They sit like that for several minutes, Karen with her cheek against Sigrid’s hair. The sea and the horizon. Then reality seeps back in. The damp of the pine needles and moss, the realisation that she needs to call Karl and tell him what Greta Hansen said. And the nagging uncertainty about whether she remembered to tell Leo to mind the oven.

She kisses Sigrid’s head firmly.

‘All right, lambkin, what do you say, ready to go back home?’

She can feel a nod against her shoulder, hears a stuffy, ‘OK.’

Sigrid gets up nimbly. Karen stays where she is.

‘I think you’re going to have to help me up,’ she says and holds out her hands.

*

‘The fact is I’m probably going to need both you and Leo to get through this,’ she says when they’re halfway back to the house.

‘Maybe you should tell him that.’

‘I will.’

Chapter 40

40

Serenity.

So this is what it feels like.

A light, airy down duvet. Restful silence. Even, deep breaths. A momentary grace, she realises, but right now, in this moment, perfect harmony reigns in her home.

She has worked things out with Sigrid, and Leo hadn’t forgotten to keep an eye on the oven; shepherd’s pie had never tasted better. The wine had been delicious, too, though she had had to content herself with half a glass. Now, the sound of Sigrid and Leo doing the washing-up, bickering amicably.

And Karl has finally relented. The last piece of the puzzle has fallen into place.

He had listened while Karen recounted her conversation with Greta Hansen, his grunts in response sounding increasingly pleased. Even before she heard his quiet ‘is that right?’ and ‘you don’t say!’, she’d known he was convinced there was no longer room for doubt. The fact that all four victims had experienced negative interactions with the same individual couldn’t be dismissed as coincidence. At the same time, that only made it more important than ever to do everything by the book and with the full cooperation of the prosecutor.

The rift caused by Martin Talliksen’s arrest has to be repaired for both practical and strategic reasons. So far, the sister hasn’t gone to the media, but they could hardly expect to be as lucky if they were to bring in Freske on incorrect grounds or even in the wrong way. The perpetrator getting off scot-free due to police incompetence would be a nightmare they’d all have trouble waking up from.

‘We should probably ask Sören Larsen to throw out those cigarette butts and keep his mouth shut about us ever submitting them,’ Karen had told Karl.