Yet despite all that, he’d still looked like a confused transvestite or possibly someone on their way to a costume party. It was only when he put on the wig that everything started to fall into place, and once the pale sun hat was on properly, too, along with the earrings and pearl necklace, his transformation was complete.

The dice had said old lady, but now, studying his reflection in the mirror, he had to change that to sweet little old lady.

Just two days ago, the dice’s decision had made him blow a gasket. No matter how he’d turned it over in his mind, he’d been unable to think of it as anything but deeply unfair.

Sure, he’d rolled an X, and the side mission had been crystal clear. But still. After all his hard work and achievements, it felt like a big slap in the face, whose only purpose was to show him he shouldn’t get too big for his boots.

But on reflection, he had, despite everything, concluded it was exactly what he’d needed. A slap in the face and a reminder that he had to stay humble. That he was nothing but a passenger who would never get anywhere near steering the ship.

Besides, the dice had been proved right yet again. Having designated a side mission that had seemed virtually impossible to complete, especially given that he had only two days to prepare, he could now, with only a few hours left, honestly say the whole thing had come off a lot better than he would have dared to hope.

The fact was, he’d been so fabulously lucky that a lot of people would have insisted he must have been blessed somehow, and if he’d been a believer, he would probably have agreed. Practically everything had simply fallen into place, and the only things left to do were to pack his backpack, touch up his powder and put on his beige coat and pale blue pumps.

After that, it was out of his hands.

62

Fabian didn’t know how many times he’d studied the black-and-white pictures of Inga Dahlberg climbing out of Molander’s car that summer night. He hadn’t just scrutinized them through a loupe; he’d scanned them, too, using such high resolution he’d almost maxed out the space on his hard drive.

When he went through the files again, zooming in on various details, it was like looking at his own reflection. There was nothing new. No surprises. He knew who the woman was, why she was there, who she’d met and who’d taken the pictures. Even so, he was convinced there was something there he’d missed. Some small detail he’d overlooked.