“But I think I’m beginning to understand,” Henrik said. “Especially why Anders Wester has stayed in Norrköping and wants to be so involved in the investigation. This bit about cooperating is just a façade.”

“That idiot is mixed up in all of it, too,” Gunnar said, as if he didn’t really understand the magnitude of what he had just said.

“Is he The Old Man, then?” Mia asked. “But what the hell? What’s happening to this police force? First Axel and now Anders.”

Silence fell around the table. Anneli listened to her own breathing, felt her heart pounding.

“I’ve wondered this whole time why we’ve always been one step behind,” Gunnar said, stroking his hand over his chin. “But this explains why we didn’t find Danilo Peña in his apartment. Anders must have warned him.”

“The worst is that now we’re still a step behind, too,” Henrik said. “He’s probably already warned Danilo that we’re on our way to the boathouse.”

“Oh, hell!” Gunnar said. “We have to get there right away!”

“But we have to find Anders,” Henrik said. “Does anyone know where he’s staying at?”

“No idea,” Gunnar said.

“So what do we do, call him?” Henrik said.

“Yes,” Gunnar said.

“What’s his number?”

“How the hell should I know?”

“I thought you had it.”

“I erased it.”

“Ola,” Henrik said. “Can you get his number quickly, do you think?”

Ola nodded and started to stand up, but Anneli reached out her hand and stopped him.

“Wait,” she said. “I have the number. And I think that it’s actually best if I call.”

“You?”

Gunnar’s voice revealed his clear desire to find that he had heard wrong.

The room fell silent again.

“Yes, let me try,” she said, standing up and taking her cell phone from her pocket.

“But we have to have a plan for what you’re going to say,” Henrik said.

“I’ll try to set up a meeting with him,” Anneli said quietly.

“Just find out where he is,” Gunnar said, “and we’ll haul him in.”

She took a deep breath, went to the window, turned her back to the others, dialed the number and listened to it ring. She shifted her weight restlessly from one foot to the other. She knew that she was going to have to explain things to Henrik and Mia, but she pushed away those unpleasant thoughts. She was stressed enough over the fact that she was calling Anders. Five rings, then his voice mail picked up.

“He’s not answering,” she said without turning around. She took the phone from her ear. It felt heavy in her hand, much heavier than it was.

“Call that idiot again. He’ll fucking answer,” she heard Gunnar say.