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of the matter was just as unexpected as it was fortunate. Maybe it was because the crime had occurred in the middle of the vacation season. Many of the local reporters, who had an extensive network of contacts, were away, and their places had been taken by substitutes. Knutas was extremely impressed that everyone involved had actually kept their promise not to say a word.
    On the other hand, he was not nearly as pleased with the work of the police. When it came to the tragic and brutal death of Martina Flochten, they were still fumbling around blindly. They had interviewed the few people she had known on Gotland, including the hotel owner Jacob Dahlén. Unfortunately he could offer no help. He claimed that he hadn’t even seen Martina this summer.
    Nor had their colleagues from the National Criminal Police contributed anything particularly useful. Agneta Larsvik had gone back to Stockholm for the weekend, and even though Kihlgård was a capable detective, his contribution to the police investigation had so far been limited, to put it mildly. On the other hand, the one thing that he
had
managed to do was to cheer up Karin Jacobsson. She seemed much happier ever since he had arrived on Gotland. Sometimes Knutas even imagined that something was going on between those two, but he was probably just succumbing to his usual touchiness when it came to Karin.

 
    Johan and Pia had done their series of reports on the overheated housing market in Visby, which had been well received by the Regional News editors in Stockholm. At the height of the summer it was hard to come up with good stories that didn’t have to do with tourism, pub life, or the quality of the bathing beaches.
    Grenfors had left for vacation, and he had been replaced in Stockholm by a reporter who was used to stepping in as editor whenever she was needed. For the most part she let Johan work in peace. He was only able to get a few scattered days off, since he was the summer replacement on Gotland. There was no question of any lengthy vacation time until September. He had cautiously suggested to Emma that it might be fun for them to take a trip somewhere. She seemed doubtful. Elin might be too young to fly.
    Sometimes Johan felt genuinely sick of Emma. She could never make up her mind that they were a couple and allow him to move in. Not that he intended to settle for living in the same house where she and Olle had built a life together, but surely it would be all right temporarily . For the sake of Sara and Filip he would put up with the situation. He was ready. He was starting to get annoyed by Emma’s constant harping about how complicated her life was. He was fed up. What about him? He had sacrificed everything for her sake. Left his job, his apartment, his friends, and his whole life back in Stockholm in order to move to an island where he hardly knew a soul. He never complained, but it was as if she had no room for him here.
    At first he thought it was understandable. Emma had been well along in her pregnancy, and then came the birth with everything that followed. At some point, though, she had to be prepared to go on with her life—and to allow him in. They had argued last night when he brought up the subject, and they hadn’t spoken to each other since. Right now what he wanted most was to go out and drink himself senseless.
    His thoughts were interrupted by Pia coming into the office.
    “Hi.”
    She put down the camera, the tripod, and the carrying case.
    “Where have you been?” Johan asked her.
    “Out getting some great summer shots that I think we can use for the closing scenes. That kind of thing is always fun, and I didn’t have anything else to do. You haven’t exactly come up with any brilliant ideas.”
    She gave him a teasing smile and sat down at her computer to upload the video.
    Johan watched her as she worked. Pia was nice, really nice. Somehow he hadn’t noticed that before. It’s true that her appearance was a little too punk for his taste, but she was both gentle and feminine, yet at the same time she knew what she wanted. Johan appreciated that. She always had an opinion about things going on in the community. She got involved. When was the last time that he and Emma had discussed anything going on in society? Was she at all interested in what was happening in the world around her? The thought had never occurred to him before. He tried to recall when they’d had a political discussion or talked about some current world