ONCE THEY HAD ended the call, she applied the finishing touches to the canapés. Champagne and fancy finger food weren’t normally part of her diet, but today she was making a splash. After years of waiting, here was her reward. The recompense for the heavy consequences of what had been both illegal and foolish acts for which Karl-Erik had been held accountable, all by himself.

There had been four of them in on it: a series of robberies against small- and medium-sized branches of banks and post offices outside of the big cities. Karl-Erik had taken the fall, while the others had been acquitted. He had served eight years in a string of prisons, and Kerstin had been alone for the same period. She had moved to Gotland when he had gone inside. She wanted to leave the old life behind her, including the destructive company that came with it. Start afresh somewhere no one knew who she was—and Gotland was the optimal refuge.

Two years ago, Karl-Erik had been released, and since then they had lived in the countryside—far from the hubbub of Visby and the annual invasion of tourists. During those years, they had almost certainly been under police surveillance, but they had been patient and waited for the right opportunity. Out of the total spoils of around twelve million kronor, half was going to Karl-Erik as a consolation prize and to demonstrate his accomplices’ gratitude. The money had been laundered over the last ten years, so Karl-Erik had nothing to worry about, so long as he stayed on the straight and narrow and didn’t throw money around.

Today was the day the money was coming home. When the dream of the horse farm was going to come true. Hence the grand celebrations.

When an hour had elapsed since his call, she poured a glass of wine for herself. Everything was ready and laid out, the candles were lit and the whole house smelled of festivity. Surely it was only a matter of minutes by now, but it was good that he was driving carefully—the temperature was just below zero, it was pitch black out there, and the snow was coming down heavily. Kerstin paced back and forth beside the window, constantly throwing glances out to the driveway.