He still had some time to get out of this. The football would have to wait.

59. Kerstin

59

Kerstin

SHE FELT PARALYSED after the call. Jeanette looked at her anxiously, hesitating whether to ask her what was wrong. But Kerstin forestalled her and explained with a sob in her throat that the missing boy everyone had been talking about was the son of a friend. Jeanette looked even more dumbfounded—she probably wondered what friends Kerstin had that she, Jeanette, wasn’t aware of.

It had been four days since Erik’s disappearance—four days of inconsolable waiting for Sandra. Kerstin knew what that was like and regretted the fact that she had disturbed Sandra with her phone call on Sunday. She had been able to tell from her voice that something was up. The money no longer seemed important now that a life was at stake. Kerstin knew that better than anyone. Six million was a small price for a human life. Whether it was Karl-Erik’s, Peter Norling’s, or Erik’s.

Kerstin decided that she would rejoin the search party if it was still going the next day. It felt right to show her support to his loved ones—to show that there were still people who hadn’t given up hope. But the boy was three and a half . . . Even if it were possible to find him then he was probably dead.

It probably wouldn’t be possible to find him. Peter Norling had been so well hidden that it had taken four years for him to turn up. A little child was even easier to hide.

She needed to push away the thoughts around this. They had gone to the trouble of coming all the way out here, and they weren’t going to leave without having done their best. And Kerstin had a positive feeling in her gut. Not in terms of Erik, but in relation to the cash. If Norling hadn’t got rid of the money the bags would be here. She just knew it.

As they were done with the house, they needed to tackle the outbuildings, despite the dreadful weather. They peered inside the larger of the two to start with. It turned out to be a slaughterhouse, with a water supply, hooks on the ceiling, a large stainless steel counter, and an impressive slicing machine. Kerstin left Jeanette in the slaughterhouse and went to the smaller of the two buildings, which seemed somewhat less comfortable to search. It was effectively a shed with an odour that Kerstin classified as fairly typical for a poorly maintained outbuilding. No one had been there in years.