Never End

He was wearing a false beard. Samic had a wig. An arrogant joke, or something much worse.

Samic. The woman. Ve

They'd been there for Mattias's sake.

The woman was Mattias's mother. Be

Ringmar drove, up the hills. Winter directed him through the deserted streets. Somebody was having a midnight barbecue in his garden. Winter could see a flame leaping up.

The crack in his elbow was burning like fire.

"Shouldn't you have that bandaged?" Ringmar asked.

Winter didn't reply, merely smoked, gazing out into the night.

"Isn't Fredrik's house up here somewhere?" Ringmar asked.

"On the other side. Over there."

They drove past it. No lights in any of the windows.

"Down here, then turn left," said Winter. He was rocking backward and forward, holding his elbow.

"Calm down now, Erik."

"Are we going to find Halders or not?"

"Yes, but…"

"Step on it, then." He inhaled deeply, and released his safety belt as Ringmar pulled up outside Ve

"He'll be out back," said Winter. "I'll find him."

Ringmar followed and came to the lawn behind the house. A man in swimming trunks was holding a glass. A naked woman glided smoothly up to the edge of the pool.

The man saw who it was approaching and put his glass down on the table under the umbrella. The woman had clambered out of the pool and had crossed her arms over her body, which was slick from the water. Ringmar saw how Winter accelerated. The man in the swimming trunks started speaking.

"Erik, it was-"

Winter's skull crashed Ve

"Where is he?" Winter yelled. He forced Ve

Ringmar saw Winter head butt Ve

Ve

"I'll kill you, Be

"Take it easy, Erik."

"Stay where you are," Winter yelled. Ringmar did as he was told, and wondered what to do next.

Winter pulled Ve

Another rattling noise from Ve

"Well? Well?"

Winter thrust his head under water again. "Aaagh" came from Ve

"Well, what do you say?"

Ringmar saw Ve

Ringmar pulled Ve

Winter came back outside.

"God only knows where my mobile is," he said. "Let's go."

Ringmar looked at the woman and at Ve

"Come on, Bertil. You'll have to drive."

"Where to?" asked Ringmar, but Winter was already on his way.

39

Ringmar drove west, past the fairgrounds. It looked to Winter as if the roundabout was spi

Another light started to appear over the horizon behind them, a new day. Winter could feel the pain like sledgehammers pounding away at the right-hand side of his body, from the top down. He had Ve

Have I gone out of my mind? Is this what being crazy is like?

Ringmar was talking over the radio.

"They'll have to wait," Winter said. "We can't go storming in with a whole battalion."

Ringmar kept on talking to Bergenhem and whoever else was there. Winter ran his hands over his shirt.

"There's a sweater in the backseat," said Ringmar, turning to look at him. "How many of them are there?"

"I don't know."

"Didn't he say anything about that?"

"No."

"What did he say?"

"What we needed to know. Where Fredrik is. Turn right at the next exit," said Winter, staring straight ahead. "It'll be quicker."

He watched an airplane climbing into the morning sky, like a dark bird.

The flashing lights on its tail sent a message down to earth. Now he could hear the engines, a muffled rumbling.

They crossed the bridge. The sea looked like a field.

It was darker again on the other side. The light was behind them, over the open water. There were no cars on the road, which was narrower when they came to the island.

"This must be it," said Ringmar. He turned off, and it grew even darker in among the trees. Ringmar glanced at Winter, who was making sure his Sig Sauer had survived the dip in the pool. "How are you feeling, Erik?"

"Be patient with me," said Winter.

"We have to stay calm when we get there," said Ringmar.

"We'll see."

Winter leaned back in his seat and pictured the boy's face.

Cohen had called while he was examining the photographs earlier in the day, a day that seemed like it would never end.

"He wants to say something. Mattias," Cohen had said.

"What?" Winter had asked, holding up a photograph that seemed to be mostly filled with brightly colored balloons.

"I think he wants to tell us the whole story."

Mattias ignored him when he came into the room. He was sitting quietly on the chair in front of them.

"You wanted to tell us something, Mattias?"

He didn't answer.

"Do you want to tell us something?"

"I might."

Winter could see the similarities to his father, now that he knew. The eyes were the same, had that same i

"What do you want to tell us, Mattias?"

"Where's my mom?"

Winter had expected the boy to look at him, but he continued staring down at the table.

"I want her to come here," he said.