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that the police will catch the person who did this. I promise you,” Pia went on. “Was it horrible when you found him?”
    “It was disgusting,” said Agnes. “The whole head was gone.”
    “I wish we’d never gone into that pasture,” added Sofie.
    “Now wait a minute—just think about it. You were the ones who went in, and it was actually a very good thing that you did, because otherwise it might have taken much longer before Pontus … Was that his name?”
    The girls nodded.
    “Otherwise it might have taken much longer before Pontus was found, and for the police it’s really important to investigate these sorts of matters as quickly as possible.”
    Agnes looked at Pia in surprise.
    “I guess that’s right. We didn’t think about it like that,” she said, looking relieved. Sofie also looked happier.
    Johan pondered for a few seconds the appropriateness of interviewing such young girls without first obtaining permission from their parents. He was always particularly cautious about interviewing children. This was a borderline case. He decided not to interfere. He would let Pia carry on with the conversation.
    “Our job, mine and Johan’s,” said Pia in a soft voice, “is to make TV reports when something like this happens. We’d like to be able to give the viewers a story, but of course we would never force anyone to be on TV. Although it’s best when we have eyewitnesses who can describe what happened, because that might prompt other people to come forward with tips for the police. We think that if people watching TV saw the two of you talking about how you found Pontus, they’d be more interested than if Johan just talks. They would care more, to be quite honest.”
    The girls were listening attentively.
    “So we were wondering whether we could ask you a few questions about what happened this morning. I’ll run the camera and Johan will ask the questions, and if you can’t answer or you think it’s too hard, we’ll stop. You get to decide. Later we’ll edit the interview, so it doesn’t matter if there are mistakes. Okay?”
    Sofie used her elbow to poke Agnes in the side and then whispered in her ear. “We’re not allowed.”
    “No, but I don’t care,” said Agnes firmly as she jumped down from the rock. “It’ll be fine.”
    When Pia and Johan drove off, they had an interview on film with the girls describing what they had seen. They had also revealed that the horse’s head wasn’t merely cut off—it had disappeared without a trace.
    “It won’t surprise me if we catch shit for this,” Johan said to Pia as she drove.
    “What do you mean?”
    “The police are going to be mad. Not that I care, but I just thought I should warn you.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Pia cast an indignant glance at Johan. “We’re doing our job. That’s all. There’s no need to exaggerate. This is about a dead horse, damn it. Not a person.”
    “True, but interviewing children is a sensitive issue.”
    “If we started questioning them right after their mother died, I would understand your reasoning.” Pia’s voice sounded even angrier.
    “Don’t misunderstand me,” Johan objected. “I just think we need to be careful about interviewing minors. As journalists we have a huge responsibility.”
    “It’s not our fault if people want to talk. We haven’t forced anyone. Besides, we found out some new information, thanks to talking to those girls. The part about the horse’s head being missing.”
    She rolled down the window to toss out her wad of snuff. Then she deliberately turned up the music. The discussion was clearly over. Pia was intelligent and bold, but maybe she needed to be a bit more humble, since she was new at the game. Johan sensed that—for good or bad—his colleague was going to be a cameraperson to reckon with in the future.

 
    Emma Winarve was sitting in the hammock in the yard of her house in Roma, leaning against the pillows propped behind her back. She was trying to find as comfortable a position as possible. In her extremely pregnant condition, that wasn’t so easy. She was hot and sweaty all the time, even though she stayed in the shade. The high pressure of the past week had taken its toll. Right now she felt huge and shapeless, even though she weighed much less than she had with her other children. So far she hadn’t put on more than twenty-five pounds, which seemed to fit in with everything else. This time the pregnancy was