However, peace was sadly lacking as Eden sat waiting for her flight to London. Stress crawled under her skin, making it impossible for her to sit still.
I shouldn’t have left Mikael and the children alone.
In many families it was the man who was the hunter-gatherer, who protected his family, took on the physical responsibility. But not in Eden’s case. From a purely physical point of view, Mikael was the perfect warrior; Eden had no doubt that he would give up his life for her and their daughters. The only problem was that death was rarely a particularly productive option. It was noble, but not very sensible. If Mikael chose that option, both he and the children would be gone in two seconds.
The thought made her feel sick. She dug out her phone and called home.
‘Has something happened?’ Mikael said anxiously, highlighting the fact that Eden didn’t usually do that kind of thing.
‘I just wanted to check on you,’ she said.
‘You left forty minutes ago.’
‘Speak soon.’
She ended the call, cursing herself. She never got nervous. There was no room for weakness. And fear was the greatest weakness of all.
Eden realised she was watching the people around her, scanning her surroundings like radar, alert for the slightest deviation from the norm.
Efraim. What would she do if he sought her out again?
Because his appearance in the park had been anything but a chance encounter. He wanted something.
He’s deliberately stressing me out. Provoking me. I just don’t understand why.
Alex Recht thought that Efraim might have something to do with the murder of the two boys, and that he had taken another child.
But Alex didn’t know that Säpo had been watching Efraim, shadowing his movements outside the hotel; at least insofar as he was willing to be be shadowed.
Where the hell had Säpo been when he turned up in the park?
Eden had realised something then: she would never be free of Efraim. Not unless that was what he wanted. She thought about the gaps in the surveillance reports, the fact that Efraim appeared to be spending far too many hours in his hotel room. They had changed their approach after Eden had pointed out the failings in their routine; they had located alternative exits from the hotel, which were now covered.
But Eden knew that wasn’t enough. His appearance in the park proved her point.
A catastrophic incident. Thinking about it caused her physical pain.
Her mobile rang; it was GD.
‘I’m afraid I have some bad news,’ he said.
‘So have I.’
She hadn’t got round to telling her boss about what had happened earlier. She felt a surge of pure rage. If the surveillance operatives hadn’t been such amateurs, Efraim would never have been able to get so close to her. God only knew what he had been up to during all those missing hours.
She thought about the two boys, lying in the snow with paper bags over their heads.
She pushed the suspicion aside; it was impossible.
Surely the man who was the father of her children couldn’t have murdered someone else’s sons?
‘You first,’ Buster said.
Eden gave a brief outline of Efraim’s appearance in the park, but she omitted the worst part of alclass="underline" the fact that Efraim had seen Dani, and realised what she hadn’t told him before they broke up. Eden’s silent revenge, her darkest secret.
Buster didn’t say a word.
‘Are you still there?’ Eden said.
‘I am. So the bastard came and found you? In the park, when you were with your family?’
Technically, some of them are his family.
‘Yes. So it’s obvious that the surveillance just isn’t working.’
Don’t sound angry, don’t flare up. It was so easy to ignore people who flew off the handle.
‘Which is exactly why I called,’ Buster said. ‘Because something has gone terribly wrong with our surveillance. I rang to warn you Eden. I’m very sorry that it was too late.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘They haven’t seen him since yesterday. Eventually they went into the hotel and spoke to the receptionist; he’d checked out.’
‘So now we have no idea where he is?’
‘Correct.’
She forced herself to breathe calmly.
‘Have they seen anything of the person who’s leaving him messages?’
‘Not yet.’
Not yet. As if they had all the time in the world.
‘Alex Recht has been in touch again,’ she said. ‘They seem to think that Efraim might be involved in the murders of those two children from the Solomon Community.’
‘Shit.’
Buster’s voice was a stress-filled exhalation.
‘The question is whether we can provide him with an alibi,’ Eden said. ‘Although that seems unlikely, under the circumstances.’
‘But why are they interested in Kiel?’ Buster wanted to know.
Eden passed on what Alex had told her. The police had nothing concrete to go on, but their suspicions were growing, and the fact that he was so difficult to get hold of didn’t exactly help his case.
‘It definitely sounds as if we ought to tell them that we’re following him too,’ Buster said. ‘Where are you, by the way?’
‘Arlanda.’
‘Eden, please don’t do anything stupid. Where are you going?’
‘I’ll tell you when it’s over.’
‘No you bloody won’t. You’ll tell me right…’
‘I’ll be away on Monday, but I should be back on Tuesday.’
‘Just so you know – I can’t support you if you’re running your own race. I want to make that perfectly clear.’
Behind Eden, on the other side of the huge windows, the illuminated runways sparkled with frost and snow. She would soon be on her way.
‘You can’t help me with this, Buster.’
‘How do you know? You won’t even let me try.’
‘You have tried. Efraim ended up following me and my children to the toboggan run.’
‘I can’t tell you how sorry I am about that.’
‘I know. But it’s not enough. Säpo can’t access the information we need. Only I can do that, on my own.’
A plane taxied past the window, its white metallic bulk moving slowly towards the runway.
Eden’s flight was called; it was time to board.
‘I have to go.’
‘Will you call Alex Recht, or shall I ask someone else to do it?’
Eden thought for a second.
‘I’ll speak to him when I land.’
She was about to end the call, but Buster hadn’t finished.
‘Be honest with me, Eden. Just between the two of us. Do you think Efraim Kiel is involved in the murders?’
She stopped.
Pictured him. Tall, dark and tanned. Hand in hand at a market in Jerusalem. Whispering in her ear, telling her how much he loved her.
The most treacherous, lying bastard she had ever met in her entire life.
‘I don’t know,’ she said.
And realised to her horror that she meant what she said.
She didn’t know what she thought about the question of Efraim Kiel’s guilt.
As long as she had any doubt on that issue, she couldn’t be sure that her family was safe.
Up on deck the air was cold and damp. The wind seared his cheeks, brought tears to his eyes. Efraim Kiel stood alone at the rail, watching the dark water foam against the metal hull. It was ten o’clock at night. The following morning they would be in Helsinki; he would fly back to Stockholm before lunch. Good.
He thought about the latest message from the Paper Boy and realised someone had been watching him. And he hadn’t noticed.
Although it wasn’t the fact of being followed that bothered him the most. Much more critical was the question of what would happen when the Paper Boy discovered that the next victim had disappeared. Would he choose someone else, or let it lie?
Efraim knew better than to count on the latter.
The Paper Boy never gives up; he always comes back.