“You need to send the police in the right direction too. There must be tire tracks at the cabin, and maybe footprints as well. There might be traces of the perpetrator in the cellar too. I mentioned all this to the police, but in their eyes I seem to lack credibility.”

Kerstin laughed as she said it. A little sadly, perhaps, but she laughed. Regardless of what she herself called it, she and Jeanette had saved Erik’s life, and the police had dismissed them as if they knew nothing.

“Awful,” said Sandra.

“Pardon?”

“The police response to you and Jeanette is awful,” said Sandra.

“I didn’t catch that,” said Kerstin. “It sounds like you’re slurring your words. Is your coverage bad?”

Sandra checked the bars at the top of her mobile display—four of them. Was she really slurring her words?

“I’ve got perfect coverage,” Sandra said.

Well, perhaps the words weren’t tumbling out of her mouth with the same directness they usually did. And Kerstin hadn’t said anything either. What was happening?

“Get onto the police as soon as you can, first thing in the morning,” said Kerstin. “That should give them time to intervene before Hallin leaves the country. He must feel the trap closing on him. And make sure you get the rest of that serial published as soon as possible.”

“I’ll do that,” said Sandra. She could hear now that she didn’t sound at all well. “Am I still slurring?”

“Sounds like you are to me,” Kerstin confirmed. “Call the doctor.”

“Could you come here?” Sandra asked.

“I can’t hear what you’re saying, and I have to go now,” Kerstin said. “I’m at Jeanette’s flat.”

“Come here!” Sandra commanded.

It wasn’t intended as an order, more a way of ensuring she got her message across in as few, easily decipherable words as possible.

“You’re in a hospital, Sandra. Press the alarm button. I’ll check on Jeanette, and I’m going to stay there for the night. Okay?”

“Okay,” Sandra mumbled, well aware that what was coming out of her mouth bore little similarity to what she was trying to say.

She wished Kerstin luck, but doubted her words were clear. She ended the call and tried without success to push her mobile back into her pocket. Instead, she laid it beside her on the bed and reached for the alarm button that was dangling on a string from the triangular handle above the bed. That didn’t work either—it was as if her body wouldn’t obey her as she sat there gesticulating in the air. She shut one eye in the vain hope that it would clarify her focus, but the opposite happened. All her senses were degenerating completely, and she could feel that if she tried to get out of bed to summon help, she would collapse onto the floor.