‘Let me go in first and speak to the parents. From a medical perspective, there’s nothing to prevent you talking to the boys. I expect you’ll want to know where they found the cocaine.’

‘Are you sure it was cocaine?’ asked Paula.

‘Yes. We did some blood tests that confirmed it.’ The doctor pushed open the door and went in.

Paula and Gösta paced up and down the corridor as they waited. After a few minutes the door opened and a number of sombre-looking adults came out, their faces flushed from crying.

‘We’re from the Tanum police,’ said Paula, shaking hands with everyone. Gösta did the same; he seemed to be acquainted with several of the parents.

‘Do you know where the boys found the drugs?’ asked one of the mothers, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief. ‘We think our children are safe at school and then …’ Her voice started quavering, and she leaned against her husband, who put his arm around her.

‘So the boys haven’t told you anything?’

‘No, I think they’re too ashamed. We’ve told them that they won’t get in trouble, but we haven’t been able to get any information out of them yet, and we haven’t wanted to pressure them too much,’ said one of the fathers. Though he seemed composed, his eyes were red-rimmed.

‘Would it be okay if we talked to them alone? We promise not to frighten them,’ said Paula, giving them a wry smile. She suspected that she didn’t seem particularly threatening, and Gösta looked like a nice, sad old dog. She had a hard time imagining that anyone would be scared of them, and apparently the parents agreed because they nodded their assent.

‘Why don’t we all have a cup of coffee in the meantime?’ said the father with the red-rimmed eyes. The others seemed to think this was a good idea. He turned to Paula and Gösta and said, ‘We’ll be in the waiting room over there. And we’d appreciate it if you’d let us know what you find out.’

‘Of course,’ said Gösta, patting the man on the shoulder.

They went into the room. The boys were lying in beds that had been placed side by side. Three pitiful little creatures tucked into their hospital beds.

‘Hi,’ said Paula, and all three faintly answered her greeting. She wondered which boy they should begin with. When two of them cast hasty glances at the third boy, who had dark curly hair, she decided to start with him.

‘My name is Paula.’ She pulled a chair over to his bed and motioned for Gösta to do the same. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Jon,’ said the boy weakly, but he didn’t dare look her in the eye.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘Okay.’ He was nervously plucking at the blanket.

‘What an awful thing to happen, huh?’ She was totally focused on Jon, but out of the corner of her eye she saw that the other two boys were listening intently.

‘Uh-huh …’ He looked up at her. ‘Are you really from the police?’

Paula laughed. ‘Yes, I am. Don’t I look like a police officer?’

‘Er, not really. I know that girls can be policemen, but you’re so small.’ He smiled shyly.

‘We need small police officers on the force too. What if we need to get into a very tiny space, for example?’ she said. Jon nodded, as if that was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

‘Would you like to see my police ID?’

He nodded eagerly, and the other boys craned their necks to see better.

‘Maybe you could take out your ID too, Gösta, so the other boys could see it.’

Gösta smiled, got up, and went over to the next bed.

‘Wow. Your ID looks exactly like on TV,’ said Jon. He studied it for a moment and then handed it back.

‘That was pretty dangerous stuff you found. I hope you understand that,’ said Paula, trying not to sound too stern.

‘Hmm …’ Jon again lowered his gaze and began plucking at the blanket.

‘But nobody is angry with you. Not your parents or your teachers. We’re not angry either.’

‘We thought it was a bag of sweets.’

‘It does look a bit like the powder from those flying-saucer sweets, doesn’t it?’ she said. ‘I probably would have made the same mistake.’

Gösta had sat down again, and Paula waited for him to interject a few questions, but he seemed happy to let her carry out the interview. She’d always been good with children.

‘Pappa says that it was drugs,’ said Jon, tugging at a thread from the blanket.

‘Yes, that’s right. Do you know what drugs are?’

‘Poison. Except that you don’t die from it.’

‘Drugs can actually kill you. But you’re right that they’re poison. That’s why it’s important for you to help us find out where that powder came from, so we can prevent anybody else from being poisoned.’ She spoke in a calm, friendly voice, and Jon began to relax.

‘Are you sure you’re not angry?’ He looked her in the eye. His lower lip was quivering.

‘Very, very sure. Cross my heart,’ she told him, hoping the expression wasn’t hopelessly out-of-date. ‘And your mamma and pappa aren’t angry either. They’re worried, that’s all.’

‘We were over near the block of flats yesterday,’ said Jon. ‘We were hitting tennis balls against the wall. There’s a factory there. At least, that’s what I think it is. With high walls and no windows, so we can’t break any glass. That’s why we usually play over there. Then on our way home we were looking for bottles that we could turn in for money. In the litter bins outside the flats, and that’s when we found the bag. We thought it was a bag of sweets.’ The thread came loose from the blanket, leaving a tiny hole in the weave.

‘Why didn’t you taste the sweets yesterday?’ asked Gösta.

‘We thought it was cool to find so much of it, so we wanted to take the bag to school and show everybody. It seemed more exciting to taste it when everyone had some too. But we were going to keep most of it for ourselves, of course. We thought we’d just share a little.’

‘Which litter bin was it in?’ asked Paula. She knew the industrial building that Jon was talking about, but she wanted to be one hundred per cent sure.

‘Over by the car park. You see it when you come through the gate where we were playing tennis.’

‘Where the woods and hill are off to the right?’

‘Yes, that’s the one.’

Paula glanced at Gösta. The litter bin where the boys had found the cocaine was outside Mats Sverin’s front door.

‘Thank you, boys. You’ve been a huge help,’ she said as she got to her feet. She felt a churning in her stomach. Maybe this was finally the breakthrough that they’d been waiting for in the investigation.

FJÄLLBACKA 1871

The pastor was big and fat and gratefully grabbed hold of Karl’s hand so he could climb up on to the dock. Emelie curtseyed modestly. She’d never been to a church service in town. Here she stood now, blushing and hoping that the pastor wouldn’t think her failure to attend had to do with a lack of will or faith on her part.

‘It’s certainly an isolated place, isn’t it? Beautiful, though,’ the pastor added. ‘But isn’t there someone else who lives here?’

‘Julian,’ said Karl. ‘He’s tending to the lighthouse at the moment. I can fetch him if you like.’

‘Yes, please. That would be good.’ Without waiting to be invited, the pastor started walking towards the house. ‘Since I’ve finally made it out to this island, I might as well meet all of the inhabitants.’ He laughed and held the door open for Emelie while Karl set off for the lighthouse.

‘What a nice, tidy house you have here,’ said the pastor, looking around.

‘Our humble home isn’t much to look at.’ Emelie discovered that she was hiding her hands under her apron. They looked so rough after all the scrubbing she did, but she couldn’t deny that the pastor’s words of praise made her happy.

‘There’s no reason to scorn what’s humble and simple. From what I can see, Karl should consider himself lucky to have such a clever wife.’ He sat down on the kitchen bench.