ELLEN

3.30 P.M.

Ellen pulled into the petrol station in Stentuna and parked by one of the pumps. Before she got out to fill up, she called Carola, who answered on the first ring. Ellen thanked her for the ice cream yesterday, asked how she was feeling, and continued with other pleasantries. Carola said that things were better today. Ellen was starting to think that perhaps they’d gotten a little too close to each other, and felt bothered by having to ask questions about this and that before they could get to the point. Maybe Andreas was right about her not being a sister person. Finally, Carola confirmed that the police had brought Patrik in for questioning.

‘And?’

‘Between the two of us, we’ve put surveillance on him.’

‘So, you don’t have enough to go on to arrest him?’

‘His car has turned up on surveillance cameras from the night of the murder.’

And that still wasn’t enough? ‘What can I release?’

‘That we’ve brought someone in for questioning. I’m sure you’ll figure out your story.’

‘Can I report that it’s Patrik Bosängen?’

‘No.’

‘Can you confirm that you’ve found the father of the child?’

‘Yes.’

‘How are you handling his other women?’

‘I can’t answer that, but we’re circling in the extended family.’

‘Hanna is wearing Liv’s ring. Or else she has one like it. Do you have any comment on that?’

‘Uh, no, not at the present time.’

That was new information to them, thought Ellen, and continued. ‘I’m trying to put everything together in chronological order. Is it possible to establish when the rape took place? And how do you know that it was a rape? Could it be the case that they’d had sex earlier in the day?’

‘She was raped.’

She also told Ellen that the phone that Alice had found in the sandbox and the potential murder weapon that had been recovered out on the field had been sent to the National Forensics Centre in Linköping for analysis.

‘If it were the case that the perpetrator hid the phone in the sandbox of all places, wouldn’t that be possible to see on the surveillance cameras from the school?’

Ellen thought she could hear a sigh from Carola. ‘Yes, you’re right, but nothing was seen on the tapes from the night of the murder itself, and after the police confiscated a copy, the principal didn’t turn on the cameras again. So, we’re never going to know the truth, unless there’s a witness who saw the whole thing.’

They talked a little longer and then hung up. Ellen sent off an email to the editorial office with a general summary. Then she called Jimmy, but he didn’t answer.

She didn’t get it. Even if he couldn’t start a relationship with her, he could still answer the phone, considering what had happened between them that morning. She shouldn’t have called. But after only a minute or so, she called again. Still no answer. The only thing she could think of was that presumably he was with his family. She could picture it and felt a stab of jealousy.

The heat hit her as she got out of the car and closed the door.

Her phone beeped. It was an email from Agatha, and Ellen skimmed it quickly. Agatha said that she’d got some help from Internet and that together they’d gone through Liv Lind’s social media and found some unpleasant comments. Internet had saved them and thought that it must be Bea posting comments under fake identities. Bea, too, had gotten some grief on her social media because of her family situation. Comments along the lines of Your dad is probably sleeping with you too.

Ellen replied to them both: Has she written ‘BfH’? Want to know everything!

She guided the nozzle into the mouth of the tank, inhaled the petrol fumes deep down into her lungs, and thought that of course there were a number of reasons why Bea was the way she was. Surely it wouldn’t have been easy growing up in that kind of family, and the fact that her father wanted to live with several wives must have felt like a betrayal of her and her mother.

When the tank was full, she went into the store. Not enough that the whole place was overstuffed with Christmas decorations, today, Christmas music was also playing through the loudspeakers. She went up to the older man behind the counter.

‘Don’t suppose you have black-and-white gnomes?’

‘Black-and-white? No, is there such a thing?’

‘I don’t know, but I’m always looking. They’d fit in nicely at my place.’

‘On the other hand, I do have a number of other gnomes.’

‘Yes, you really do.’

‘Petrol on pump three. Anything else? A roll perhaps? They’re not fresh-baked, but they were just delivered.’ He chuckled.

Ellen saw that he himself was rather like a gnome. ‘When do you close in the evenings?’

‘About midnight. It varies a little, depending on business.’ He leant over the counter and spoke in a hushed voice, even though they were alone in the store. ‘She was in here and filled up right before closing last Sunday, though I think I’m maybe not supposed to tell you that. I didn’t realise it was her until the police reviewed the tapes.’ He pointed at a camera above the counter. ‘She filled up and bought a box of chocolates.’

Perhaps they were for Hanna? Ellen thought, wondering why she hadn’t been given this information, even if she knew Carola couldn’t tell her everything. She berated herself for not checking in at the petrol station earlier, even though really that information didn’t say all that much. That Liv had been in Stentuna was nothing new.

‘Was she alone in the car?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you see anything else?’

‘No, unfortunately — I closed after that. Except for an unmarked police car that stopped for a minute a short distance away. It was right after closing: I saw the car when I went out to bring in the grills and the pool toys.’

‘How could you tell it was a police car? Did you check the licence plate?’

‘No, but I’m really good at recognising those cars. This one had concealed blue lights, among other things.’

‘How did you notice that?’

‘They flashed briefly. I don’t know if the officer in the car turned them on by mistake or if something had happened. But there wasn’t anything strange about it, we’ve had more police in the village since that gang of kids started running around.’

‘Have you had any problems with them?’

‘Me? No. Kids really love Christmas.’

Ellen smiled. She paid, thanked him for the information, and went back to the car.

She turned onto Route 52, and after having driven a short distance, she noticed that a black SUV was tailgating her. She was already driving too fast, so being rushed like that made her irritated.

‘Overtake already,’ she said out loud.

But perhaps it was someone who wanted something from her? At the next exit, she quickly turned onto a smaller road and stopped after a short distance. The black car didn’t turn off with her, and drove on. She turned around and drove back towards 52. Then she saw the SUV again, coming towards her down the smaller road. The sun blinded her, and she couldn’t see who was driving. What is this? she was thinking, when it suddenly braked right in front of her. Ellen had to slam on the brakes and held up an arm to shield her face.

She had been a hair’s breadth from crashing into the other car.

The windows of the car were tinted. Ellen put the locks on, thinking of the hate mail that Internet had mentioned and that she ought to be on her guard. She was just about to reverse, when she saw Didrik get out of the other car.

‘What the hell?’ She breathed out and leant her head back.

Didrik came up to her passenger door and peered into the car. Knocked on the window.

‘You scared the life out of me. That could have gone really badly,’ she said as she rolled down the window.

‘Sorry,’ he said, grinning. ‘I had it under control.’

‘Stop that. It wasn’t funny!’

‘Okay, sorry. I called you before, but you didn’t answer, and then I saw you at the petrol station by pure chance and thought I would mess with you a little.’

Ellen hadn’t checked her phone since she’d gotten petrol. ‘Whose car is that?’ she asked, nodding towards the black SUV.

‘Mum’s. Mine’s in for service. Listen, sorry.’ He tried to pat her on the cheek.

She muttered and batted away his hand.

‘Okay.’ Didrik backed up a step. ‘Hey, listen, what do you say to a little picnic and a swim? It’s so stinking hot.’ He pulled on his white linen shirt.

Ellen thought briefly. He had no sense of boundaries. It was one of many things that handicapped him. ‘I don’t know …’

‘Come on, I have a fully packed picnic basket in the car, it’ll be really nice.’

‘Why do you have that?’

‘Because I tried to call you and I’d already prepared everything. What is this you’re listening to? Can you turn it down a little?’

Ellen shook her head. ‘I like loud music. This is “Freedom” by George Michael.’

‘Really?’

A wasp suddenly flew into the car. Ellen tried to shoo it away with her hand, but it got more and more intrusive. ‘Get it away!’

Didrik reached in the window to help out, but his hand movements seemed to rile up the wasp even more, and the insect got stuck in Ellen’s hair. She screamed loudly, opened the door, and ran out. Waved her hands and shook her head. At last, it flew off.

He laughed. ‘You bury yourself in murders and stir up people right and left, but you’re scared to death of a little wasp. Talk about a city slicker.’

Ellen refrained from commenting on that and got back in the car. ‘Okay, picnic. I’ll follow you.’ She felt restless and would gladly avoid her mother for a few more hours.

This must have been more or less the way Liv Lind was stopped, she thought as she followed Didrik out onto Route 52. She was surprised when he turned off towards Örelo and drove all the way over to the gravel pit, where he stopped and parked. She hesitated before getting out, but figured that there was no danger. What were the odds that something would happen again? And after all, Didrik was with her this time.