‘Of course I will,’ he said, and then turned on his heel. ‘Be ready to leave in a hour,’ he added, speaking to Emelie over his shoulder.

She nodded, but she could feel her throat closing up. Soon she would be back on Gråskär. She hugged Gustav close.

19

‘Did she get hold of her?’ asked Gösta. He was still looking half-asleep.

‘She didn’t say. She just asked us to come to the office as soon as possible.’

Patrik swore. There was a lot of traffic, and he had to keep changing lanes. When they reached the Refuge offices in Hisingen, he got out of the car and tugged at his shirt. It was soaked with sweat.

‘Come in,’ said Leila quietly when she met them at the door. ‘We’ll sit in the break room. It’s more comfortable than my office. I’ve made some coffee and sandwiches, in case you didn’t have time for breakfast.’

They’d barely had time to eat anything before leaving for Göteborg, so Patrik and Gösta each reached for a roll after they sat down.

‘I hope Marie isn’t going to get into any sort of trouble over this,’ Patrik said. He’d forgotten to say anything yesterday, but when he’d gone to bed he couldn’t sleep because he was worrying that the poor, nervous young woman might lose her job after telling them about Madeleine.

‘Absolutely not. I take full responsibility. I should have told you myself, but my primary concern was for Madeleine’s safety.’

‘I understand,’ said Patrik. It still bothered him that they’d lost so much time, but he could see why Leila had acted as she did. And he never stayed angry for long.

‘Have you managed to get hold of her?’ he asked, finishing his sandwich.

Leila hesitated. ‘I’m afraid we seem to have lost track of Madeleine.’

‘Lost track?’

‘Yes. We helped her to escape abroad. I probably don’t need to go into all the details, but it’s done in a way that will guarantee maximum security. At any rate, she and the children were installed in a flat. And now … now they seem to have left it.’

‘Left it?’ Patrik repeated.

‘Yes. According to our colleague who’s on the scene, the flat is empty, and the neighbour says that Madeleine and the children left yesterday. And they didn’t seem to have any plans to return.’

‘Where could they have gone?’

‘I suspect that they’ve come back to Sweden.’

‘Why would they do that?’ asked Gösta. He reached for another roll.

‘She borrowed some money from the neighbour to buy train tickets. And she has nowhere else to go.’

‘But why come back, considering what’s waiting for her here?’ Gösta was talking with his mouth full, sending a shower of crumbs on to his lap.

‘I have no idea.’ Leila shook her head, and they saw the look of dismay on her face. She was clearly very upset. ‘You have to understand that it’s a matter of an extremely complex psychology. You might wonder why a woman doesn’t leave the first time she gets hit, but it’s more complicated than that. In the end, a form of interdependency exists between the batterer and the victim, and sometimes the woman doesn’t behave in a very rational way.’

‘Do you think she has gone back to her husband?’ asked Patrik in disbelief.

‘I don’t know. Maybe she couldn’t take the isolation any longer and she was missing her family. Even though we’ve worked with these issues for years here at the crisis centre, we still don’t always understand how the women think. And they have to make their own decisions about their lives. They’re free to do as they wish.’

‘How do we go about finding her?’ Patrik was feeling quite helpless. Yet another door had slammed in their faces. He had to talk to Madeleine. She might be the key to everything.

For a moment Leila didn’t reply. Then she said, ‘I’d start with her parents. They live in Kålltorp. She may have gone there.’

‘Do you have their address?’ asked Gösta.

‘Yes, I do. But …’ She paused. ‘You’re dealing with extremely dangerous people. Madeleine and her family may not be the only ones at risk. You may be too.’

Patrik nodded. ‘We’ll be discreet.’

‘Are you planning to talk to him too?’ asked Leila.

‘Yes. I’m afraid it’s unavoidable. But first we’d better talk to our colleagues here in Göteborg and find out what’s the best approach to take.’

‘Be careful.’ She handed Patrik a piece of paper with an address written on it.

‘We will,’ he said, but he wasn’t as confident as he tried to sound. They were heading into deep water now, and the only thing to do was to swim as best they could.

‘Nothing from the airlines?’ said Konrad.

‘No,’ said Petra. ‘They didn’t leave the country. At least not under their own names.’

‘There are plenty of ways to get false passports and identities.’

‘If that’s the case, it’s going to take a while for us to find them. We should investigate all the other possibilities first. Then we’ll know what the most likely scenario might be.’ Petra exchanged a glance with Konrad as they sat at their desks across from each other. Neither of them needed to be any more specific than that. The images they were both envisioning were clear enough.

‘It would be pretty vicious if they killed a five-year-old,’ said Konrad. At the same time he knew that these individuals moved in circles where a human life meant nothing. Killing a child might be unthinkable for some of them, but not for all. Money and drugs had a way of transforming people into animals.

‘I’ve talked to some of her women friends. She didn’t have many, from what I understand, and none of them claim to have been very close to her. But they all say the same thing. Nathalie and Fredrik and their son were supposed to go to their house in Tuscany for the summer. And nobody had any reason to think they hadn’t gone.’ Petra took a sip from the water bottle she always kept on her desk.

‘Where’s she from?’ asked Konrad. ‘Are there any relatives she might be staying with? Something might have happened to prevent her and the boy going to Italy. Marital problems. Or maybe she was the one who shot him.’

‘Some of her friends hinted that it wasn’t a particularly happy marriage, but I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions at this stage. Do you know whether the bullets have been sent over to the lab?’ She took another sip of water.

‘Yes, and they’re being given top priority. The narcotics division has been working for a long time on this guy and the organization behind him, so the case is at the top of their list.’

‘Good,’ said Petra, getting to her feet. ‘I’ll check on Nathalie’s family while you lean on the techs. Let me know as soon as they have anything we can work with.’

‘Okay,’ said Konrad, sounding amused. He had long since grown accustomed to Petra acting as if she was the one in charge, even though they held the same rank. But he didn’t mind, since he’d never been interested in competing for status. He knew that she listened to him, and she respected his judgement and opinions, and that was what mattered most. He picked up the phone to ring the technical team.

‘Are you sure this is the right address?’ Gösta glanced over at Patrik.

‘Yes, I’m sure. And I heard somebody moving around inside.’

‘Then I guess she’s here,’ whispered Gösta. ‘Otherwise they would open the door.’

Patrik nodded. ‘But the question is, what do we do now? We need to get them to let us in voluntarily.’ He paused to think. Then he took out his notebook and pen. He wrote down a few lines and tore out the page. Then he leaned down and slipped it under the door along with his business card.

‘What did you write?’

‘I suggested a place where we could meet. I hope she agrees,’ said Patrik as he started down the stairs.

‘Do you think she might run instead?’ Gösta had to hurry to keep up.