phone, and then rushed into the next room without bothering to knock.
Mellberg gave a start, waking from a sound sleep.
‘What the hell?’ he said, staring at Gösta, frantically pushing his comb-over back into place.
‘A missing child,’ said Gösta. ‘Four years old. She’s been gone since this morning.’
‘This morning? And the parents are only calling us now?’ said Mellberg, jumping up from his chair.
Gösta glanced at his watch. It was a little after three p.m.
They didn’t get a lot of cases involving missing children. In the summer, the police mostly dealt with drunks, burglaries and break-ins, assault and battery incidents, and sometimes rape.
‘Each one thought she was with the other parent. I told them we’d leave immediately.’
Mellberg stuck his feet in his shoes, which he’d discarded on the floor next to his desk. His dog Ernst, who was also awake now, wearily lowered his head having concluded that the commotion had nothing to do with the possibility of going out for a walk or getting something to eat.
‘Where is it we’re going?’ asked Mellberg, hurrying after Gösta, who was headed for the garage.
‘The Berg farm,’ said Gösta. ‘Where the Strand family used to live.’
‘Bloody hell,’ said Mellberg.
He’d only heard about the old case, which had happened long before he came to Fjällbacka. But Gösta had been here back then, and for him the situation seemed all too familiar.
‘Hello?’
Patrik had brushed off his hand before he took the call, but the phone still got sand on it. With his free hand he motioned for the kids to come over and then he got out a packet of Marie biscuits and a container of apple slices. Noel and Anton lunged for the biscuits, each trying to grab the packet away from his brother, until it fell on the sand sending biscuits spilling out. Other parents were staring at them, and Patrik could literally feel them snorting. He could understand their reaction. He thought that he and Erica were both relatively competent parents, yet sometimes the twins behaved as if they’d been brought up by wolves.
‘Just a second, Erica,’ he said. With a sigh he picked up a couple of biscuits and blew off the sand.
Noel and Anton had already eaten so much sand, a little more wasn’t going to hurt them.
Maja picked up the container of apple slices and set it on her lap as she sat down to survey the bathing area. Patrik looked at her slender back and her hair curling damply at the nape of her neck. She looked so lovely as she sat there, even though he, as usual, had failed to pull her hair into a proper ponytail.
‘All right, I can talk now. We’re down at the beach, and we just had a little biscuit incident I had to take care of.’
‘Okay,’ said Erica. ‘Is everything good apart from that?’
‘Everything’s great,’ he lied as he again tried to wipe the sand off by rubbing his hands on his swim trunks.
Noel and Anton picked up the biscuits from the sand and continued eating them, causing an audible crunching sound to issue from their mouths. A seagull circled overhead, waiting for the toddlers to take their eyes off the biscuits for a second. But the gull wasn’t about to get any of the treats. The twins could finish off an entire packet of Marie biscuits in world-record time.
‘I’m finished with lunch now,’ said Erica. ‘Shall I come over and join you?’
‘Sure, do that,’ said Patrik. ‘Could you bring some coffee in a Thermos? I’m such a novice at these kinds of outings, I forgot to bring any coffee.’
‘No problem. Your wish is my command.’
‘Thanks, sweetheart. You have no idea how much I’ve been longing for a cup of coffee.’
He smiled as he ended the call. After five years of marriage and three children, he could still feel butterflies in his stomach whenever he heard his wife’s voice on the phone. Erica was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Well, aside from the children. Then again, without Erica he wouldn’t have any children.
‘Was that Mamma?’ asked Maja, shading her eyes with her hand as she turned to look at him.
Dear God, she looked so much like her mother from certain angles. And that made Patrik very happy. Erica was the most beautiful woman he knew.
‘Yup, that was Mamma. She’s on her way here.’
‘Yay!’ shouted Maja.
‘Hold on, someone’s ringing me from the station. I have to take this call,’ said Patrik, using a sandy finger to push the green button on his mobile.
Gösta’s name had appeared on the display, and Patrik knew his colleague wouldn’t call to disturb his holiday unless it was something important.
‘Hi, Gösta,’ he said. ‘One minute. Maja, could you give the boys some pieces of apple? And take away that old lollypop stick Noel is about to stuff in his mouth. Thanks, sweetie.’
He raised the mobile to his ear again.
‘Sorry, Gösta. I’m listening now. I’m at the beach in Sälvik with the kids, and chaos doesn’t come close to describing things.’
‘I’m sorry to bother you when you’re on holiday,’ said Gösta, ‘but I was thinking you might want to know we’ve received a report of a missing child. A little girl has been missing since this morning.’
‘Since this morning?’
‘Yes, we don’t have any further information yet, but Mellberg and I are on our way to see her parents right now.’
‘Where do they live?’
‘That’s the thing. She disappeared from the Berg farm.’
‘Oh, shit,’ said Patrik, his blood turning cold. ‘Wasn’t that where Stella Strand used to live?’
‘Yes, that’s the place.’
Patrik looked at his own children who were now playing relatively peacefully in the sand. The mere thought of one of them going missing made him break out in a sweat. It didn’t take him long to make up his mind. Even though Gösta hadn’t specifically asked for his help, Patrik knew he would like someone to assist him other than Mellberg.
‘I’ll come,’ he said. ‘Erica should be here in fifteen minutes or so, and then I can leave.’
‘Do you know where the farm is?’
‘I do,’ replied Patrik.
He knew all right. Lately, at home, he’d been hearing a lot about that particular farm.
Patrik pressed the red button to end the call and leaned forward to pull all three children close. They protested, and he got completely covered with sand.
