‘All right then,’ said Paula and headed back to the Coast Guard vessel. Suddenly she felt her feet slip out from under her, and she fell. She was instantly soaking wet. Shit. Her colleagues were going to make fun of her for a long time to come.

They were constantly with her now. They made her feel safe, even though she saw them only out of the corner of her eye. Sometimes she thought the boy looked a little like Sam, with his curly hair and that mischievous glint in his eye, except that he was blond, while Sam had dark hair. But like Sam, the boy kept his gaze fixed on his mother.

Nathalie sensed rather than saw the woman. And she heard her. The hem of her dress sweeping along the floor, the small admonitions directed at the boy, the warnings whenever she saw something that might be dangerous. She was a rather over-protective mother, just as Nathalie was. Occasionally the woman had tried to speak to her. There was something she wanted to say, but Nathalie refused to hear it.

The boy liked being in Sam’s room. Sometimes it sounded as if Sam was talking to him, but she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t dare move closer to listen, because she didn’t want to disturb them if they really were having a conversation. It gave her hope. In time, Sam would talk to her too. Even though she represented safety for him, she understood that Sam also associated her with all the terrible things he’d experienced in his life.

It was warm inside the house, but she found herself suddenly shivering. What if they weren’t safe here after all? Maybe one day they’d see a boat approaching the island, just as she’d feared. A boat filled with the same evil that they’d tried to leave behind.

She heard voices coming from Sam’s room. Her fear vanished as swiftly as it had appeared. The little blond boy was talking to Sam, and it sounded as if Sam was replying. Her heart leaped with happiness. It was so hard to know what was right. All she could do was follow her instinct, which was based on her love for Sam – and it kept telling her to give him more time. Let him heal here, in peace and quiet.

No boat was going to come. She repeated that to herself like a mantra as she sat at the kitchen table and looked out of the window. No boat was going to come. Sam was talking, and that must mean that he was on his way back to her. She heard the little boy’s voice again. She smiled. She was glad that Sam had a friend.

Patrik was watching Gösta rummage in his jacket pocket.

‘Could you please tell me what this is all about?’

After a moment Gösta seemed to find what he was looking for. He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Patrik.

‘What’s this? Or rather, who is this?’ Patrik was looking at the photograph he held in his hand.

‘I don’t really know. But I found it in Sverin’s flat.’

‘Where?’

Gösta swallowed hard. ‘In his bedroom.’

‘Can you explain to me how it happened to end up in your jacket pocket?’

‘I thought it might be of interest, so I took it along. But then I forgot about it,’ said Gösta in a subdued voice.

‘You forgot about it?’ Patrik was so angry that for a second everything went black before his eyes. ‘How could you possibly forget something like this? All we’ve talked about lately is how little we know about Mats, and how hard it’s been to find out who he knew.’

Gösta seemed to shrink as they stood there in the corridor. ‘I realize that, but at least I’m showing it to you now. Better late than never, right?’ He attempted a smile.

‘And you have no idea who this is?’ asked Patrik, now taking a moment to study the picture properly.

‘Not a clue. But it must have been someone who was important to Sverin. And it occurred to me that … I thought about it when we were …’ He nodded towards the room where Marie was waiting for them.

‘It’s worth a try,’ said Patrik. ‘But we’re not done talking about this, you and I. Just so you know.’

‘I know.’ Gösta looked down at the floor, but he seemed relieved at the reprieve, no matter how temporary.

They went back into the break room. Marie looked as nervous as she had before.

Patrik got straight to the point.

‘Who is this?’ he said, placing the photo on the table in front of Marie. He saw her eyes open wide.

‘Madeleine,’ she said, looking scared. She covered her mouth with her hand.

‘Who’s Madeleine?’

Patrik tapped his finger on the photo in order to force Marie to keep looking at it. She didn’t answer as she uneasily shifted position on her chair.

‘This is a murder investigation, and any information you have may help us to find out who killed Mats. That’s what you want too, isn’t it?’

Marie looked at them with an unhappy expression. Her hands were shaking, and her voice faltered as she finally began to tell them what she knew. About Madeleine.

When the tech team arrived to carry out a thorough examination of the boat, Paula and Martin drove back to the station. Paula had borrowed a huge pair of waterproof trousers and an orange fleece shirt from the Coast Guard office. She glared at anyone who might even consider making some sort of sarcastic remark. Once seated inside the car, she turned up the heat. The sea water had been icy cold, and she was still freezing.

The volume on the radio was up as high as it would go, so they almost didn’t hear Martin’s mobile when it rang. He turned down the music before answering his phone.

‘That’s great! Can we go over there now? We’re headed back, so we can stop off there on the way.’ He ended the conversation and turned to Paula. ‘That was Annika. Lennart has finished going through the documents, so we can go see him any time we like.’

‘Perfect,’ said Paula, looking a bit happier.

Fifteen minutes later they parked in front of the ExtraFilm office. Lennart was eating lunch at his desk when they came in, but he set aside his sandwich and wiped his hands on a napkin. He cast a surprised look at what Paula was wearing, but wisely decided not to comment.

‘I’m glad you’re here,’ he said.

Lennart radiated warmth, just as his wife did. Paula thought that their adoptive daughter had no idea how lucky she was to end up with Annika and Lennart as her parents.

‘She’s so cute,’ said Paula, pointing at the photo of the little girl that Lennart had pinned up on his bulletin board.

‘Yes, she certainly is.’ He smiled broadly, then motioned for them to sit down in the visitors’ chairs in front of his desk. ‘I don’t know whether it’s really worth your time to sit down. I’ve looked through everything as carefully as I could, but there’s really not much to tell you. The finances seem to be in order, and I didn’t find anything that leaped out at me. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was supposed to be looking for. From what I can tell, the town has invested a lot of money in the project and also negotiated extended payment clauses. But there’s nothing that set off any alarm bells in here – my best financial instrument.’ Lennart patted himself on the stomach.

Martin started to say something, but Lennart went on:

‘The Berkelins – Vivianne and Anders – are responsible for a large part of the expenses, and according to the documents, the financing that they’ve arranged is due to arrive on Monday. I’m afraid I haven’t been much help.’

‘Yes, you have. At least it’s good to hear that the town is doing a good job of handling our money.’ Martin stood up.

‘Well, so far, so good. But everything depends on whether they’re able to bring in customers. Otherwise it’s going to be expensive for the taxpayers.’

‘We thought it was really nice, at any rate.’

‘Yes, Annika told me that all of you had a good time at the spa. And that Mellberg was apparently pampered like royalty.’

Paula and Martin laughed. ‘We wish we could have seen it. Rumour has it that they gave him an oyster treatment. But we’ll just have to imagine Mellberg covered with oyster shells,’ said Paula.