Adam dashed over to help out. Henrik would often take him along to lay the nets and would let him steer the boat a bit. Adam loved going with his dad, and Henrik was happy to spend time with him.
Where the jetty joined the land there was a small area that belonged to Henrik and Nora’s house. It wasn’t very big, but there was just enough room for a bench, two chairs, and a table, so they could sit by the water.
The family’s boat was moored there. It was a small launch with an outboard motor and went by the name Snurran. It was just three yards long and had served them well for many years. It was exactly the right size to go off and find the perfect spot to swim or sunbathe or pick someone up if they were stranded in Stavsnäs after the last ferry had gone.
“Coffee time,” Nora shouted to Henrik.
She sat down at the table and began to set out coffee cups and cakes. For the boys there was juice in colorful plastic mugs. Her thoughts turned to the call she had received the previous day. Her cell phone had rung while she was sitting by the pool, waiting for Simon’s swimming lesson to end. The human resources director from the bank wanted to speak to her. The latest reorganization within the company meant that operations had now been divided into four regions: north, south, central, and west. Each region was now to be allocated its own legal adviser, who would answer to the regional board. Would Nora be interested in the post for the southern region? It would be based in Malmö, so she would have to be prepared to move, but she would receive a significant raise. In addition, it would be a major step up the career ladder within the bank.
Nora had felt both flattered and curious. It sounded like an exciting opportunity. It also meant that she would have a new boss, which would be a welcome change. She enjoyed her work, but she was truly sick of her current boss, who in her opinion was definitely not up to the job. He had been promoted to lead the central legal team at the bank at an unusually young age, when his predecessor had unexpectedly moved to a competitor. Ragnar Wallsten was a nonchalant, supercilious individual who liked to bad-mouth his colleagues within the organization—always behind their backs, of course.
While Nora and her fellow lawyers worked hard, he sat there with his door closed, reading financial journals. Since his office had glass walls, it wasn’t difficult to see what he was up to. Nora had heard that he had married into a very well-known family within the world of finance, which might explain his inferiority complex but was no excuse for his dreadful leadership skills. How someone like Wallsten could have been appointed to such an elevated position within a major bank was a mystery, and it was incomprehensible that no one had realized how incompetent he was.
Therefore, the thought of marching into Ragnar Wallsten’s office and telling him that she had secured a terrific promotion within the bank that meant he no longer had any jurisdiction over her was extremely tempting.
The HR director had told Nora that Sandelin & Partners, an independent recruitment company, would be interviewing all the candidates for the job. If she were interested, they would contact her to make arrangements.
She wondered how she was going to tell Henrik. The idea of relocating to Malmö was not going to be high on his wish list. On the other hand, she had completed her time as a clerk in Visby because that was where his hospital placement happened to be. She had also taken the full allotment of maternity leave when the boys were born, while Henrik completed his specialist training. She felt it was her turn now.
She was woken abruptly from her daydreams by Simon, who was throwing wet seaweed at her legs.
“Stop it,” she said. “It’s freezing!”
Simon’s whole face seemed to be laughing as he bent down to pick up more seaweed. Nora held up both hands in a gesture of surrender.
“I give up—you win,” she said. Simon was poised for the next onslaught.
Suddenly she heard the sound of an engine, rapidly getting louder. She shaded her eyes with her hand; it looked like Thomas’s aluminum boat, a Buster. As it came closer, she could see Thomas standing behind the wheel. He swung the boat around in a wide arc, then slowed down and docked at the end of the jetty.
“Hi,” said Henrik, holding out his hand. “Have you come to say thank you for last night already?”
“You’re just in time for coffee,” Nora said. “Sit down, and I’ll fetch another cup.”
“Sorry, I can’t.” Thomas didn’t look happy. “I just wondered if I could leave the boat here for a few hours. The marina is full, and the police and medical launches are already moored at the emergency landing stage.”
Nora looked at him more closely. His eyes reflected the seriousness of the situation. “What’s happened?”
“Another body has been found. I’m on my way over to see what’s going on.”
Nora went cold all over. “Where?”
“At the Mission House. The maid found it when she went in to clean the room. Apparently the body was a real mess. Is it OK if I leave the boat here for the time being? I don’t really know when I’ll be able to pick it up.”
“Of course. You can always tie up here, you know that.”
Henrik and Nora’s eyes met. Almost as one they turned and looked at the children, who were playing by the shoreline. Nora couldn’t believe it. Two deaths on Sandhamn within a week. On her summer island. It seemed unreal. As a rule she didn’t even bother locking the front door when she left the house.
She was seized by a sudden impulse to put her arms around her boys and never let go.
Where would this all end?
CHAPTER 17
Thomas walked quickly through the alleyways toward the Mission House. It was at the bottom of the hill below the chapel, next to the school. It was about a quarter mile from Nora’s. If there had been no other buildings in the way, you would have been able to see the Mission House from her kitchen window.
When the evangelical movement swept through the archipelago at the end of the nineteenth century, people had gathered in this building, which resembled a church. It had been the first religious edifice on Sandhamn; the islanders’ applications for a church of their own had been turned down time and time again, ever since the eighteenth century. At most the congregation had consisted of fourteen or possibly fifteen enthusiastic members.
For a few years now the Mission House had served as a bed-and-breakfast and conference center as part of the main Sandhamn Hotel. The large chapel had taken on the role of breakfast room and was occasionally used for special functions. It was a beautiful building, simple yet stylish. A building that bore the marks of times long gone.
And now there was a dead body upstairs.
Thomas nodded briefly to one of the uniformed officers he recognized, then opened the gate in the white-painted fence which enclosed the corner plot. A number of tables and garden chairs sat at the bottom of the steps. Tubs containing blue-and-yellow pansies brought color to the sandy garden, which like the rest of Sandhamn consisted of nothing more than a few feeble tufts of grass.
The main door was open, and Thomas quickly ran up the steps and into the hallway.
From the big room he could hear sobs and agitated voices. He was confronted by the sight of a near-hysterical woman sitting on a chair in one corner. Next to her stood an older woman who was trying to calm her down, in spite of the fact that she, too, was crying. There was another police officer in the room. When Thomas walked in, they all looked up.