He smiled when he thought about how little clothing she had on. She’ll be begging to come back, he thought, and continued to walk along the river.

* * *

Jana Berzelius lay in her bathtub and absentmindedly watched the foam floating around her. She hadn’t taken off her necklace before getting in the warm water. Now she ran her fingers along it and thought about her mother, who had confirmed that the adoption had been closed. But why had they chosen to make it impossible for her to find out her true parents?

The water began to feel uncomfortable, too warm, oppressive.

She reached her hand down and gripped the wineglass that stood on the floor, swallowing the cold white wine in tiny, tiny sips.

Her thoughts wandered to her father. He had his priorities and always put work first. All these years, he had made sure to have the right people around him, and as a result, he had an enormous circle of friends. Sometimes he held large parties at the house in Lindö, sometimes more intimate dinners. There were also frequent meetings.

Because of this, she hadn’t been surprised to see a strange pair of shoes in the hall at his house. What did surprise her was that they were steel-toed.

There should be few among his friends, if any, who wore steel-toed boots.

She wondered who it had been, this person he hadn’t bothered to introduce.

Small beads of sweat formed on her forehead.

She let the water out but remained sitting in the tub, watching the water level sink, watching how the suds stuck to her skin.

She emptied her wineglass, leaned forward and hugged her knees to her chest as the water dripped from her nipples.

Her recently warm flesh became cold, and it felt liberating.

* * *

Henrik Levin looked at the picture again, meeting the gaze of the girl with the blond hair. She had freckles and squinted toward the sun. She had pushed her oversize sunglasses up onto her head like a headband.

“You found her?” Henrik said.

“It wasn’t hard to find her,” Ola said. “There are a lot of chats where Robin was talking to someone called idaaa_star. She had sent a picture of herself under the title Miss U. And as you know, kids like to hang out on social media like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Kik.”

“Not Facebook?”

“No. Most people on Facebook are between thirty and forty, like you. You have an account, right?”

“No,” Henrik said.

“What?” Ola exclaimed. “You must be joking.”

“No, I’m the type who avoids that sort of thing.”

“How many of you are there?”

“More than you think.”

“Surely, but I’d think you’re an endangered species.”

“I’m not sure about that. But soon they’re going to shut down the whole internet, just wait and see.”

Ola guffawed.