She didn’t cry. But she kept on shaking her head, and then she spoke.
She spoke.
Peder was so surprised that he let go of her.
‘Please. Please.’
Her voice was hoarse and rough. Clearly underused, but still functioning.
‘You can talk.’
He cursed his words; they sounded childish, and robbed him of his authority.
‘Almost everyone can,’ said Thea.
Still terrified. Her legs gave way, and she had to sit down.
‘You keep Johan out of this! Do you hear me?’
Peder had to sit down as well. His head was spinning. His anxiety over Jimmy faded away for a moment. Day after day, they had followed up one lead after another. Every time those leads had pointed to Thea. Now he was sitting on her floor, and he had no idea how he was ever going to get up.
‘There’s just one thing I want to know.’
His heart was beating so hard it was almost chafing against his ribs.
‘What happened to Jimmy?’
Thea clutched the arms of her chair.
‘Johan has nothing to do with his disappearance.’
‘Tell me what happened.’
He ought to call Alex and Fredrika. Tell them what he had just found out: that the great writer was perfectly capable of speaking after all. That her son was a highly sensitive issue, and that she was obviously ready to sacrifice anything for him. Even the protection that her silence had provided all these years.
She cleared her throat quietly several times, gave a dry cough. For a moment Peder thought her voice might let her down.
In that case she was going to have to write.
‘He happened to overhear a conversation he shouldn’t have heard.’
Peder could see that she was hesitating, choosing her words with great care. He raised one finger, and saw that it was trembling.
‘Listen to me, Thea. Don’t you dare lie. I’m warning you. Don’t.’
She shook her head.
‘I’m not lying. That’s what happened. He was standing outside the window. We didn’t hear him at first, but then he called out. As if he’d suddenly been frightened. We had quite a heated discussion.’
‘We? Who’s we? Who else was here?’
Her eyes filled with tears.
‘I can’t. Forgive me.’
‘Of course you can,’ he hissed, and Peder regained the upper hand.
‘Was it your son Johan?’
Thea’s eyes opened wide.
‘No, absolutely not. He’s never been here. Never.’
‘So who was it, then?’
Another dramatic pause. Then the words that froze Peder’s blood.
‘Morgan Axberger.’
Peder slowly got to his feet. Axberger, that rich bastard who had been on the periphery of the inquiry all along, the man nobody had dared to pinpoint as a suspect.
‘What happened?’
‘I don’t know. I just saw Morgan take your brother away. He hasn’t been in touch since. I’m so very sorry.’
Sorry for what? Peder felt sick with anxiety.
‘What were you talking about when Jimmy overheard?’
‘The past.’
There was no time. He really wanted to hear the full story from Thea, but there was no time right now. Jimmy was the most important thing. Where the hell was he?
‘OK, if you don’t know what happened to Jimmy, what do you think happened?’
Thea hid her face in her hands and wept.
‘I think something very bad could have happened to your brother. If he’s still alive, you need to find him as a matter of urgency. Because Morgan Axberger has never shown any human being, living or dead, one iota of mercy.’
No mercy. The words sank in, acquired new meaning. If Jimmy was dead…
Then I will show no mercy.
‘Where will I find him? Where is Morgan Axberger right now? The police have been to his office, but he wasn’t there.’
‘A few years ago, Axberger’s company purchased a new property. It’s on the island of Storholmen, just outside Lidingö. Try there; I can’t imagine he’ll be hiding anywhere else.’
‘Can you give me any more details about where this place is?’
Thea’s expression softened; she looked as if she might even smile.
‘The company bought my parents’ old house. The Guardian Angels used to meet there now and again. Morgan said he bought it because he’d always loved the summerhouse in the garden.’
The key interview. Not the last, but the most important. Alex Recht took several deep breaths. If they didn’t manage to get the final elements of the story out of Valter Lund, they were lost.
Peder wasn’t answering his mobile. His wife didn’t know where he was. Nor did his mother.
‘What’s happening with Jimmy?’ she has asked when Alex called her. ‘Have you found him?’
Yet another person who was missing a loved one. Yet another person wanting to know that Alex was doing everything in his power to find them.
Alex thought about the digger he had sent back to Midsommarkransen. There was no suggestion of excavating by hand this time. They had to work faster. With every passing moment, Alex became more and more convinced that Fredrika was right. Jimmy was waiting for them, deep in the ground. Dead and buried.
And so the circle would be closed. Alex would have given another family a grave to visit.
The tears came from nowhere, threatening to well up. Alex held his breath and counted silently to ten. Fredrika was already waiting in the interview room with Valter Lund. God knows how she was managing to hold up so well after everything that had happened.
At that moment, Diana rang. His first impulse was to reject the call, but he pulled himself together and answered.
‘This isn’t a good time,’ he said.
‘It doesn’t matter. I just wanted to hear your voice.’
And I wanted to hear yours.
Could it really be so simple? Was Diana his new woman? Was that what she wanted?
Is that what I want?
Fredrika opened the door of the interview room and stepped out into the corridor.
‘Are you coming?’
You needed a boat to get to Storholmen. Peder was standing on the jetty, gazing out towards Stockholm’s stunningly beautiful archipelago. Little islands as far as the eye could see. Every single one with its own secrets. Inhabited by all kinds of people.
On this terrible day, the entire landscape was bathed in golden sunshine, like a fairy tale. It was, in every respect, a day lovely enough to die on.
A young man came down onto the jetty, carrying a bag in each hand.
‘Are you looking for something?’
Peder shaded his eyes with his hand and looked over towards the islands.
‘I need a lift to Storholmen.’
The young man nodded.
‘You can come with me. Are you going to visit someone?’
‘Yes.’
Peder helped to load the bags, and the other man undid the huge padlock securing the boat to the jetty. He dropped the chain on the floor.
‘Lifejacket.’
He handed Peder a large, red lifejacket. Peder put it on and fastened the plastic straps tightly across his stomach.
‘I know it’s only a short run over to Storholmen, but you can never be too careful,’ said his companion.
‘Very true,’ Peder replied.
Time and space became one. He heard what the other man said, and answered automatically. Tried to look pleasant. Normal. But beneath the surface, everything was chaos. He couldn’t manage a single logical thought.
The engine kicked into life with a roar.
‘Couldn’t they come and pick you up?’
Peder sat in the prow and watched the waters part ahead of the boat as they moved away from the jetty.
‘There was a misunderstanding. They thought I was coming earlier.’
He didn’t even consider telling the truth. That he was a hunter, tracking down his quarry.