The Stone Cutter

that at all costs.

Lilian's face showed a broad range of emotions when she opened the door. Patrik and Martin stood in front, with a three-man team of technicians, or rather two men and one woman, behind them.

'What's this crowd for?'

'We have a warrant to examine your bathroom.'

Patrik had a hard time meeting her gaze. It was strange how often his profession made him feel like an insensitive shithead.

Lilian's gave them a look as hard as granite. But after a moment she stepped aside and let them in.

'Don't make a mess in there, I just cleaned,' she snapped.

The comment made Patrik once again regret that he hadn't ordered this done sooner. Judging from what he'd seen of the Florins' home earlier in the week, she cleaned house almost constantly. If there had been any viable evidence in the room, it was surely gone by now.

'We have a bathroom down here, with a shower, and one upstairs with a tub.' Lilian pointed up the stairs. 'Take off your shoes,' she commanded, and everyone obeyed. 'And don't bother Stig. He's resting.' With undisguised fury she went into the kitchen and began noisily clattering as she washed the dishes.

Patrik and Martin exchanged a look and led the techs upstairs. Careful to stay out of the way, they let the team get started on the bathroom and waited outside in the hall. The door to Stig's room was closed, and they spoke in low voices.

'Do you really think this is necessary?' said Martin. 'I mean, there's nothing to indicate that the killer was a family member, and… well, they're going through a difficult enough time as it is.'

'You're quite right, of course,' replied Patrik, almost whispering. 'But we can't rule anyone out simply because it makes us feel uncomfortable. Even if the family doesn't understand, we're doing this with their best interests in mind. If we can eliminate them from the list of suspects, we can devote more energy to other lines of inquiry. Don't you agree?'

Martin nodded. He knew that Patrik was right. It was all just so damned unpleasant. Footsteps on the stairs made them turn round, and they met Charlotte's inquiring glance.

'What's going on here? Mother said that you showed up with a whole army to look at our bathroom. Why?' Her voice rose a bit and she made an attempt to go past them. Patrik stopped her.

'Could we sit down for a moment and talk, please?'

Charlotte cast one last glance at the techs behind them and turned to go back downstairs. 'We'll sit in the kitchen,' she said, with her head turned away from Martin and Patrik. 'And I want Mother to hear what you have to say too.'

Lilian was still angrily clattering the dishes when they entered the kitchen. Albin was sitting on a blanket on the floor, watching his grandmother's activities with big, serious eyes. He gave a start like a scared rabbit each time she raised her voice.

'If you're going to be taking things apart, I presume you'll put everything back the way it was.' Lilian's voice was like frost.

'I can't promise anything; they might need to take some things apart. But I can assure you they'll be as careful as possible,' said Patrik, taking a seat.

Charlotte picked Albin off the floor and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs with the boy on her lap. He snuggled into his mother's arms. She had lost weight, and she had dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in a week – which she may not have done. He saw that she was trying to control a quivering lower lip when she asked, 'So, why is there a gang of police in the house all of a sudden? Why aren't they out looking for Sara's murderer instead?'

'We simply want to rule out all possibilities, Charlotte. The thing is, we… we have some new information. I wonder, can you think of any reason at all why someone would have wanted to make Sara eat ashes?'

Charlotte looked at him as though he'd lost his mind. She held on tighter to Albin, making him whimper. 'Eat ashes? What do you mean?'

He told her what the M.E. had said, and saw her face grow paler with every word.

'Only a crazy person would do something like that. So I understand even less why you're spending time here.' The last word sounded like a scream, and affected by his mother's anxiety Albin began to scream too. She hushed him at once and soothed him enough that he stopped, but she didn't take her eyes off Patrik.

He repeated what he'd said to Martin a little while ago. 'It's important for us to eliminate the family from the investigation. There is absolutely nothing to indicate that anyone in your family had anything to do with Sara's death. But we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't do everything we could to investigate that possibility. As you know, it has happened in other cases. I'm afraid we can't always be as considerate as we'd like.'

Lilian gave a snort as she stood at the sink. Her whole body posture showed what she thought of Patrik's little speech.

'I do understand, of course I do,' said Charlotte. 'Just so you don't waste time when you could be spending it more effectively.'

'We're working full steam ahead, examining all possibilities, I can assure you of that.' On impulse Patrik leaned over the table and placed his hand on hers. She didn't pull away but met his gaze with great intensity, as if she wanted to look into his soul and with her own eyes see whether he was telling the truth. Patrik didn't flinch. And what she saw was evidently satisfactory, for she lowered her eyes and nodded.

'All right, I suppose I'll have to trust you. But it's lucky for you that Niclas isn't at home.'

'He was here a while ago,' said Lilian without turning round. 'He looked in on Stig but then left again.'

'Why did he come home? And why didn't he tell me that he was here?'

'You were sleeping, I think. And I have no idea why he came home in the middle of the afternoon. He must have needed a break. Well, I did tell him that I thought it was too soon for him to go back to work, but that boy is so conscientious that it's beyond all understanding. One certainly has to admire -'

Lilian's comments were interrupted by a demonstrative sigh from Charlotte, so she went back to washing dishes with even greater frenzy. Patrik could practically feel the tension reverberating in the room.

'In any event, he ought to hear about this. I'll ring the clinic.'

Charlotte set Albin down on his blanket on the floor and rang from the wall phone in the kitchen. No one said a word while she was on the phone. Patrik wanted nothing more than to get out of there. After a few minutes, Charlotte hung up.

'He wasn't there,' she said in disbelief.

'He wasn't there?' Lilian turned round. 'Then where is he?'

'Aina didn't know. She said that he'd taken the rest of the afternoon off. She assumed he went home.'

Lilian frowned, still turned towards the others in the kitchen. 'Well, he wasn't here more than fifteen minutes. He looked in on

Stig for a moment, then he left. And I got the impression he was going back to work.'

Patrik and Martin exchanged a look. They had their own theory about where the grieving father had gone.

The technician in charge stuck his head in the doorway to the kitchen. 'This is