The Double Silence (Andas Knutas 7)

young woman who lived in central Stockholm and suffered from an eating disorder. She’d also had problems finding a job and coping with various boyfriends. But Håkan was used to it. By now Klara’s troubles were an inevitable aspect of his life, like a body part that was always tender and needed care.
    But his daughter was not his only child from a failed relationship. From his second marriage he had a son who was now in his late teens, but he had little contact with the boy. The divorce had been a painful and long-drawn-out affair. He hardly ever spoke to his second wife, Helena. After they divorced, she and their son had moved in with her parents in Haparanda in the far north. But he was in regular touch with his first wife, Ingrid. Their marriage had fizzled out so many years ago that it felt like another lifetime. After they went their separate ways, it had taken years before she decided to remarry. She said she was very picky. She used to quip that she was used to the best. Håkan appreciated the fact that they were able to joke about their past, sometimes talking on the phone for hours. Nobody could make him laugh the way she did. The thoughtregularly occurred to him that he’d actually been happier with Ingrid than he was with Stina. They both belonged to the fifties generation and had a lot in common. They had watched the same TV programmes, gone to the same dance clubs. They knew the same dances, songs and bands. They liked the same musicians, and they had the same sense of humour.
    As Håkan drove home he grew pensive. He ought to be looking forward to the summer holidays, but something was preventing that. Almost like dirt on the windscreen that was impossible to remove. His thoughts turned to his third wife.
    Everything was different with Stina, and in many respects more complicated than with either of his ex-wives. It was because of her childhood and upbringing, her rootlessness and insecurity. He was aware that she needed to view him as a father figure. He had been fascinated by Stina from the first moment he saw her on board the plane, with her shiny, raven-black hair reaching to her shoulders in a blunt cut, her slim figure in the attractive uniform. Her soft, dark eyes had fixed on his, and after that he didn’t want to let her go. Not for anything in the world. Divorcing his second wife seemed like such an obvious decision that he wanted to get it out of the way as quickly as possible. Helena became a mere shadow for him. In hindsight, he could see how selfishly he had behaved.
    But that was all in the past.
    Right now he and Stina were anticipating a long holiday. And it would start off with the annual trip with their closest friends. In reality he would have preferred to do something all on their own, just the two of them. They needed time together; for quite a while now they had spent far too little time with each other. That must be what was worrying him, causing a deep disquiet. He could hardly remember when they’d last had sex. Sometimes that was what happened with Stina. She would distance herself from him, almost as if she was avoiding him. He had tried to talk to her about it, asking her what was wrong, but she assured him that it was nothing special. She was just feeling tired.
    Stina had to work a couple more weeks before she could take an extended holiday from her job. But they could at least spend a few daystogether. Later their summer holiday awaited them, and they were planning to go island hopping in Greece with the children. He was looking forward to that. Since Stina had a hard time relaxing at home, they needed to go on a trip together, preferably abroad so that she could leave all her obligations behind.
    He tapped in the number for home and felt both relieved and a little uneasy when he heard her voice. She didn’t sound happy, but not really sad either.
    No, he didn’t need to stop for groceries. If they weren’t going away he would have bought her flowers.
    But it wouldn’t be worth it just now.

HE SAW HER from far away as she came walking towards him with her rather sauntering gait on the other side of Norra Hansegatan. Detective Superintendent Anders Knutas stopped to wait for her, observing her slender form as she approached. His colleague Karin Jacobsson always walked to work because she lived in the middle of town. She was wearing her iPod earbuds, as usual, and jeans that sat low on her hips. She had on a white T-shirt with a drum set printed on the front and