B0031RSBSM EBOK

formal organization, don’t they?”
    “I can look into it,” Jacobsson offered.
    “I’d be happy to help,” said Kihlgård. “It sounds incredibly exciting.”
    “Fine. Get some others to help you, too. This has to be regarded as a major lead. We need to give it top priority. This whole story started with the decapitated horse out at Petesviken in June. We’re going to have to start back there and make a list of all the people who’ve come into the picture in some way during the investigation. Then we need to find out which of them has ties to the Æsir religion or to ancient Nordic mythology.”

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4
    HIS COVER NAME was Viking Venture, but Johan quickly realized that the contact he’d found via the American Web site was Swedish and presumably lived on Gotland. Though it seemed very unlikely that a Gotlander would be selling ancient relics on the American market. He had been e-mailing back and forth with Viking Venture, presenting himself as an interested buyer who was prepared to pay well for Viking Age artifacts from Gotland. The contact said that he could offer quite a number of rarities that might be of interest. Johan pretended to be a collector from Skåne, and after they had exchanged e-mails a number of times, he managed to get the man who called himself Viking Venture to agree to a meeting. They decided to meet on the following Saturday at the indoor ice-skating rink, right outside Visby.
    Johan was going to try to get this seller of stolen goods on videotape, using a little camera that they had at the office. On Wednesday Pia had carefully explained to him how to use it. They agreed not to say anything to the police or to the home office back in Stockholm. This was their own project. Johan felt quite excited.
    Emma had called him at work, suggesting that they could have dinner together at her house on Saturday and invite Pia Lilja and Niklas Appelqvist. It would be their first dinner party. He interpreted this as yet another sign that Emma was starting to relent. Maybe they were finally on their way to having a real relationship. The management at Swedish TV had decided to keep the team on Gotland for a trial period in the fall, and Pia had been given the camera job. Johan was the obvious choice for reporter, since he wanted the position and had so far done a good job. He was grateful to be able to stay on the island; at least he could stop worrying about that. Besides, he had the legal right to see his child, and it was a right that he wanted to safeguard.
    One thing he was sure of. No matter what happened between him and Emma, he would never budge an inch when it came to his relationship with his daughter.
    To his great joy, he had noticed a change in Emma’s attitude toward him since Elin was born. She was more loving and tended to cling to him more, daring to show her weaknesses. It was as if he had become more important now that he was the father of her child. She would always be dependent on him, in one way or another. The thought appealed to him.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5
    THE CRUISE LINER
Nordic Star
arrived from Riga, Latvia, and majestically slid into berth number eleven in Visby harbor on this Thursday morning. The city couldn’t have presented a more beautiful image. The sun colored the facades with a warm, golden sheen, and the temperature had already reached sixty-eight degrees. The American tourists, who had only one day at their disposal to explore Gotland before they continued their journey to Stockholm, were delighted before even stepping off the gangway. The cathedral tower, the ring wall, and the medieval buildings looked fascinating, and a mood of enthusiastic anticipation hovered over the harbor. Ten shiny, air-conditioned tourist buses were parked in a row, ready to swallow up the hundreds of chattering tourists who came streaming off the boat. They wore shorts, T-shirts, and caps, and every single one had a camera around his or her neck. The average age was somewhere between fifty and sixty, although there were a few younger couples. Waiting on the dock, the local guides were clearly visible in their blue vests from the guide association. The buses quickly filled, and one by one they rolled out of the harbor, ready to explore the island.
    Matilda Drakenberg’s bus was one of the first to leave. The guides had divided up the sightseeing tour so as not to overlap with each other. Matilda’s bus was supposed to start outside the city and then proceed inward