Because you need to know that the pricks of this world don’t always win.

‘Who is it?’

‘I can’t tell you that, but it’s a person with connections to all four victims. So it looks like it was personal after all, just like you said.’

‘Has he confessed?’

‘No, and he’s not under arrest yet, just swabbed. We’re waiting for the DNA results but hopefully we can go get him today or tomorrow.’

‘Wait, he’s still walking around, even though you think he’s the one? How can you just let him—’

‘He’s under surveillance,’ Karen breaks in. ‘He can’t leave his house without us knowing.’

And he’s unlikely to show his face without that wheelchair, she adds inwardly.

Out loud, she says, ‘It’s actually partly thanks to you we found him. What you said made me take a closer look at the victims and I realised the attacks weren’t random, as we thought. And this time, we’re pretty sure we’ve got the right guy.’

Aylin stands up with a wan smile.

‘Then I suppose we should celebrate. I’m going to have a glass of wine. Red or white?’

‘No wine for me.’

‘Are you ill?’ Aylin says with a laugh as she opens the fridge door. ‘No coffee and no wine, that’s not like you.’

Karen makes no reply, just watches Aylin take a bottle of white wine out of the fridge and root around a drawer for the corkscrew. Watches as realisation dawns on her and she freezes mid-movement.

Then she slowly turns around and Karen can see the doubt and the impossible thought that is slowly taking root.

‘Not ill, are you?’ she says, and Karen can tell she’s on the right track.

‘Nope.’

‘Oh my God, Karen! Is it true?’

‘It seems that way.’

‘When? I mean, how many weeks?’

‘End of the eleventh, I’m told.’

‘How are you feeling?’

‘I’ve been extremely tired and actually thought I was sick, but I’m feeling much better now. The worst of it seemed to pass the moment I decided what I wanted to do.’

‘You were considering abortion?’

‘Yes. Or no. Or yes. All the options seemed impossible. But in the end, things just became clear. Somehow, I apparently made the decision without realising it.’

‘Who knows?’

‘Just you, Marike, Sigrid, and Leo. And Mum. But I haven’t told anyone at work yet.’

Aylin hesitates briefly before asking the next question.

‘What does your doctor say? Does everything look . . . good?’

‘Apparently, it does. So far as they can make out on the ultrasound anyway. But the risk of miscarriage is pretty high at my age. And I have to decide whether I want amniocentesis. But I don’t know. I just don’t have it in me to decide that, too. Everything is already so . . . Everything is so damn . . .’

She gives up on finding the right words.

What?