The Stone Cutter

he had finally found another piece that was a perfect fit.

When he was younger he had gone in for code languages just as manically. He had read everything he could find about the subject and could reel off what he'd learned for hours on end. There was something about numbers and letters being used in ingenious combinations that had appealed to him. But once his interest in computers took over, overnight he lost his fascination with codes. The knowledge was still there, and whenever he liked he could pull out everything he'd ever learned about the topic, but it simply didn't interest him anymore.

The blood running down the edge of the sword made him think of the girl again. He wondered whether her blood had congealed inside her now that she was dead. Whether it was just a dense mass filling her blood vessels. Maybe it had also turned the brown colour of dried blood; he'd seen it once when he'd tried cutting himself on the wrist. In fascination he'd stared at the blood trickling out, watching the way the flow gradually slowed, coagulated and began to change colour.

His mother had been shocked when she came into his room that time. He'd tried to explain that he just wanted to see what it was like to die, but without a word she'd shoved him into the car and driven him to the medical clinic. Although actually it wasn't necessary. It hurt to cut himself, so he hadn't made a deep cut and the blood had already coagulated. But his mother still got hysterical anyway.

Morgan didn't understand why death seemed to be such a scary concept for normal people. It was only a state of being, just like living. And sometimes death seemed much more tempting to him than life. So sometimes he envied the girl. Because now she knew. Knew the solution to the riddle.

He forced himself to concentrate on the computer game again. Sometimes thinking about death could make several hours vanish before he knew it. And that screwed up his schedule.

Looking surly, Ernst sat in front of Patrik, refusing to meet his gaze. Instead he studied his unpolished shoes.

'Answer me, damn it!' Patrik yelled at him. 'Did you get a call from Goteborg about child pornography?'

'Yes,' Ernst replied grumpily.

'And why didn't we ever hear about it?'

There was a long silence.

'I repeat,' said Patrik in an ominously low voice, 'why didn't you report it to us?'

'I didn't think it was that important,' said Ernst evasively.

'You didn't think it was that important!' Patrik's tone was ice- cold and he slammed his fist on the desk so hard that his keyboard jumped.

'No,' said Ernst.

'And why not?'

'Well, there was so much else going on at the time… And it felt a bit improbable, I mean, that's the sort of thing they're into in the big cities.'

'Don't talk nonsense,' said Patrik without being able to conceal his contempt. He'd got up from his chair and was now towering behind his desk. His rage made him look four inches taller. 'You know very well that child pornography has nothing to do with geography. It happens in small towns too. So stop talking bullshit and tell me the real reason. And believe me, if it's what I think, you're going to be in serious hot water!'

Ernst looked up from his shoes and glared defiantly at Patrik, but he knew it was time to lay his cards on the table.

'I just didn't think it sounded plausible. I mean, I know the guy, and it didn't seem like something he'd be involved in. So I thought the Goteborg cops must have made a mistake, and an innocent person would have to suffer if I passed on the information. You know how it is,' he said, glaring at Patrik. 'It wouldn't change anything if they rang again after a while and said, 'Oh, excuse us, but there's been a mistake here and you can forget about that name we gave you' – his name would still be mud in this town. So I thought I'd wait a while and see what happened.'

'You'd wait a while and see what happened!' Patrik was so furious that he had to force himself to enunciate each syllable to keep from stammering.

'Well, I mean, you have to agree this whole thing is unreasonable. He's well known for all the work he does with young people. He does plenty of good things, I have to tell you.'

'I don't give a shit what sort of good things he does. If our colleagues in Goteborg ring and say that his name came up in an investigation of child pornography, then we have to check it out. That's our fucking job! And if you two are best mates -'

'We aren't best mates,' Ernst muttered.

'… or friends or whatever the fuck, then it makes no difference at all, don't you see that? You can't sit there and make decisions about what's going to be investigated or what's not, based on who you know or don't know!'

'After all the years I've spent on the force -' Ernst couldn't finish his sentence before Patrik cut him off.

'After all the years you've spent on the force you should bloody well know better! And you didn't think to say anything when his name came up in a murder investigation? Wouldn't that at least have been a good time to tell us about the call?'

Ernst had gone back to studying his shoes and didn't feel like getting drawn into an argument. Patrik sighed and sat down. He folded his hands and gave Ernst a sombre look.

'Well, there isn't much we can do about it now. We've received all the data from Goteborg and will be bringing him in for questioning. We've also got a warrant to search his home. You'd better pray on bended knee that he hasn't got wind of this and managed to clean out all the evidence. And Mellberg has been informed. I'm sure he'll want to have a talk with you.'

Ernst didn't say a word when he got up from his chair. He knew that he had probably committed the worst blunder of his career. And in his case that was saying a lot.

'Mamma, if I promised to keep a secret, how long do I have to keep it?'

'I don't know,' replied Veronika. 'You shouldn't really ever tell anyone's secret, should you?'

'Hmm,' said Frida, drawing circles in her yoghurt with her spoon.

'Don't play with your food,' said Veronika, wiping off the drainboard with annoyance. Then she stopped in the middle of what she was doing and turned to her daughter.

'Why do you ask, anyway?'

'Dunno,' said Frida with a shrug.

'You certainly do know. Now tell me, why do you ask?' Veronika sat down on a kitchen chair next to her daughter and gazed at her thoughtfully.

'If you shouldn't ever tell someone's secret, then I can't say anything, can I? But -'

'What do you mean?' Veronika coaxed her cautiously.

'But if somebody you promised something to is dead, do you still have to keep the secret? What if you say something and then the person who's dead comes back and gets really mad?'

'Sweetheart, is it Sara who made you promise to keep something secret?' Frida kept drawing circles in her bowl of yoghurt. 'We talked about this before, and you have to believe me when I say that I'm really sorry, but Sara is never coming back. Sara is in heaven and she's going to stay there for ever and ever.'

'For ever and ever, for all the eternities of eternity? A thousand million million years?'

'Yes, a thousand million million years. And as far as the secret goes, I don't think Sara would be mad if you only told it to me.'

'Are you sure?' Frida looked nervously up at the grey sky she could see out of the kitchen window.