resources, and in the end we had to shelve the investigation. We realized that we weren’t going to get any further unless some new lead turned up.’

‘You might say that’s exactly what has happened now,’ said Patrik.

‘Do you think there’s a connection between the assault and the murder?’

Patrik crossed his legs and took a few seconds to consider the question before he answered.

‘At this stage we’re trying to keep an open mind. But that’s certainly one possibility. It’s an interesting coincidence that Sverin was assaulted only a few months before he was found shot to death.’

‘True. Well, be sure to let us know if there’s any way we can assist you.’ Walter stood up, unfolding his tall body. ‘Our investigation remains open, and we might be able to help each other out.’

‘Absolutely,’ said Patrik, shaking hands with him. ‘Could we have a copy of your file?’

‘I’ve already had one made for you,’ said Walter, giving Patrik a stack of documents. ‘Can you find your way out?’

‘Sure. By the way …’ Patrik turned as they were about to leave the office. ‘We were thinking of paying a visit to the organization that Sverin used to work for. Can you tell us how to get there?’ He took out a piece of paper on which he’d jotted down the address.

Walter gave them a few simple directions, and then they said goodbye.

‘That wasn’t very productive,’ said Paula when they were once again seated in the car.

‘Don’t say that. It took a lot for him to stick out his neck like that and admit that a crime victim was holding back information. We need to find out more about the attack on Sverin. Maybe his move to Fjällbacka was an unsuccessful attempt to flee from something in Göteborg.’

‘Oh, so that’s why we’re starting with his previous employer,’ Paula concluded as she fastened her seat belt.

Patrik backed out of the car park, and Paula closed her eyes when he almost ran into the side of a blue Volvo 740 which, for some inexplicable reason, he hadn’t noticed in the rear-view mirror. Next time she was going to insist on taking the wheel. Her nerves weren’t going to stand much more of Patrik’s driving.

The children were running around in the courtyard. Madeleine was chain-smoking, even though she knew that she ought to stop. But here in Denmark it seemed everybody smoked.

‘Mamma, can I go over to Mette’s?’ Her daughter Vilda was standing in front of her with tousled hair and rosy cheeks from all the fresh air and activity.

‘Of course you can,’ she said, kissing Vilda on the forehead.

One of the best things about this block of flats was that the big courtyard was always filled with children, and they were constantly running in and out of each other’s homes, like one big family. She smiled and lit another cigarette. It was strange to feel so safe. She hadn’t felt this way in such a long time that she could hardly remember what it was like. They’d been living here in Copenhagen for four months now, and the days seemed to pass at a leisurely pace. She had even stopped flinching when she went past the windows. Now she walked past, standing tall, even when the curtains were open.

They’d taken care of everything. It wasn’t the first time, but things were different now. She had spoken to them herself, explained why she and her children needed to disappear again. And they had listened. The next night she’d received word to pack a bag for herself and her kids, and go down to the car that was waiting, with the motor running.

She had made up her mind not to look back. Not for an instant had she doubted that she’d made the right decision, yet sometimes she couldn’t push aside the pain. It appeared in her dreams, waking her, and she’d lie in bed staring into the darkness. There she would see him – the man she couldn’t allow herself to think about.

The cigarette burned her fingers, and she swore and tossed the butt to the ground. Kevin gave her an intent look. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t noticed when he sat down next to her on the bench. She reached out to ruffle his hair, and he offered no objection. He was such a serious boy. Her big little boy. Even though he was only eight, he’d already been through so much.

All around them they heard happy shouts echoing between the buildings. She had already noticed some Danish words sneaking into her children’s vocabulary. She was both amused and frightened. Letting go of what had once been, of the people they once were, involved a sense of loss. Over time, the children would lose their own language, lose their Swedish with the Göteborg accent. But she was willing to make that sacrifice. They were home now, and they wouldn’t have to move any more. They could stay here and forget everything that they’d left behind.

She stroked Kevin’s cheek. In time he would become a child like the others again. And that would make it all worthwhile.

Maja came running and threw herself into Erica’s arms, which was what she always did when her mother came to pick her up. After giving Erica a hug and a wet kiss, she reached up her hands to try and pat her little brothers in the pram.