“Oh, yes, of course I can. But that takes time and we’re not even sure any of these people knew Robin... It might be a little unnecessary...”

Henrik sighed just as his phone rang.

“Mia?” he answered.

“Uh...no, this is Josefin Ek. You had been looking for me. I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to call sooner, but I was running a Christmas concert and I only just now saw that you called.”

“Yes,” Henrik said, “I was looking for you because I know you work at Kulturhuset.”

“That’s right.”

“And that you are responsible for Band Camp on Sundays.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know Robin Stenberg?”

“Yes, I do. Or, well, I did. I heard what happened to him. How horrible.” Josefin grew silent.

“I understand he used to come to the community arts center?” Henrik said.

“Yes, he came here a lot,” she said.

“On Sundays, too?”

“Mostly on Sundays. Band Camp is actually an open rehearsal space for girls.”

“Only for girls?”

“Yes.”

“So what was he doing there?”

“He came along when Ida was playing.”

Henrik raised his eyebrows.

“Who is Ida?”

“His girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?”

Henrik got up, combing his hand through his hair.

“What’s her last name?”

“Something starting with E... Ekberg, Ekstedt, Ekström...”

Henrik took a few steps across the room, stopping and turning toward Ola, who had turned his computer screen toward him. A young blonde girl with her hair in a ponytail was smiling at him.

“Eklund,” Ola said. “Her name is Ida Eklund.”

* * *

The tracks ended at the river’s edge.

He looked in both directions, trying to figure out whether she had run upstream or downstream.

He chose not to follow the water’s current and went parallel to the river. With his hands cupped around his mouth, he called her name a few times.

The moon was almost directly overhead, but he wasn’t cursing it anymore. Far from it—he was thankful for the bright light that forced its way through the evergreen branches and lit up the snow, making everything around him light gray. Yet he still didn’t see her.

He called again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of something big—but it was just a deer that sprang up and disappeared in the darkness of the forest.

He watched the startled animal until he couldn’t see it any longer and its hopping footsteps become ever weaker. Finally, he only heard the gurgling sound of the water; everything else was still.

But the realization that she, like the startled deer, had also disappeared in the darkness made him so angry that he screamed.

“Get out here for fuck’s sake, you whore!”

He saw that his hands were shaking, and clenched them even harder. She couldn’t have gotten far, he thought. She couldn’t have gotten very fucking far.