“And you were alone in the detention area, you said. Did one of the inmates open it for you?”

“No.”

“So what happened, then?”

The sweat ran down both of her temples now. Her hands were shaking under the table.

“We’ve examined the film from the security cameras. We know you weren’t alone in there.”

He could see her swallow.

“We know who was with you when Axel died.”

Her face flushed immediately. She bit her lip hard and avoided his gaze.

“I couldn’t say anything,” she said, almost too quietly to hear, putting her hands between her knees as if she wanted to force them to stop shaking.

“I understand,” he said.

“I had to let him in. He said he was going to hurt my children if I didn’t obey him.”

She lifted her face and suddenly had tears in her eyes.

“Did you let him into Axel Lundin’s cell, too?”

“Yes. I had no choice.”

* * *

The stress pursued him like a fox chased a hare. Henrik Levin checked his service weapon, a Sig Sauer, and felt the metal grow warm from his body.

The hunt was on.

Mia came into the room, also with a holstered weapon.

“Are you ready?” she asked. “The helicopter will be here in five minutes.”

“Coming,” Henrik said, pulling his jacket over his shoulders but not bothering to button it.

“Did you hear that Pim has disappeared from the hospital?”

“What?”

Henrik spun around.

“I just found out. Her room was empty when staff came in to check on her. They’ve searched everywhere, but she’s gone.”

“We had guards on her.”

“Yes, but she tried to run away once before, didn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“And this time, she was successful, plain and simple.”

Henrik sighed, suddenly feeling completely exhausted.

“You should maybe tell Jana that her client is gone,” Mia said.

“No, there’s no point. I can’t get ahold of her.”

“So tell me, are you still protecting her?”

“Lay off,” he said. “I’m not protecting her!”

“Have you tried to find her, then?”

“She has an alibi for the evening when Robin Stenberg was murdered, and I had someone confront Ida again. She looked at a number of pictures, among them a picture of Jana.”

“And?”

“Ida wasn’t at all sure that it was her. We’re making a mountain out of a molehill. We can’t put any more energy into that now.”

“So you’re just dropping it?”

“Yes, I’m just dropping it. Because in five minutes, more like three now, we have an incredibly important assignment to carry out.”

“So why are you still standing in here, then?”

He sighed.

“So that I could answer your dumb questions.”

Mia laughed and disappeared into the hallway. Henrik was just about to follow her when Gunnar yelled, “Wait!”

“We have to go. The helicopter is here...”