closer. 'Did you see Sara?'
'Yes, I did,' said Arne defiantly in a last attempt to assert the authority he'd taken for granted for forty years.
'And what did you say to her?' Asta seemed to grow a foot taller before their eyes. Niclas thought she was terrifying, and from the look in his father's eyes he could see that he thought the same thing.
'I had to see whether she was made of sterner stuff than her father. If she'd taken after my side of the family.'
'Your side,' Asta snorted. 'Oh yes, that would be something. Sanctimonious fawners and stuck-up females, that's what you have on your side of the family. Is that supposed to be something worth emulating? So what was your conclusion?'
With a hurt expression on his face Arne said, 'Silence, woman, I come from God-fearing folk. And it didn't take long to work out that the girl was not made of good stock. Impudent and obstinate and noisy, not the way girls should be. I tried to talk to her about God, I did, and she stuck out her tongue at me. So I told her a few truths. I still believe I was within my full right to do so. Someone had obviously not bothered to raise the child properly; it was high time somebody took her in hand.'
'So you scared the wits out of her,' said Niclas, clenching his fists.
'I saw the Devil in her recoil,' Arne said proudly.
'You God-damned…' Niclas took a step towards him, but stopped when a hard knock was heard at the door.
Time stood still for a second and then the moment passed. Niclas knew that he had been standing at the edge of the abyss and then retreated. If he'd gone after his father, he wouldn't have been able to stop. Not this time.
He left the room without looking at either his father or his mother and opened the front door. The man outside seemed surprised to see him there.
'Oh, hello. Martin Molin. We've met before. I'm from the police. I'd like to have a word with your father.'
Niclas stepped aside without a word. He felt the officer watching him as he walked to his car.
'Where's Martin?' said Patrik.
'He drove over to Fjallbacka,' Annika said. 'Charlotte identified our nasty old man without much difficulty. It's Sara's grandfather, Arne Antonsson. A bit of a nut case according to Charlotte. He and his son have evidently not spoken to each other in years.'
'Just so Martin remembers to check his alibi, both for the morning when Sara was murdered and for the incident yesterday with the little boy'
'The last thing he did was to double-check the time in question for yesterday. Between one and one thirty, wasn't it?'
'Exactly. I'm glad there's at least one person we can count on.'
Annika's eyes narrowed. 'Has Mellberg talked to Ernst yet? I mean, I was surprised when he showed up this morning. I thought he would have been suspended at the very least, if not fired by now.'
'Yeah, I know, I thought that was what happened when he was allowed to go home yesterday. I was just as surprised as you were to find him sitting there as if nothing had happened. I'll have to speak to Mellberg. He can't just look through his fingers this time. If he does, I'm quitting!' A grim furrow had formed between Patrik's eyebrows.
'Don't talk like that,' said Annika in alarm. 'Have a talk with Mellberg. I'm sure he has a plan for how to deal with Ernst.'
'You don't even believe that yourself,' said Patrik, and Annika looked away. He was right. She seriously doubted it.
She changed the subject. 'When are we going to question Kaj again?'
'I was thinking of doing it now. But I'd prefer to have Martin present.'
'He took off not long ago, so it may be a while before he gets hack. He tried to tell you, but you were on the phone.'
'Yeah, I was busy checking Niclas's alibi for yesterday. Which was airtight, by the way. Patient appointments from twelve to three o'clock. And I'm not just going by his appointment book; I had it confirmed by each of the patients he saw.'
'So, what does that mean?'
'If I only knew,' said Patrik, massaging the bridge of his nose with his fingers. 'It doesn't change the fact that he couldn't come up with an alibi for Monday morning, and it's still suspicious that he tried to conceal his whereabouts. But he wasn't the one involved yesterday, at any rate. Gosta was going to ring the rest of the family to hear where they were at that time.'
'I assume that Kaj will also have to answer that question in detail,' said Annika.
Patrik nodded. 'Yeah, you can bet on it. And his wife. And his son. I thought I'd have a talk with them after I interview Kaj again.'
'And in spite of everything, the killer could still be someone else entirely, someone we haven't even considered,' Annika said.
'That's the worst thing about it. While we're chasing our tails, the murderer is probably sitting at home laughing at us. But after yesterday I'm sure, at least, that he, or she, is still in the vicinity. And that it's probably someone from Fjallbacka.'
'Or else we already have the murderer in custody,' said Annika, nodding towards the jail.
Patrik smiled. 'Or else we already have the murderer in custody. Well, I don't have time to hang around here, I have to go talk to a man about a jacket…'
'Lots of luck,' Annika shouted after him.
'Dan! Dan!' Erica yelled. She could hear the panic in her voice, and it just made her more upset. She frantically rummaged through the covers in the pram, as if her daughter had somehow been able to hide in a corner. But the pram was empty.
'What is it?' said Dan, who came running, with an anxious look on his face. 'What's happened? Why are you yelling?'
Erica tried to speak, but her tongue felt thick and clumsy, and she couldn't get any words out. Instead she pointed with a trembling hand at the pram, and Dan hurried to look inside.
He gazed down at the empty space, and she saw the realization hit him like a hammer blow.
'Where's Maja? Is she gone? Where's…?' He didn't finish his sentence but looked about wildly. Erica was hanging on to him, panic-stricken. Now the words gushed out of her.
'We have to find her! Where's my daughter? Where's Maja? Where is she?'
'Shh, there, there. We'll find her. Don't worry, we'll find her.' Dan concealed his own panic so he could reassure Erica. He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. 'Now we have to stay calm. I'll go out and look for her. You ring the police. It'll be all right.'
Erica felt her chest heaving spasmodically in an odd imitation of breathing, but she did as he said. Dan left the front door open, and a cold wind blew into the house. But that didn't bother her. She felt nothing other than paralysing panic that made her brain stop working. For the life of her she couldn't remember where she'd put the telephone. Finally she just ran round and round the living room rummaging under pillows and tossing things aside. At last she realized that it was in the middle of the living room coffee table. She flung herself over it and with stiff fingers punched in the number of the station. Then she heard Dan's voice outside.
'Erica, Erica, I found her!'
She dropped the phone and rushed to the front door, heading for his voice. In
