FABIAN RISK RECOGNIZED HIMSELF from the flames that shot up from the man’s back and neck. There was a black-clad man holding a pistol that was disproportionately large in comparison to his body. A bullet was flying through the air. It couldn’t be the first one, Fabian thought, because the black-clad man across from him had already been hit and was lying down with a gaping, bloody wound in his stomach, forming a considerable pool on the ground.
“That’s the murderer,” Matilda said, pointing at the bleeding man. “And that’s you.”
“But I’m still on fire. How am I supposed to —”
“There,” Matilda interrupted him. “You can just run over and jump in. Easy peasy.” She pointed at the deep blue sea in the corner of the drawing.
“Easy peasy,” Fabian repeated, putting down the drawing. His eyes moved to Sonja, who was sitting on a chair beside his hospital bed.
“How are you feeling?” she inquired.
“Okay, considering the circumstances. The doctor says I only have second-degree burns, so they don’t need to do grafts or anything.”
“That’s good.”
“Does it hurt?” Matilda asked.
“Not too bad,” Fabian lied, meeting Sonja’s gaze.
“I burned myself once and it hurt a lot. Here, look.” Matilda pulled up her shirt and showed them the scar on her stomach.
Fabian had hoped the scar would fade with time, but instead it seemed to have grown along with Matilda. She had been two years old when it happened. She and he were alone at the time, and he was boiling her pacifiers on the stove. She had been absolutely obsessed with pacifiers, or “pacis,” as she’d called them. She would whine and beg for a paci; she obviously didn’t care about any old bacteria. Want paci... please, paci now... Dada... Dada, paci now! Want now!
He hadn’t been able to take her whining any longer so he’d closed the bedroom door to make the bed in peace and quiet. It had come as a total surprise to him that she was capable of moving the stool, climbing onto it, and reaching the pot of boiling water.
“According to the doctor, I might be able to come home tomorrow or the day after.”
“That’s great.”
“And I was thinking we could get started on that vacation, and —”
“Please stop.”
“Sonja, I’m off the case.” He looked her in the eye. “I didn’t say anything earlier, but Tuvesson took me off it yesterday.”
“And yet here you are in the hospital.”
She was right. It didn’t matter that he had been removed from the investigation or was incredibly burned out. He wouldn’t be able to let it go until they had caught the killer, even though he was further from closing the case than ever at the moment.
“Where’s Theo?”
“He didn’t want to come. How was your trip with him yesterday, by the way?”
Fabian shook his head. “All he wanted was to get back to his computer and close himself off in his room.”
Sonja smiled for the first time since they’d arrived at the hospital. “You’re so good at solving cases; you’ll probably manage to solve that mystery too.”
Fabian laughed. “No one’s that good.”
Her smile faded. “Matilda and I are taking the night train to Stockholm tonight.”
“What about Theo? What does he think?”
Sonja shrugged. “You tell me. I asked if he wanted to come, but his new thing is to not respond when I ask him a question.” She sighed and shook her head.
“Have you tried texting him? He usually has headphones on, so he can’t hear you yelling, but he won’t let his phone out of his sight. Honey, he’s a teenager. Theo and most kids his age think we’re just about the most annoying, embarrassing people in the world. Of course they don’t want to talk to us.”
“If he absolutely doesn’t want to come I guess he can stay in Helsingborg, which might give you a chance to solve two things at once.” She stood up, leaned over, and kissed him. In the midst of their worst crises, a kiss could remind them how much they still loved each other, deep down.
“See you later,” she whispered into his ear, turning to Matilda. “Say goodbye to Daddy now.”
“Bye.”
“What, no hug?”
“Nope,” Matilda said, taking Sonja’s hand. “If you forget what to do, just look at the drawing.”
They knocked on the door. A uniformed officer opened it and let them out.