‘That’s a very good question,’ Fabian said, even though he couldn’t tell her even close to the whole truth. ‘I’m going over some of our old cases, and your husband’s accident five years ago caught my eye.’

‘I suspected as much.’ Flora sighed and shook her head. ‘All the detectives and officers who traipsed in and out here back then wasn’t enough, I guess. Not to mention all the reporters. True, it was a strange, not to say spectacular, accident that did need to be investigated properly. But at the time, I really just wanted to be left alone.’

Fabian nodded and decided to allow himself one Finnish stick.

‘And that wasn’t the end of it. Just a year or so later, another detective came sniffing around here, asking a lot of questions, implying that maybe it hadn’t been an accident after all, though he never said it in so many words. And now here you are, having coffee. You don’t think it was an accident either?’

‘Unfortunately, that’s not something I can comment on at the moment. What do you think?’

‘Nothing. And you know why? Because it doesn’t matter what you or I or anyone else thinks. Einar’s gone and no thinking in the world can bring him back. All right, out with your questions now. I have other things to get on with.’

‘It happened here, in the kitchen, correct?’

Flora nodded.

‘How often do you wax this floor?’

‘Wax?’ She chuckled. ‘That was exactly what the other one asked, and the answer is still that I never waxed this floor once.’

‘And Einar? Might he have?’

‘I’d have been surprised if he had. On the other hand, Einar was a constant surprise. With him, there was always something unexpected around the corner. I think that’s what I loved most about him. Are you married?’

Fabian nodded.

‘Then you know how hard it can be.’

He nodded again.

‘But it really only takes two things to make it work. Trust and secrets. Without both those things, a marriage will either be eroded from within by jealousy and fighting or it will become soul-destroyingly tedious.’

‘And what secrets did Einar keep?’

‘If I’d known, they wouldn’t have been secrets.’ She laughed a little and picked up another biscuit. ‘It’s like Ingvar, my son-in-law, always used to say. What you don’t know won’t hurt you.’

‘Speaking of Ingvar, how were things between him and Einar?’

‘Why would you ask about that?’ Her eyes, the mood, her tone. Everything had changed in an instant.

Fabian shrugged. ‘No reason. I’m just trying to form a better picture of Einar and his closest relationships.’

‘You’re not a very good liar, are you?’ She fixed Fabian levelly. ‘Of all his nearest and dearest, you start with Ingvar.’

‘I’m sorry, that was just happenstance. I didn’t mean anything by—’