B0031RSBSM EBOK

excavations.”
    “Did you also meet socially?”
    “No. He had his family, after all. Four children and everything. We lived very different lives.”
    Bjarke smiled and stuffed a macaroon in his mouth.
    Knutas studied the middle-aged man sitting on the other side of the table. He was casually dressed in shorts and a polo shirt. Friendly, bordering on ingratiating. Knutas had a feeling that Bjarke, in spite of his amiable and open demeanor, was very lonely. He found himself wondering about the man sitting across from him, even though it was Staffan Mellgren he wanted to ask about.
    “Good coffee,” he said to break the silence that had settled in. “You told us before about Mellgren’s love life, and you seemed very well informed. Was it common knowledge that he was romantically involved with his students?”
    “Unfortunately, I’d have to say that there were quite a few people who knew about it, at least among the students that attended Mellgren’s classes. These are college students, of course, so we’re talking about adults. I know that the head of the college thought it was inappropriate, but there wasn’t much she could do. It was also a sensitive issue. Mellgren was very talented and respected, both as a teacher and an archaeologist.”
    “Didn’t anyone ever complain?”
    “I think people chose to turn a blind eye. He was married , and he and Susanna kept having one child after another. I don’t think his colleagues really knew how to handle the whole situation.”
    “How about you?”
    “Staffan and I knew each other professionally, but we didn’t discuss our personal lives. I never told him what I thought about his behavior. Maybe that was stupid, now that we’re sitting here with the facts in hand.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I think we can assume that his murder has to do with his infidelities. At least that’s what my colleagues are saying at the college.”
    “Do you know of anyone he used to socialize with when he wasn’t working?”
    “Not really. I don’t think he spent much time with any of his work colleagues. Maybe he realized that people were aware of what he was doing and he felt ashamed. I have no idea whether he and Susanna had other friends.”
    Knutas left Bjarke’s home without feeling any wiser.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1
    THE CALL CAME just as Knutas was nodding off on a deck chair out in the garden. He had spent the whole morning at the office without making any headway. By lunchtime he gave up and went home. He made himself an omelet and then went to sit outdoors, where he dozed off. He had only managed to sleep for five minutes before the phone rang. Startled awake, he picked up the phone.
    “Hi, it’s Jonsson out here at the airport.”
    “Yes?”
    “We’re out here, Ek and I, to meet Gunnar Ambjörnsson. His girlfriend is here too.”
    “Yes?”
    Knutas could hear how impatient he sounded.
    “He’s not here.”
    “What?”
    “He wasn’t on the plane from Stockholm like he was supposed to be.”
    “Are you sure that you didn’t just miss him?”
    “All three of us have been standing here the whole time. He couldn’t possibly have slipped past us.”
    “What about the plane from Marrakech? Was he on board?”
    “We don’t know. We haven’t checked yet.”
    “See that you do. Right away. Call me back as soon as you find out.”
    Knutas got up and went to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. Where the hell was Ambjörnsson? Had he decided to stay in Marrakech?
    When he came out the phone was ringing. Jonsson had been amazingly fast.
    “He was on the plane from Marrakech. He checked in and went to the gate and showed his boarding pass, so we can be absolutely certain that he was on board. He must have disappeared somewhere between the international and domestic terminals at Arlanda airport in Stockholm. He never checked in for the Visby flight.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes, yes, I’m sure. I checked with the airport staff.”
    “How could he just disappear like that?”
    “I suppose he changed his plans. Things like that happen.”
    Knutas leaned back in his chair to think. Had Gunnar Ambjörnsson suddenly decided to stay in Stockholm?
    That was actually quite possible. Maybe he’d met someone on the trip who made him want to stay in the capital. Although, considering everything that had happened, it was disturbing that the man had disappeared.
    Knutas punched in the number for the Stockholm police.

MONDAY, AUGUST 2
    THE WEEKEND