was classed as one of the worst snowstorms since the Second World War.
Holmblad got out of the car and wished Joakim season’s greetings.
“Thanks, same to you,” he said. “And thank you for coming.”
“I’m actually on leave until New Year’s,” said Holmblad. “But I wanted to see how you were getting on out here.”
“Everything’s very calm now,” said Joakim.
“I can see that. The storm has passed.”
Joakim nodded and asked, “And Tilda Davidsson… how’s she doing?”
“Pretty good, considering,” said Holmblad. “I spoke to her yesterday… she’s left the hospital and is at home with her mother at the moment.”
“But she was here alone? It wasn’t a colleague who…”
“No,” said Holmblad, “it was her tutor from the police academy… a father of two, it’s a real tragedy. He shouldn’t really have been here.” The inspector looked thoughtful, and added, “Of course, things could have gone very badly for Davidsson too, but she coped very well.”
“She did,” said Joakim, opening the door to the house. “I’ve got a few things I’d really like to show you-would you like to come in for a while?”
“Sure.”
Joakim led the inspector into the kitchen, where he had cleared the kitchen table.
“There,” he said.
On the table lay the bag containing Ethel’s denim jacket, and the items he had found in the jacket. There was the handwritten note-and a small gold case that had been tucked inside the lining of the jacket.
“What’s this?” said Holmblad.
“I’m not sure,” said Joakim. “But I hope it’s evidence.”
When Holmblad had left, Joakim took a rucksack and went down through the snow to the northern lighthouse.
On the way there he glanced over toward the forest in the north. Most of the trees seemed to have survived the storm, apart from a few of the older pines closest to the shore, which were lying on the ground.
The white tower sparkled against the dark blue sky. Before he even set off along the stone jetty, he could see that it would be difficult to get inside it. The waves had crashed over the islands during the blizzard, and both lighthouses where encased in chalk-white ice. It looked like plaster that had set, and extended around the lower part of the tower in an arctic embrace.
Joakim put his rucksack down outside the door and unzipped it. He took out the keys to the lighthouse, along with a large hammer, a spray can of oil for the lock, and three thermos flasks full of boiling water.
It took him almost half an hour to get rid of all the ice around the door and undo the lock. It was still only possible to open the door a little way, but Joakim managed to squeeze through the gap.
He had the flashlight with him, and switched it on when he got inside.
Every little sound the soles of his shoes made on the cement floor echoed up into the tower, but he didn’t hear any footsteps on the stairs. If some old lighthouse keeper was still up there Joakim didn’t want to disturb him, so he stayed downstairs.
There was a small wooden door leading into the space under the staircase, a storeroom on the ground floor of the lighthouse. Joakim opened the door and walked in, stooping low.
A calendar from 1961 hung on the stone wall. Gas cans, empty booze bottles, and old lanterns stood on the floor. The collection of objects in here made him think of all the old
stuff piled high in the hayloft. But this was a little more organized, and along the curve of the outside wall stood several wooden boxes.
The lids weren’t secured. Joakim lifted up the closest one and shone the flashlight into the box.
He saw metal pipes-sections of old drainpipes approximately three feet long, piled up at the bottom of the box. They would have been fixed together and put up around the house at Eel Point several decades earlier, if Ragnar Davidsson hadn’t stolen them and hidden them in the lighthouse.
Joakim put his hand in and carefully lifted out one of the pipes.
44
“Where are we going?” asked Livia as they drove away from Eel Point the day before New Year’s Eve, with the car packed full.
She was still in a bit of a bad mood, Joakim noticed.
“We’re going to see your grandmother in Kalmar, then we’re going up to see your other granny in Stockholm,” he said. “But first of all we’re going to visit Mommy.”
Livia didn’t say any more. She just rested her hand on Rasputin’s cat basket and looked out at the white landscape.
Fifteen minutes later they pulled up at Marnas church. Joakim parked, took a bag out of the car, and opened the wooden gate.
“Come on,” he said to the children.
Joakim hadn’t been there many times during the fall-but it felt better now. A little better.
There was just as much snow in the churchyard as
everywhere else along the coast, but the main pathways had been cleared.
“Are we going far?” asked Livia as they walked along the side of the church.
“No,” said Joakim, “we’re almost there now.”
At last they were standing in a row in front of Katrine’s grave.
The gravestone was covered in snow, like all the others in the churchyard. There was only one corner showing, until Joakim bent down and quickly swept it clean with his hand, so that the inscription could be seen.
KATRINE MANSTRALE WESTIN, it said, along with her dates.
Joakim took a step backwards and stood between Livia and Gabriel.
“This is where Mommy is,” he said.
His words didn’t make time stop, but the children stood motionless beside him.
“Do you think it… looks nice?” asked Joakim in the silence.
Livia didn’t reply. It was Gabriel who reacted first.
“I think Mommy will be cold,” he said.
Then he walked cautiously up to the grave in his father’s footsteps and silently began to brush away all the snow. First of all from Katrine’s headstone, then from the ground below it. A bunch of shriveled roses appeared. Joakim had placed them there on his last visit, before the snow came.
Gabriel seemed happy with the result. He rubbed his nose with his gloved hand and looked at his father.
“Well done,” said Joakim.
Then he took a grave lantern out of the plastic bag. The ground was frozen, but it was still possible to push it down firmly. Inside he placed a thick candle. It would burn for five days, into the new year.
“Shall we go back to the car?” Joakim asked, looking at the children.
Gabriel nodded, but bent down and started to tug at
something lying beneath the snow next to Katrine’s headstone.
It was a piece of pale green fabric, stiff and frozen to the ground. A sweater? The strip Gabriel had hold of looked like a sleeve.
Joakim felt a sudden icy chill down his back. He took a step forward.
“Leave that, Gabriel,” he said.
Gabriel looked at his father and let go of the material. Joakim bent down quickly and covered it with a layer of snow.
“Shall we go?” he said.
