She hardly dared think about that night. It felt as if her brain shut down every time those horrific memories started to worm their way into her mind. So how could she expect Sam’s little soul to handle it? They had shared the same terror. And she wondered whether they now shared the same fear that it might all catch up with them out here. She tried to soothe him, telling him that they were safe on the island. That nothing horrid could find them here. But she wasn’t sure her tone of voice matched her words. Because she herself didn’t quite believe what she was saying.

If only Matte … Her hand shook at the thought of him. He would have been able to protect them. She hadn’t wanted to tell him everything when they spent that evening and night together. But she had told him a little, enough so that he’d know why she was no longer the same person. She knew that she should have told him the whole story. If only they’d had more time, she would have confided everything in him.

She sobbed, then took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. She didn’t want Sam to see her despair. He needed to feel secure. That was the only thing that would erase from his memory the sound of the shots, the only thing that would take away the images of blood and his pappa. It was her job to make everything right again. Matte couldn’t help her.

It took a while to collect all the fingerprints they needed. Two sets were still missing: the ambulance medics were out on their rounds and wouldn’t be back until later. But Paula had a feeling that they were wasting time gathering all these fingerprints. Her instincts told her that it was more important to determine whether Sverin’s prints were on the bag. And they needed to know soon.

Paula knocked on the office door.

‘Come in.’ Torbjörn Ruud looked up as she entered.

‘Hi. I’m Paula Morales from the Tanum police. We’ve met a few times before.’ She suddenly came over all self-conscious. Usually Paula was a stickler when it came to the proper procedures; after all, rules existed for a reason. Yet she’d come here to ask Torbjörn to disregard all the protocols. In her opinion, this was one of those times when the rules needed to be bent a little.

‘Oh yes, I remember you.’ Torbjörn motioned for her to take a seat. ‘How’s the investigation coming along? Have you heard from Pedersen yet?’

‘No, we’re expecting the ME’s report on Wednesday. Otherwise we don’t really have much to go on, and we haven’t made as much progress as we’d hoped …’

She fell silent, wondering how to formulate her request.

‘Something happened today,’ she said at last. ‘We don’t yet know whether it has anything to do with the murder …’ She set the paper bag on the desk.

‘What’s in there?’ asked Torbjörn, reaching for it, but drawing back his hand before he touched it.

‘Cocaine,’ Paula told him.

‘Where did you find it?’

Paula quickly briefed him on what had taken place and what the boys had told them.

‘It’s not often that I have a bag of cocaine dropped on my desk,’ said Torbjörn, studying Paula.

‘I realize that,’ she said, feeling her face turn red. ‘But you know how things will go. If we send the bag to the forensics lab, it will take for ever to get the results. And I have a feeling this could be very important. So I was wondering if we could be a bit flexible in this situation. If you could help me find out just one thing, I’ll handle all the formalities afterwards. And I’ll take full responsibility, of course.’

Torbjörn was silent for a few moments.

‘What exactly do you want me to do?’ he asked finally, but he still looked dubious.

Paula told him what she wanted, and Torbjörn nodded.

‘Okay, we’ll make an exception this once. But if anything happens, you’ll have to take responsibility, as you said. And you need to make sure that everything looks above board.’

‘You have my word,’ said Paula, feeling a surge of excitement. She was right, she was convinced of that. Now all that remained was to prove it.

‘Okay, come with me,’ said Torbjörn, getting to his feet. Paula hurried after him. She was going to owe him big-time after this.

‘I hope I didn’t offend you today,’ said Erling. He didn’t dare look her in the eye.

Vivianne was poking at her food and didn’t answer. As always when he found himself in disfavour, he felt his whole body knotting with discomfort. He really shouldn’t have passed on what Bertil had said about the food served at Badis. What had he been thinking? Vivianne knew what she was doing, and he shouldn’t have interfered.

‘Darling, you’re not cross with me, are you?’ He stroked the back of her hand.

She didn’t respond, and he had no idea what to do next. He could usually coax her out of a bad mood, but today she seemed in no mood to be placated.

‘It looks as if a lot of people have accepted the invitation to the dedication festivities on Saturday. All the Göteborg celebrities are coming. Real celebrities, not just those B-list personalities like Robinson-Martin. And I’ve managed to book the band Arvingarna.’

Vivianne frowned. ‘But I thought Garage was going to play.’

‘They’ll just have to settle for being the opening act. We can’t very well turn down Arvingarna, can we? They’ll bring in a big crowd.’ He was starting to forget his worries. Project Badis usually had that effect on him.

‘But we won’t receive our money until next Wednesday. I hope you realize that.’ Vivianne raised her eyes from her plate and seemed to be thawing a bit.

Delighted, Erling continued on the same track.

‘That’s no problem. The council will cover the bills until then, and most of the suppliers have agreed to wait for payment, since we’ve guaranteed the money. So you don’t need to worry.’

‘That’s good to know. Of course, Anders is the one who’s in charge of all those matters, so I assume he’s been informed.’

Now a little smile had begun to play over her lips, and Erling suddenly had butterflies in his stomach. After lunch, when he was filled with anxiety because of his faux pas, a plan had begun to take shape in his mind. He couldn’t understand why he hadn’t thought of it earlier. Fortunately, he was a man of action, and he knew how to get things done without too much advance preparation.

‘Sweetheart,’ he said.

‘Hmm,’ said Vivianne, taking another bite of the quorn casserole she’d made.

‘There’s something that I want to ask you …’

Vivianne stopped chewing and raised her eyes to look at him. For a moment Erling thought he saw a flash of fear, but it disappeared at once, and he assumed he was imagining things. It was probably just nervousness.

With an effort he knelt down next to her chair and took a small box out of his jacket pocket. The label on the lid said Nordholms Gold & Watches. It didn’t take a genius to guess what was inside.

Erling cleared his throat. This was a big moment. He took Vivianne’s hand, and in a solemn voice he said:

‘I would like to take this occasion to ask if you would do me the great honour of marrying me.’ What had sounded so elegant in his mind now sounded merely pompous. He tried again: ‘Er, that is, I was thinking that we should get married.’

That wasn’t much better, and he could hear his heart pounding in his chest as he waited for her answer. In truth he was pretty certain what she would say, but he couldn’t be absolutely sure. Women could be so capricious.

Vivianne was silent a little too long, and Erling’s knees started to hurt. The box was trembling in his hand, and he felt tension gathering along his spine.

At last she took a deep breath and said, ‘Yes, of course, we should get married, Erling.’

Relieved, he took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. It wasn’t expensive, but Vivianne didn’t care much about material things, so why should he spend a lot of money on a ring? And he’d got it for an excellent price, he thought happily. Tonight he counted on getting good value for his money. It had been a disturbingly long time since they’d made love, but this evening they were going to celebrate.