The Double Silence (Andas Knutas 7)

pasta.
    ‘
Skål
,’ said Johan after filling their glasses. ‘This is going to be bloody great. I won’t have to work for almost a year.’
    ‘
Skål
.’ Pia raised her glass. ‘Let’s just hope that nothing dramatic happens while you’re staying at home and taking care of the kids. How do you think you’ll manage?’
    ‘No problem. Once you have children, the world somehow shrinks, and everything starts to revolve around them. Changing nappies, deciding what to have for dinner, what groceries to buy, tending to a sick child, taking his temperature and pampering him, and all sorts of other things. When you’re involved in taking care of young children, everything else seems so unimportant.’
    ‘It sounds fucking wonderful,’ said Pia drily as she took another sip of her wine and lit a cigarette. ‘But can I ring you if I need help?’
    ‘Of course. But Madeleine is a professional, so I don’t think you’ll have any problems with her.’
    ‘We’ll see,’ said Pia without much enthusiasm. ‘We might be scratching out each other’s eyes before the first week is over.’
    ‘Well, that’s not my problem,’ replied Johan, grinning. ‘But I hope you’ll still be here when I get back.’
    ‘I’m not promising anything.’

THE CINEMA IN the northern part of Fårö had its premises in a red-painted barn with white trim, located amidst the summer cottages in the holiday community of Sudersand, which had sprouted up around the popular sandy beach. The assembled spectators helped themselves to sparkling wine and hors d’oeuvres as they waited for the evening’s programme to begin. They were going to see the film masterpiece
Fanny and Alexander
, with an introduction by the actors Jan Malmsjö and Ewa Fröling, who had played two of the leading roles in the movie.
    The group of friends walked around, mingling with the other audience members and enjoying the warm summer evening. Now and then Håkan would look around for Stina. She hadn’t turned up yet.
    ‘Where’s Stina?’ asked Beata, as if she could read his thoughts.
    ‘Apparently she met an old friend while she was out on her bike ride, so she’ll be here later. She phoned from Kuten. If I know her, they’re probably sitting there talking about childhood memories and drinking wine and have forgotten all about the time,’ said Håkan with a smile. ‘Apparently the guy she ran into was one of her best friends for several years. He was in her class in middle school, and they haven’t seen each other for at least twenty years.’
    ‘Oh. So it’s a guy? Maybe you should be worried,’ John teased him.
    ‘Ha. Jealousy has never been my thing,’ said Håkan, still grinning. ‘You of all people should know that.’
    ‘I hope she gets here soon,’ said Andrea quickly. ‘It’d be a shame for herto miss the introduction.’ She turned to look towards the driveway leading up to the cinema.
    ‘It’s amazing how you can meet people from all over at this kind of event,’ Sam interjected. ‘I’ve run into colleagues that I haven’t seen in ages – and Andrea also met an old friend that she hadn’t seen in … how many years?’
    ‘More than thirty. We were in primary school together,’ Andrea laughed. ‘Over at the Bergman Centre this afternoon. And the funniest part was that she recognized me at once, even though she hadn’t seen me since I was nine.’
    ‘Well, you haven’t changed a bit since then,’ said Sam drily. ‘
Skål
.’
    He raised his glass but didn’t smile. At the same moment they heard the gong ring.
    The show was about to start.

WHEN THEY CAME out of the cinema four hours later, Stina still hadn’t appeared. Håkan switched on his mobile and discovered that he’d missed several calls as well as a text message.
Hi, Sweetheart. Big crisis at work, have to fly to Bangkok 23.05. If we don’t catch each other, I’ll call tomorrow. Love you. Kisses, Stina
. Håkan sighed in resignation and turned to the others.
    ‘Stina was called in to work.’ He looked at his watch. Eleven fifteen. ‘Right now she’s probably demonstrating the emergency procedures on board the plane to Bangkok.’
    ‘Oh, how disappointing,’ exclaimed Andrea. ‘I was hoping that she’d slipped in during the film. Now she’s going to miss the party.’
    ‘That’s really too bad,’ Sam agreed sympathetically.
    ‘She’s on call, so it’s not exactly unexpected,’ Håkan replied. ‘I’m used to it. We’ll just have to have