Something caught Malin’s attention, the tiniest movement at the very edge of her peripheral vision. The closet doors. Had they moved?

Impossible.

So impossible that it hadn’t even occurred to her to look inside, because although the closet was about a metre long, it wasn’t very deep. They’d hung their jackets in there when they first arrived, and hadn’t opened the doors since.

Because we’re not allowed to go outside.

She stared at the closet, waiting for another movement. Nothing.

‘Mummy?’

Mummy, Mummy, Mummy.

‘Hedvig, take your brother upstairs please,’ she said quietly.

If he was in the closet (he is in the closet), it didn’t matter how much she lowered her voice; he would hear her anyway.

‘Why . . .’

‘Just do as I say, right now. Go into your room, close the door and push one of the beds up against it. Then sit on the bed and don’t come out until I call you. Do you understand?’

Do you understand?

Daddy’s in the closet and he’s gone mad.

He’s dangerous.

She looked Hedvig straight in the eye, wanting to shake her and yell that it was time to stop being a kid, she had to grow up and take care of her brother.

Perhaps Hedvig grasped the seriousness of the situation, because she did exactly as she’d been told. She grabbed Max and hauled him to his feet.

‘Come on.’

He let out a howl of protest.

‘I don’t want to BE here any MORE!’

Malin straightened up, lost her balance, staggered backwards.

The closet doors slid open.

Dan emerged, clutching a big knife.

‘Me neither,’ he said. ‘Me neither.’

Chapter 15

Nothing was more sensitive than investigating a colleague, but sometimes it just had to be done. Alex, Fredrika and Berlin were in the Lions’ Den. Alex had chosen the location and Berlin had reluctantly agreed. Fredrika had been fully briefed.

‘You’ll understand why we have to be out of everyone else’s way when I explain what’s happened,’ Alex had said to Berlin when he opened the door.

She certainly understood now.

She was breathing heavily, staring at Alex as she listened.

She’s disappointed, he thought. More than we are, because she likes Ross.

‘I can’t believe this is true,’ she said when he’d finished.

Alex and Fredrika said nothing.

‘Where’s the woman who identified Torbjörn?’ Berlin demanded.

‘Tina. She’s in a safe place,’ Alex informed her.

‘What does that mean?’

‘She’s left Stockholm for the time being.’

‘She’s staying with a friend she hasn’t seen for over a year,’ Fredrika added. Alex had called her first, wanting her spontaneous reaction to what Tina had told him.