“You heard Hermansson’s voice? She tried to hide it, but she didn’t manage at all. And you heard Sven? He almost never swears. What you hear from both of them is annoyance. Since I know them well it’s quite obvious to me. And do you know why they’re annoyed? Because they’ve never been through this before. Even though they’ve worked in the homicide unit for twenty and ten years respectively. And as for me—I’ve worked there twice as long as either of them, and I’ve never been through this. So what I’m doing now, what I’ve been doing, is in no way based on experience, it’s just how I think this will work out best. And therefore, Lucas and Amelia, I think it’s time for them to stop being annoyed and instead focus on solving a crime. What do you say, sounds reasonable, right?”

He didn’t look at either Sven or Mariana. He didn’t need to. They could stay annoyed at him for shutting them out. They understood why. Their boss had considered both of them suspects.

“But here’s the thing, Lucas and Amelia, I haven’t had any other option, but to work from here. And now that I’ve invited you all in because I need your help, you too have no alternative. The kitchen table you’re sitting at is as close to the police station this investigation will get.”

He tapped his finger on a red cross in the middle of the whiteboard, which had four green lines leading out from it to four pictures of hit men involved in the arms trade. Three dead, on their backs, and one sitting in a jail cell for his third and final day.

“I trust no one, and you trust no one. Because what we’re looking for in our little side investigation is—a police leaker. One of your colleagues thinks it’s more fun and profitable to work with whoever’s face should be sitting there on that red cross. It’s because of a police leak that we have three murders on our hands. And it’s because of a police leaker . . .”

The detective superintendent opened the biscuits and offered them to the group, but found no takers. So he grabbed a couple for himself.

“. . . that Zaravic was locked up on such vague grounds. Because I too have someone in place—a man who needs to be left to his own devices while he works his way closer to that face we don’t yet know.”

“In place?”

Sven was really annoyed. At having been suspected of betrayal, confused for a quisling. In his world, which was based on loyalty, nothing was worse. He knew that trust took a long time to build, and could be destroyed in an instant.

“Ewert—in place? What the hell does that mean?”