‘It was dark. And it hurt less to stay in the dark than to be out here with all of you.’

‘But now?’ Erica’s voice quavered. ‘Now you’re here.’

Anna nodded gently and took another sip of coffee.

‘Where are the twins?’

Erica didn’t know what to say, but Anna seemed to understand her hesitation. She smiled.

‘I’m so anxious to meet them. Who do they take after? Are they very much alike?’

Erica looked at her, still cautious about how to react.

‘They’re actually not much alike. Not at all. Noel is louder. He makes it very clear when he wants something, and he’s so determined. Stubborn as could be. Anton is almost the exact opposite. He never screams for anything, and he seems to think that life is great. He’s very content, in other words. But I don’t really know who they take after.’

Anna’s smile grew wider. ‘You’re kidding me, right? You’ve just described yourself and Patrik. And you’re not the one who’s content, if I may say so.’

‘No, but …’ Erica began, then fell silent as she realized that what Anna had said was true. She had, in fact, described herself and Patrik, though she knew that he wasn’t always as calm at work as he was at home.

‘I’d like to meet them,’ Anna said again, looking steadily at Erica. ‘There’s no connection to what happened to me, and you know it. It wasn’t the twins’ fault that my son died.’

Now Erica couldn’t hold back her tears. She wasn’t yet convinced that Anna was right about there being no connection – it would take time for her to believe that – but the guilt that she’d carried during the past months slowly began seeping away.

‘I can bring them over any time you like. As soon as you feel up to it.’

‘Why don’t you go get them now? If it’s not too much trouble, that is,’ said Anna. Some colour had returned to her cheeks.

‘I could phone Kristina and ask her to drive over with them.’

Anna nodded. A couple of minutes later Erica had arranged for her mother-in-law to bring the boys to the house.

‘It’s hard,’ said Anna. ‘I feel like the darkness is there even now, hovering on the edge of things.’

‘At least you’re here now.’ Erica put her hand over her sister’s. ‘I came over to see you while you were lying in bed upstairs, and it was so awful. It felt like only a shell of you was there.’

‘I suppose that’s true. It almost makes me panic when I realize that I’m still partially that way. I feel like a fragile shell, and I don’t know how I’m going to fill myself up again. It’s so empty. In here.’ She placed her hand over her stomach, stroking it gently.

‘Do you remember anything about the funeral?’

‘No.’ Anna shook her head. ‘I remember it was important for us to have a funeral, that it seemed necessary. But I can’t recall the actual service.’

‘That’s okay,’ said Erica, getting up to refill their cups.

‘Dan said that it was your idea to take turns lying next to me in bed.’

‘Well, it wasn’t really my idea.’ Erica sat down again and told her sister about Vivianne.

‘Give her my best wishes and thank her. I’d still be lying upstairs in the dark otherwise, and I might have gone even deeper into myself. So deep that I might not have been able to come back at all.’

‘I’ll tell her hello when I see her.’

The doorbell rang, and Erica leaned back, craning her neck so she could look into the front hall.

‘That’s probably Kristina and the twins.’

She was right. Dan opened the front door to Erica’s mother-in-law. She got up and went out to the hall to help, noticing happily that both of her sons were awake.

‘They’re such little angels,’ said Kristina, casting a glance towards the kitchen.

‘Would you like to come in?’ asked Dan, but Kristina shook her head.

‘No, I think I’ll go on home now. It’s best if you have some time to yourselves.’

‘Thank you,’ said Erica, giving her a hug. As much as she’d come to like her mother-in-law, consideration for others wasn’t really Kristina’s strong suit.

‘It was no problem. I’m happy to help out. You know that.’ Then she hurried off.

Erica picked up a carrycot in each hand and took the twins into the kitchen.

‘This is your aunt Anna,’ she said as she carefully placed them on the floor next to Anna’s chair. ‘And this is Noel and Anton.’

‘There’s certainly no question who the father is, at any rate.’ Anna sat down on the floor next to the babies, and Erica did the same.

‘A lot of people have said they’re the spitting image of Patrik. But we can’t really see it ourselves.’

‘They’re wonderful,’ said Anna. Her voice quavered, and Erica was suddenly worried that she might have done the wrong thing by arranging for Anna to meet her sons. Maybe it was too soon. Maybe she should have said no.

‘It’s fine,’ said Anna, as if she could read Erica’s thoughts. ‘Can I hold them?’

‘Of course you can,’ said Erica. She sensed Dan’s presence behind them. He was undoubtedly holding his breath, just as she was. He too was uncertain as to whether this was the right thing to be doing.

‘Let’s take little Erica first,’ said Anna with a smile as she picked up Noel. ‘So you’re stubborn like your mamma. Is that right? Your mother is going to have her hands full with you, isn’t she?’

She held him close, nuzzling the hollow of his neck. She put Noel down and picked up Anton, repeating the same process with him. Then she rocked him in her arms.

‘They’re lovely, Erica.’ Anna looked at her sister over Anton’s little bald head. ‘They’re simply lovely.’

‘Thank you,’ said Erica. ‘Thank you.’

‘What have you found out?’ Patrik asked eagerly as he and Martin came into the hospital waiting room.

‘Well, I told you most of it on the phone,’ replied Paula. ‘The boys found a bag containing white powder in a litter bin near the block of flats. The ones that face the Tetra Pak building.’

‘Okay. Do we have the bag?’ asked Patrik as he sat down.

‘It’s right here.’ Paula pointed to a brown paper sack on the table. ‘And before you ask: yes, we’ve handled it with the appropriate caution. But unfortunately, a lot of people touched it before it came to us. The kids, teachers, and hospital staff.’

‘We’ll have to do a careful analysis. Could you arrange to have it sent over to the forensics lab? Then we’ll have to get fingerprints from everyone who might have touched it. Start by getting the parents’ permission to fingerprint the boys.’

‘Of course,’ said Gösta, nodding.

‘How are the kids?’ asked Martin.

‘According to the doctors, they’ve been through a helluva time. It could have ended very badly, but luckily they didn’t ingest much of the powder, only a small taste of it. Otherwise we’d be down at the morgue instead of sitting here.’

That thought was so awful that no one spoke for a few moments.

Patrik cast a glance at the paper bag. ‘We should also check whether Mats Sverin’s prints are on it.’

‘Do you think his murder could be drug-related?’ Paula frowned, leaning back on the hard sofa. She was having trouble finding a comfortable position, so she ended up leaning forward again. ‘Did you find out something in Göteborg that might indicate that?’

‘No, I can’t say that we did. We do have some more information to work on, but I thought we’d discuss it at our usual meeting back at the station later on.’ He stood up. ‘Martin and I are going to Fjällbacka to have a word with some of the teachers. Could you make sure the bag gets sent to the lab, Paula? Tell them it’s urgent.’

She smiled. ‘They’ll probably make that assumption, since it’s coming from you.’

Nathalie had felt slightly uneasy ever since Erica and Patrik had visited. Should she ask the doctor to come over? Sam still hadn’t uttered a sound since they’d arrived on the island. At the same time, she trusted her instincts. All he really needed was time. Time to heal his soul, not his body, which was the only thing a doctor would bother to examine.