'We have a bathroom down here, with a shower, and one upstairs with a tub.' Lilian pointed up the stairs. 'Take off your shoes,' she commanded, and everyone obeyed. 'And don't bother Stig. He's resting.' With undisguised fury she went into the kitchen and began noisily clattering as she washed the dishes.

Patrik and Martin exchanged a look and led the techs upstairs. Careful to stay out of the way, they let the team get started on the bathroom and waited outside in the hall. The door to Stig's room was closed, and they spoke in low voices.

'Do you really think this is necessary?' said Martin. 'I mean, there's nothing to indicate that the killer was a family member, and… well, they're going through a difficult enough time as it is.'

'You're quite right, of course,' replied Patrik, almost whispering. 'But we can't rule anyone out simply because it makes us feel uncomfortable. Even if the family doesn't understand, we're doing this with their best interests in mind. If we can eliminate them from the list of suspects, we can devote more energy to other lines of inquiry. Don't you agree?'

Martin nodded. He knew that Patrik was right. It was all just so damned unpleasant. Footsteps on the stairs made them turn round, and they met Charlotte's inquiring glance.

'What's going on here? Mother said that you showed up with a whole army to look at our bathroom. Why?' Her voice rose a bit and she made an attempt to go past them. Patrik stopped her.

'Could we sit down for a moment and talk, please?'

Charlotte cast one last glance at the techs behind them and turned to go back downstairs. 'We'll sit in the kitchen,' she said, with her head turned away from Martin and Patrik. 'And I want Mother to hear what you have to say too.'

Lilian was still angrily clattering the dishes when they entered the kitchen. Albin was sitting on a blanket on the floor, watching his grandmother's activities with big, serious eyes. He gave a start like a scared rabbit each time she raised her voice.

'If you're going to be taking things apart, I presume you'll put everything back the way it was.' Lilian's voice was like frost.

'I can't promise anything; they might need to take some things apart. But I can assure you they'll be as careful as possible,' said Patrik, taking a seat.

Charlotte picked Albin off the floor and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs with the boy on her lap. He snuggled into his mother's arms. She had lost weight, and she had dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in a week – which she may not have done. He saw that she was trying to control a quivering lower lip when she asked, 'So, why is there a gang of police in the house all of a sudden? Why aren't they out looking for Sara's murderer instead?'

'We simply want to rule out all possibilities, Charlotte. The thing is, we… we have some new information. I wonder, can you think of any reason at all why someone would have wanted to make Sara eat ashes?'

Charlotte looked at him as though he'd lost his mind. She held on tighter to Albin, making him whimper. 'Eat ashes? What do you mean?'

He told her what the M.E. had said, and saw her face grow paler with every word.

'Only a crazy person would do something like that. So I understand even less why you're spending time here.' The last word sounded like a scream, and affected by his mother's anxiety Albin began to scream too. She hushed him at once and soothed him enough that he stopped, but she didn't take her eyes off Patrik.

He repeated what he'd said to Martin a little while ago. 'It's important for us to eliminate the family from the investigation. There is absolutely nothing to indicate that anyone in your family had anything to do with Sara's death. But we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't do everything we could to investigate that possibility. As you know, it has happened in other cases. I'm afraid we can't always be as considerate as we'd like.'

Lilian gave a snort as she stood at the sink. Her whole body posture showed what she thought of Patrik's little speech.

'I do understand, of course I do,' said Charlotte. 'Just so you don't waste time when you could be spending it more effectively.'

'We're working full steam ahead, examining all possibilities, I can assure you of that.' On impulse Patrik leaned over the table and placed his hand on hers. She didn't pull away but met his gaze with great intensity, as if she wanted to look into his soul and with her own eyes see whether he was telling the truth. Patrik didn't flinch. And what she saw was evidently satisfactory, for she lowered her eyes and nodded.

'All right, I suppose I'll have to trust you. But it's lucky for you that Niclas isn't at home.'

'He was here a while ago,' said Lilian without turning round. 'He looked in on Stig but then left again.'

'Why did he come home? And why didn't he tell me that he was here?'

'You were sleeping, I think. And I have no idea why he came home in the middle of the afternoon. He must have needed a break. Well, I did tell him that I thought it was too soon for him to go back to work, but that boy is so conscientious that it's beyond all understanding. One certainly has to admire -'

Lilian's comments were interrupted by a demonstrative sigh from Charlotte, so she went back to washing dishes with even greater frenzy. Patrik could practically feel the tension reverberating in the room.

'In any event, he ought to hear about this. I'll ring the clinic.'

Charlotte set Albin down on his blanket on the floor and rang from the wall phone in the kitchen. No one said a word while she was on the phone. Patrik wanted nothing more than to get out of there. After a few minutes, Charlotte hung up.

'He wasn't there,' she said in disbelief.

'He wasn't there?' Lilian turned round. 'Then where is he?'

'Aina didn't know. She said that he'd taken the rest of the afternoon off. She assumed he went home.'

Lilian frowned, still turned towards the others in the kitchen. 'Well, he wasn't here more than fifteen minutes. He looked in on

Stig for a moment, then he left. And I got the impression he was going back to work.'

Patrik and Martin exchanged a look. They had their own theory about where the grieving father had gone.

The technician in charge stuck his head in the doorway to the kitchen. 'This is probably going to take a couple of hours. You'll have the results as soon as we're finished.'

Patrik and Martin got up, feeling a bit out of sorts, and nodded awkwardly to Charlotte and Lilian.

'Then we'll be on our way. And if you think of anything that might be linked to ashes, you know where to find us.'

Charlotte nodded, her face pale. Standing next to the sink Lilian pretended she was deaf and didn't even condescend to look at them.

They left the house in silence and walked towards the car.

'Could you give me a lift home?' asked Patrik.

'But you left your car down at the station. Won't you need it this weekend?'

'I just can't face going back there right now. And I still plan to come in and work a little on Saturday or Sunday. I can take the bus in and then drive my car home.'

'I thought you promised Erica to take the whole weekend off,' Martin ventured.

Patrik grimaced. 'Yeah, I know, but I hadn't counted on being saddled with a homicide investigation.'

'I'll be working this weekend, so tell me if there's anything I can do.'

'That's great, but I think I need to go over everything by myself in peace and quiet.'

'Well, you're the only one who knows what you need to do,' said Martin, getting into the car. Patrik got in on the passenger's side – but he wasn't so sure that Martin was right.

Finally she was going to get her mother-in-law out of the house. Erica could hardly believe it. All the admonitions, all the know- it-all comments and underhanded complaints had completely demolished her reserves of patience. She was counting the minutes until Kristina would get into her little Ford Escort and drive back home. If Erica had been suffering from a lack of confidence as a mother before her mother-in-law arrived, it was even worse now. Apparently nothing she did was right. She didn't know how to dress Maja the right way, or how to feed her correctly; she was too blunt, she was too clumsy, she was too lazy, she ought to rest more. There was no end to her shortcomings, and as Erica sat there with her daughter on her lap she felt as though she might as well give up. She would never manage all of this. At night she dreamt that she left Maja with Patrik and took a long trip. Far, far away. Somewhere that was calm and peaceful, with no screaming babies or responsibilities or demands. Somewhere she could curl up and be a little girl again, and someone else would take care of her.