His phone rang and he picked it up, trying to ignore the soreness and stiffness in his fingers. His father had taught him everything he knew about rheumatism, which was a hell of a lot more than Alex wanted to know. Alex didn’t have rheumatism. He’d made the decision, and that was the end of the matter.

He glanced at the display: Peder Rydh.

His first feeling was a surge of happiness. Peder was a colleague he’d worked with for a long time, someone he’d missed ever since the day Peder had been forced to leave the police. Which led him straight to the second feeling: anger. Because for all that time Alex had been fighting to bring him back. At first it had seemed impossible, then things began to look a little more positive. That was immediately after the fatal shootings in the Jewish community, the Solomon Community, where Peder had been working as head of security. Unfortunately Peder had changed his mind, decided he didn’t want to return to the police. He was happy on the outside.

In which case he could damn well stay there.

‘Alex Recht.’

He couldn’t help liking Peder. He wanted to hear his voice, find out how things were going.

‘Hi, Alex.’

‘Hi.’

That treacherous smile that kind of sneaked out of its cage and plastered itself across his face when he spoke to Peder.

‘Hi,’ Peder said again. ‘I just wanted to see how you were. It’s been a while.’

A year, Alex worked out. They hadn’t been in touch for a year, and it was Peder who’d called him on that occasion too. Anger gave way to a guilty conscience.

‘How are things?’ he asked.

Peder gave a brief answer; he didn’t seem interested in discussing the details. He mentioned that his sons were growing up, that they needed less care than when they were tiny.

‘You remember, don’t you?’ he said. ‘When they were babies and everything was crap?’

Alex remembered only too well. He’d had to take Peder aside and explain how you behaved towards female colleagues, and how you most definitely did not behave. He’d been forced to send Peder on a course to learn about equality in the workplace. Alex didn’t think it was something that could be learned in a lecture room, but that was beside the point. The order had come directly from the head of Human Resources, so . . .

He suddenly sat bolt upright.

‘Did you hear what’s happened? Berlin’s been promoted. She’s head of department.’

‘Which department?’

‘Mine, among others. The whole place is a shambles since the restructuring. Berlin’s in charge of an empire the size of a continent.’

Peder laughed so hard he started coughing.

‘Jesus Christ!’

‘It’s true. I was so pissed off I managed to persuade Fredrika to come out and get drunk with me.’

‘You’re kidding me!’