‘Yes. I told her that we were married and that you’d like to come along so you could see her. She didn’t really react to that, although it sounded as if it would be okay.’

‘What are you hoping to learn by talking to Nathalie?’ Erica let go of Patrik and sat down nearby on the thwart.

‘To be honest, I really have no idea. We still don’t know whether Mats went out to visit her on Friday. I suppose that’s what I want to find out. And we also need to tell her what happened to him.’

He corrected the course to make way for a motorboat that was heading towards them at high speed.

‘Idiots,’ he snarled, glaring at the boat as it passed a bit too close.

‘Couldn’t you have asked her about it on the phone?’ Erica was also staring at the boat as it sped away. She didn’t recognize the occupants. A bunch of young guys in their late teens. Probably an early group of holidaymakers – the kind that would soon be filling Fjällbacka.

‘Yes, I could have done that. But I prefer to ask my questions in person. I get more productive results that way. What I really want is to form a clearer picture of who Mats was. At the moment he seems like one of those life-size cardboard cut-outs, flat and one-dimensional. No one seems to know anything about him, not even his parents. His flat looks like a hotel room. There are hardly any personal items. And then there’s the matter of the assault … I need to find out more.’

‘But from what I understand, Mats and Nathalie haven’t been in contact for years.’

‘That’s what his parents say, but we don’t really know that. At any rate, she seems to have been an important person in his life, and if he did go out to visit her, he might have told her something that we’d find useful. She may have been one of the last people to see him alive.’

‘Okay, I get it,’ said Erica, but she sounded doubtful. She’d come along out of sheer curiosity. She was curious as to how the years had changed Nathalie and what sort of person she’d become.

‘So that must be Gråskär,’ said Patrik, squinting.

Erica craned her neck to peer at the island they were approaching.

‘Yes, that’s it, all right. The lighthouse is wonderful.’ She shaded her eyes with her hand to see better.

‘I don’t think I care for the looks of that island,’ said Patrik, though he had no idea what made him say that. Then he had to turn his attention to pulling the boat up next to the small pier.

A tall, slender woman was standing there, waiting for them. She reached for the line that Erica tossed up on to the dock.

‘Hi,’ said Nathalie, giving them a helping hand as they climbed out of the boat.

She’s beautiful but much too thin, thought Patrik as he took her hand. Her bones were clearly visible under her skin, and although she seemed to be a naturally slim person, she must have lost a good deal of weight recently because her jeans were too big, needing to be held up with a belt cinched tight around her waist.

‘My son isn’t feeling well. He’s asleep in bed up at the house, so I was thinking that we could have some coffee and talk out here on the dock.’ Nathalie pointed to a blanket that she had spread out on the wooden planks.

‘Fine, that’s no problem,’ said Patrik, sitting down. ‘I hope it’s nothing serious.’

‘No, he has a slight cold, that’s all. Do you have kids?’ She sat down across from Patrik and Erica and started pouring coffee from a thermos. The pier was relatively sheltered from the wind, the sun was shining, and the air was warm. It was a lovely spot to have coffee.

‘Oh yes, we certainly do,’ replied Erica with a laugh. ‘We have Maja, who will soon be two, and Noel and Anton who are twins and almost four months old now.’

‘You must have your hands full.’ Nathalie smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. She handed Erica a platter of rusks.

‘I’m afraid this is all I have to offer you.’

‘Oh, right,’ said Patrik, getting up. ‘I brought the groceries you asked for.’

‘Thanks. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble. With Sam being sick, I’d prefer not to drag him into town to shop. Signe and Gunnar helped me out before, but I don’t want to make a habit of asking them.’

Patrik had hopped down into the boat and now set two full bags of groceries from the Konsum supermarket on the pier.

‘What do I owe you?’ Nathalie reached for her purse, which was lying next to her.

‘I’m afraid it came to a thousand kronor,’ said Patrik apologetically.

Nathalie took two five-hundred-krona bills out of her wallet and handed them to him.

‘Thank you,’ she said again.

Patrik merely nodded and sat back down on the blanket.

‘It must feel rather isolated, staying out here.’ He gazed at the small island. The lighthouse towered above them, casting a long shadow over the rocks.

‘No, it’s great,’ said Nathalie, taking a sip of her coffee. ‘I haven’t been here in years, and Sam has never seen the island before. I thought it was about time he did.’

‘Why now?’ asked Erica, hoping she didn’t sound too nosy.

Nathalie didn’t look at her. Instead, she fixed her eyes on a distant point on the horizon. The small gusts of wind that reached them caught hold of her long hair, which she impatiently brushed out of her face.

‘There are a few things that I need to think about, so it just seemed natural for us to come out here. There’s really nothing here. Nothing but thoughts and time.’

‘And ghosts, from what I’ve heard,’ said Erica, reaching for a rusk.

Nathalie didn’t laugh. ‘You’re thinking about the fact that it’s called Ghost Isle, right?’

‘Yes. But you must have found out by now whether there’s any truth to the rumours. I remember that we spent the night here once when I was in secondary school, and we were all really scared. Do you think it’s an apt nickname for the place?’

‘Maybe.’

Nathalie clearly didn’t want to discuss the subject further, so Patrik took a deep breath before broaching the topic that couldn’t be put off any longer. As he calmly explained what had happened, Nathalie began to shake. She stared at him in disbelief. She didn’t say a word, but she was shaking uncontrollably, as if she might break into a thousand pieces right before their eyes.

‘We still don’t know exactly when he was shot, so we’re trying to find out as much as possible about his last days. Gunnar and Signe said that he was planning to come out here to see you last Friday.’

‘Yes, he was here.’ Nathalie turned around to look towards the house. Patrik had the feeling that she did that mostly so he wouldn’t see her expression.

When she turned back to face them, she still looked dazed, but she had stopped shaking.

Erica impulsively leaned forward to put her hand on Nathalie’s. There was something so fragile and vulnerable about her, and it roused Erica’s protective instincts.

‘You were always so nice,’ said Nathalie, and then pulled her hand away without looking at Erica.

‘So last Friday …’ said Patrik cautiously.

Nathalie gave a start and a veil seemed to fall over her eyes.

‘He came over in the evening. I didn’t know that he was coming. I hadn’t seen him in years.’

‘When was the last time you saw each other?’ asked Erica, unable to resist glancing towards the house. She was afraid that Nathalie’s son might wake up and slip out. Since having kids of her own, she felt as if she’d become the mother of all the children in the world.

‘We said goodbye when I moved to Stockholm. I was nineteen, I think. A whole lifetime ago.’ She laughed. A brief, bitter laugh.

‘Have you kept in touch over the years?’

‘No. Well, maybe a few postcards in the beginning. But we both knew that it wasn’t a good idea. Why prolong the pain by pretending things were otherwise?’ Nathalie brushed a few strands of blond hair out of her face again.

‘Whose decision was it to break up?’ asked Erica. She just couldn’t restrain her curiosity. She’d seen them together so many times, seen the golden light that seemed to radiate from the two of them. The golden couple.