Anneli Lindgren closed the front door carefully, took off her jacket and noticed her tired face in the hall mirror. She went directly into the bathroom, thoroughly washing her hands twice. She sniffed her arms, but no longer detected his smell on her skin. She tugged at the wrinkles in her shirt and then noticed for the first time the bulge in her pants pocket.

She swore when she realized what she had forgotten. She pulled a transparent bag holding her underwear from her pocket. She had intended to throw them away on her way home! What was she supposed to do with them now? She considered the wastebasket, but instead hid the bag far under the towels in the bathroom closet. Then she released her hair from the hair tie and wrapped her hair into a new bun before going into the kitchen.

She looked for Gunnar, but he wasn’t there. She noticed a flickering light from the bedroom and knew the TV was on.

“Hi,” she said, casting a glance at the TV. “What are you watching?”

“A movie.”

“I see that, but what’s it called?”

“Something with ‘hunt.’”

“You don’t have the sound on?”

“No, sometimes the silence is nice.”

“Is Adam sleeping?”

“Don’t know. He’s in his room.”

Anneli stood there for a moment, following the action on the screen.

“Aren’t you going to bed?” Gunnar asked.

“Soon. I was thinking about eating something first. And taking a shower.”

“How did it go today?”

“It went well.”

“And with Anders?”

“What do you mean?”

“You and Anders were in Axel Lundin’s apartment.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’m the lead investigator, if you haven’t forgotten. Did you work well together? Help each other out and such?”

“Now you’re being silly.”

“I’m just wondering.”

“You’re making a much bigger deal out of this than it is,” she said. “Stop bringing him into everything all the time.”

“It’s hard not to.”

Anneli swallowed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. She had just noticed Gunnar’s new haircut.

“You got your hair cut,” she said.

“Yep. I got a walk-in appointment on the way home.”

“It’s nice.”

“I shouldn’t have done it.”

“Why not?”

“It was unnecessarily expensive. I could’ve spent the money on something else. But it’s too late for that now.”

Anneli sighed and stood up.

“I...” she began. “I was going to eat something.”

“Yes, you said that.”

Gunnar turned off the TV and the room went dark. He lay on his side and pulled the comforter far up over his shoulders.

“Aren’t you going to finish the movie?” she asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I already know how it ends.”

Anneli stood there for a minute, shifting her weight to the other foot, silently and slowly.