During the lunch break she slips down to the archive again. It takes her only a few minutes to find the report on the fire at Änglaberga, remove it from the file and take it back to her office. The whole case consists of only two A4 pages. First, there is the incident report, written by an officer whose name she doesn’t recognise.

At 02.23 on 30 August patrol car 3485 was called out to Änglaberga because of a fire in a garage. At the scene were the owners of the property, Elisabet and Karl-Johan Vidje, plus the estate manager Bror Klein. Klein, who lives nearby, states that he looked out of his window and saw flames. He contacted the fire service, then went over to try to put out the fire himself.

When the patrol arrived the garage was in flames, and the fire service decided to focus their attention on trying to save the adjoining stable buildings. Klein suffered minor burns to his hands, but otherwise no one was hurt, and no one was at risk because the garage and the room above were unoccupied.

The second page is a brief note written by Henry Morell.

From conversations with the owners of the property it transpired that the room above the garage had been converted into a music studio, containing a considerable amount of electrical equipment that had not been installed by a qualified electrician. According to the senior fire officer at the scene, the fire probably started in the studio, probably because of an overload, which was then exacerbated by the insulation material that had been used. Before long the fire reached the flammable liquids stored in the garage itself, then ignited the petrol tank of the car parked there, which explains the fierceness and rapid spread of the conflagration.

Anna adds both pages to the Simon Vidje file. A death, and less than twenty-four hours later a fire, both affecting the Vidje family. Two incidents, both written off as accidents. And Henry Morell was heavily involved in both.

*

Morell’s retirement presentation in the council offices’ dining room is entirely predictable: paper plates, cake, and plastic glasses of cheap Cava. Everyone from the police station is there, along with council representatives and local businessmen and women. A brass quartet from Nedanås music society is playing and the atmosphere is relaxed. The place smells of a communal hall, coffee and Friday.

Anna greets Eva-Britt Morell first of all, then Fabbe Sordi. She receives polite nods in response but neither of them comes over to talk to her, presumably because of the disturbance at the homecoming party. Bruno is there, but seems to be deliberately avoiding her. There is no sign of Alex Morell, which makes her feel both relieved and slightly disappointed.