All she really wanted to do was set off and search, but there were more important things to do and others were doing the searching. It ended with her being sent home—not to her parents’ house but back to her own. Since Erik knew his own address, perhaps he might have asked someone for a lift home? It was just for the night, then she could be reunited with her parents, enveloped in the warmth, share her despair with them.

So Sandra spent the night alone in her desolate house. She had rejected all offers of company from friends and family. Her father was roving through the woods with hundreds of others, searching, while her mother watched over her house and Sandra over hers.

She worked. With raging ferocity. But when her thoughts began to wander, she allowed herself to be distracted by the summer night outside. Then she crept out of the open door, taking in the dew-heavy scents and wandering around the garden. Searching for sounds and shadows, shouting and crying.

She sat down at the computer again. Now things were urgent. More urgent than ever before. She thought and pondered, turning everything that had happened inside out. Her brain was overflowing with thoughts, but that kept her going and on her toes.

Hadn’t she expressed herself clearly enough—was there any doubt when it came to the financial demands? Hadn’t she said that yes, she wanted to withdraw her claims, but that the threats had to stop? Please, I don’t care about the money—just make sure he doesn’t hurt us. Surely that had gotten through?

Or was the problem that she had done just that—pleaded? Was the kidnapping retribution for humiliating herself in front of his wife? Because she had got his wife involved?

Or, to go one step further—had the visited been misinterpreted as Sandra putting her threats into action? Might it have been seen as the first step being taken—his wife had been informed that something had happened that afternoon, that forbidden and immoral relations had occurred? Had he interpreted it as meaning that she was about to take the next step—the one that could not be taken at any cost—informing the police about the rape?

Was it one of these elements, or all of them in combination, that had driven the man who had raped Sandra to steal away her son? If there was no child, then there was no father. The child was the only thing that could support loosely created theories about rape and drunk driving, which might in turn lead to accusations of manslaughter, hit-and-run, and even murder. A kidnapping added to the charge sheet hardly mattered.

Or another murder.