The world rushed past beneath them. They flew over narrow ribbons of waves, towering treetops and powerful electrical lines. The streetlights were like tiny fireflies as the helicopter headed toward Linköping. The engines roared as they came in for a landing at the university hospital.

The emergency room staff was waiting for them. Their clothes flapped in the wind.

Just as the helicopter made contact with the ground, something suddenly happened.

The patient moved.

It was a weak movement, but Amanda saw it.

She looked at the machine.

She saw the rhythm of the EKG monitor.

She saw that Danilo Peña’s heart had begun beating.

* * *

Per Åström was tense. He stood still for a few minutes before daring to go back to the house. Instead of knocking on the door, he went through the snow to again attempt to get into the house from the back. He stopped at an apple tree twenty yards from the veranda. He went up to the veranda and picked up one of the clay pots. It was heavier than he’d anticipated, but that just made the glass in the veranda door easier to break.

He stuck his hand through to the inside of the door handle and heard a sound from inside. It took him a second to realize it was coming from upstairs. It sounded like someone moaning.

He moved quickly up the steps, very conscious that it was risky to be in the house, but it was a risk he had to take.

When he got to the landing, he could see that a lamp was on in what seemed to be a home office.

He listened and heard someone move.

When he pushed the door open, he immediately saw her on the floor. For a brief moment, he stood there frozen, looking at her bloody face. At first he thought she was dead, but then he saw a small movement in her chest followed by a rattling breath. He took a step forward and saw the pistol in her hand.

Then he saw her father, Karl Berzelius.

“Holy shit,” he said out loud.

Karl sat with his back to the wall, his eyes closed, head hanging. Above his left ear, his gray hair had been colored red, and blood dripped onto the floor.

Per walked slowly forward to Jana and sank to his knees. He began carefully loosening the pistol from her hand, but her grip tightened. Suddenly she opened her eyes, looked at him hazily and began to mumble, “I tried...” she said. “I tried to stop...him.”

Then she closed her eyes and released the gun.

Hands trembling, Per took out his cell phone to call an ambulance.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

THE AIR WAS full of cold fog as Henrik Levin pushed more coins into the parking meter at Vrinnevi Hospital. With his hands in his pockets, he crossed the parking lot to the main entrance.