The boy, he thought to himself. The fact that Erik had been found didn’t help Jan, but he didn’t seriously want a small child dead. The threat to Sandra’s health—seemingly from poison—was beneficial for Jan and also his wife, for whom the charming façade and the excellent reputation were even more important than they were for him. Earlier that day she had comforted him on the phone and given her wholehearted support for his idea of fleeing from the anticipated spread of rumours and disappearing from Gotland—indeed, from Sweden. Jan going underground would almost certainly be taken as a confession, which indeed it was, but not of murder and kidnapping. A move like that would definitely shift focus away from the person who was responsible for the truly terrible crimes here.

The person saving her own skin when the suspicions began to pile up against Jan. The one who had imperceptibly manipulated him ever since the beginning of this story. She had seemed supportive, but had in practice had her eye on one thing only: the family’s honour. And alongside that, the well-to-do life they had led.

It wasn’t for Jan’s sake that she had so ruthlessly removed obstacles to their shared well-being. At first glance, it might seem like that, but it became clearer and clearer to him that the woman he had chosen to share his life with was prepared to do anything to appear in a good light and to live in financial comfort. She had literally stepped across bodies. After all these years he was seeing his wife for the first time, in a new and less flattering light.

Gunilla had convinced him that he had done the right thing in not climbing down into the ravine. Jan had interpreted it as meaning that rather than finding fault, she supported him in a decision that was irreversible. But when it came to the punch, it must have suited her better that he had left the scene of the accident without raising the alarm. Personally, he had almost immediately reached the opposite conclusion due to his conscience, but there was no going back.