"I admire you."

Winter walked through the house, which was silent now. He noticed the smell of high-class cooking that persists in a house for hours.

Had Benny kidnapped a cook?

As he drove off, he heard the telephone ringing yet again, through Vennerhag's open door and windows.

Vennerhag stayed by the pool. He thought he could still hear Winter's car sweeping down the hills. He drank the rest of his beer and reached for his mobile. There were four messages, and he listened to all of them: they were all from the same caller, and all said the same thing. He suddenly felt sick.

The telephones in the house started ringing again. He stood up, swayed unsteadily, went inside, and picked up the nearest receiver.

"Why aren't you answering?"

"I just listened to your messages. What happened?"

"Father-in-law's disappeared."

The man was using the prearranged code. Vennerhag had always thought it was silly, but it was necessary. His house wasn't bugged, and he couldn't believe his phones were tapped, not by the police at least, but it was too easy to trace old calls nowadays. Not to mention mobiles.

"I had a visit from a good friend of mine. He just left," said Vennerhag.

"What about Father-in-law?"

"I'll come now. At Mom's place?"

"Yes."

"I'll be there as fast as I can," said Vennerhag, and Johan Samic heard a pang! as Vennerhag slammed down the receiver.

Sara Helander waited. Two cars came and went. One stopped outside a house farther down the road. She called Halders's mobile but there was no reply. Nobody turned it off.

She checked her watch. He'd been gone for a long time. Fredrik was an idiot, but not that much of an idiot.

She waited. A station wagon drove by and went around the corner, but she thought she could still hear it through the open window.

It was hot in the car. It wasn't much cooler outside. She thought she could make out a long shadow at the back of the house. The trees were gray and black. Was that something moving there? A seagull cried. It would soon be a new day. Soon she wouldn't be able to see lights in the windows.

How many times have I sat in a car like this so far? she wondered. Stakeouts. But this is different, and we must get out of here. It'll soon be daylight.

There were vibrations over her right breast. At last.

"How's it going?" asked Winter.

"Oh, I thought it was Fredrik."

"Isn't he there?"

"He… went closer to the house to… check."

"Check what?"

She didn't answer. She didn't know what to say.

"When was that?" Winter asked. His voice sounded tired, like a rasp from his vocal cords.

"When he left?" She spoke softly. A young woman came out of the house and got into a car that had driven up. It made a U-turn. She ducked down.

"Sara?"

"I just ducked down a bit. Er… it was almost an hour ago."

"An hour?!"

"Fredrik knows what he's doing. And it's been less than an hour actually."

"How long, then?"

"An hour."

"And he hasn't called?"

"No. I've called him several times, but there's been no answer."

"I'm coming there," said Winter.

"It's starting to get light." "Yes, of course it is." "So I don't know if…"

"Screw the light," said Winter. "I'll see you there. Stay in the car, but you don't need to hide. Check to see if anybody comes or goes." "I've been doing that the whole time." "I'll park in front of the house," Winter said. "Then you can get out."

She saw Winter pull up outside the house. He got out of the car and waited for her to join him.

"We saw Bielke go in," she said, "Kurt Bielke."

"Yes."

"You don't seem surprised."

"Let's ring the bell."

They went up the steps. Seagulls were crying on all sides, laughing at them as Winter pressed the bell in the middle of the door.

"Fredrik recognized him," said Sara Helander.

"Was he sure?"

"Yes."

Winter rang again, but still nobody answered. He knocked hard with his fist, but there was no sign of any reaction. It would soon be fully daylight. The outline of furniture could be seen through the window to the right of the door.

"Come on, we'll go around."

There was no door in the back. A window was open with a cistern underneath it.

"That's where he got in," said Winter.

Winter looked down at the lawn and saw a few drops of dew on his deck shoes. He looked closer at the grass that hadn't needed cutting for weeks. There were tire marks.

"Did you see a car here during the night?"

"I think so," she said. "A big shadow." She looked back at the road. "A station wagon went by shortly before you arrived. Maybe a Volvo. I think it turned off into the plot next door."

She pointed. It was only partly built on, and it would be possible to drive over it, hidden by the house they were standing behind.

Winter approached the window and climbed onto the water butt. It was harder to keep his balance than he'd expected. The damp grass under the window had been flattened in places.

"Hello?" he shouted. The window was not secured, and he could open it with his elbow. "Hello?"

Vennerhag picked up Samic under the viaduct and drove west.

"Whatever happened, it's got nothing to do with me," was the first thing Vennerhag said.

Samic told him what had happened.

"It's got nothing to do with me," Vennerhag repeated.

"You're in the shit as much as I am," said Samic.

"I was part owner once upon a time last century, and that's all."

The sun announced its arrival behind them. There were the beginnings of a glow on the horizon. They were alone on the road.

"Where are we going?" Samic asked.

"As far away from Gothenburg as possible," Vennerhag said.

"You stink of booze."

"Can you see the cops anywhere?"

"No."

"Then shut up."

"What are we going to do?"

"Nothing."

"That won't be good enough," said Samic.

"They don't know anything. There's nothing left in the place, is there?"

"I certainly hope not," said Samic.

"And I don't want to know any more than is absolutely necessary."

"Do you have conflicting loyalties?"

Vennerhag didn't answer, just kept on driving toward the sun.

"Are we on our way to the islands?" asked Samic.

"As far as you're concerned, it doesn't matter where you hide away."

"Won't it seem suspicious?"

Vennerhag laughed out loud, but there was no humor in the eyes that examined Samic in the rearview mirror.

"Here comes the bridge," Samic said.

They drove over it, and Vennerhag turned briefly to look at the calm surface of the sea stretching away as far as the eye could see.

"We'll have to hide the boat," said Samic.

"It's already been moved."

"Not to here, surely?"

"Just shut up," said Vennerhag, leaving the bridge and continuing in silence. He turned off after two miles and drove to where the forest was thickest.

Winter clambered through the window. Sara Helander was standing outside. She heard a car on the road.

"If that's Lars and Bertil, tell them I'll try to open the front door as soon as I can find my way in there," said Winter.

"What if you run into trouble?"

"I won't," Winter said.

A feeling in the pit of his stomach warned him to be cautious, or perhaps he was worrying about what might have happened to Halders. Haiders had not been in touch. He'd gone in but hadn't come out, as far as Sara had been able to see.