B0031RSBSM EBOK

HAD turned out far better than expected, and Johan was feeling happier than he had for a long time when he arrived at the office on Monday morning. He and Emma hadn’t done anything special. They had taken long walks, cooked good food, and relaxed in front of the TV. Just like a normal family. What he had enjoyed most was being able to spend time with Elin, both day and night. Waking up with her in the morning, feeding her, dressing and undressing her, changing her diapers. He realized how much he missed taking care of his daughter. Even though he had enjoyed the weekend, it also meant that he was going to make new demands. He was no longer going to agree to be shut out. If Emma didn’t want him to move into her house, she would have to accept that he occasionally took Elin home with him.
    One reason he felt so good after the weekend was that the first evening with Sara had gone rather well. He felt renewed hope that he might be able to function as a stepfather. He was looking forward to seeing both Sara and Filip again.
    As usual, he started the day by talking to Grenfors in Stockholm. For a change the editor thought that Johan could take things easy if nothing special was going on.
    Johan started by cleaning up his cluttered desk.
    Pia drove off to get the car washed and serviced. In the meantime he went through all the piles of papers, throwing out most of them and putting the important ones in file folders. Dust flew everywhere. The place needed a good cleaning.
    His attention was caught by a newspaper clipping from
Gotlands Allehanda
that had to do with the bold burglary at the Antiquities Room a few weeks earlier. Because of the two homicides, what would otherwise have been a big story had been virtually overlooked.
    He called the police and asked to speak with the officer in charge of the case. He was put through to Erik Larsson. Johan told him what he was interested in.
    “We’re working on the burglary, but I’m sorry to say that we haven’t made much progress,” said the officer, sounding worried.
    “Do you have any suspects?”
    “I can’t say that we do.”
    “Any leads?”
    “Nothing that has made it possible for us to catch the thief.”
    “This type of burglary—has it happened before?”
    “Not from the Antiquities Room, no.”
    “What can the perpetrator do with that gold armlet he stole? It must be hard to fence something like that.”
    “Either he’ll keep it for himself, which is not very likely, or he’ll sell it. We think this was a commissioned job, meaning that he already had a buyer. It could be a collector, maybe somewhere abroad. We know that Gotland’s relics are often sold on the international market.”
    “What would that sort of armlet be worth?”
    “Impossible to say. A collector could pay practically any amount. When it comes to coins, we usually say that an unusual silver coin in good condition from the Viking Age is worth around ten thousand kronor. So you can imagine what someone could get for a whole treasure trove with hundreds of coins. We know that there are hoards of silver that haven’t been excavated yet. On average, one cache is still being found on Gotland every year.”
    “But why is so little being done about these thefts?” asked Johan in surprise. “It’s not right that so many artifacts should keep disappearing from here without anyone reacting!”
    “Of course we try to find the individuals who are stealing relics, but it’s not easy. To be quite honest, I think one reason for the passivity of the police is that the perpetrators—if, contrary to all expectations, the case even gets to court—are given sentences that have virtually no impact. They’re judged under the laws having to do with cultural relics. The sentences are so light that the police don’t think it’s worth spending a lot of energy on catching felons who will be back on the street after only a few months.”
    “Do you feel the same way?”
    “I didn’t say that, but it’s difficult to track down these sorts of thieves unless you catch them in the act.”
    Johan thanked the officer and ended the conversation. He had been promised an interview within the next few days. He wanted to do some more checking on the thefts before he did a story. He called the switchboard at police headquarters and asked for a copy of all the police reports that dealt with ancient relics or archaeological finds during the past few years. The records clerk promised to fax over the reports