Unspoken

you. I heard you thumping.”
    “It was Leif.”
    Jacobsson paused. “What?”
    “I think it was Leif who murdered both Dahlström and Fanny.”
    “Are you out of your mind!”
    “No, I mean it. I’ll explain later.”
    Something in his voice made her realize that it was true.
    “Is the car still here?” he asked.
    “Yes, it’s parked outside.”
    “What about the boat?”
    “It’s at the dock.”
    “We have to get out of here. We have to get help.”
    The door was locked from the outside, so they climbed out the window and ran across the yard to the road.
    After they had gone a hundred yards from the house, they heard a deafening boom. They turned around to a sea of fire. The sauna down by the water had exploded into an inferno of flames, building materials, and smoke. They watched the macabre spectacle in silence.
    “He blew the whole thing up,” gasped Knutas.
    They approached the burning building and saw the flames reflected in the water.
    The only thing Knutas could think about was whether Leif was inside.
    Neighbors who had heard the explosion came driving up. They had alerted both the police and the fire department. Knutas and Jacobsson were tended to by their colleagues. Knutas managed to convince the medics that he didn’t need to go to the hospital. He at least needed to stay at the scene long enough to see how things developed. Jacobsson felt the same. Finally they agreed to sit inside an ambulance to watch everything going on around them. Uniformed and armed police officers went into the house while others searched the area with dogs. The firefighters fought the blaze down at the dock, and several officers crept inside the boathouse with their guns drawn. The whole scene is right out of a movie , thought Knutas.
    Gradually the police offices regrouped in the front yard. The firefighters had the fire under control, and now it was just a matter of putting it out completely. They had not yet found Leif Almlöv.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26
    The residential street was quiet and deserted, but inside the houses the Christmas dinner celebrations were fully under way. In some driveways sparklers were burning in the winter darkness, and cars were parked outside the gates.
    He paused outside the fence to look at the house. There were lights in all the windows. Advent stars made of straw and wood gave off a gentle glow. In the living room a tall Advent candle in a castiron holder was visible along with two big amaryllis plants. The red flowers bore witness to much careful tending. He saw the family moving about inside. Back and forth between the living room and the kitchen. He knew that they had a dining table in the living room.
    He caught a glimpse of Filip playing with a puppy. Did they have a new dog? Not a good sign. Not at all.
    He opened the gate. The gravel crunched under his feet. The snow had vanished again, melting away on Christmas Eve. Now a gray haze had settled over the idyllic residential neighborhood in Roma.
    He went up to the front porch and saw through the window that Olle had noticed him. Now there was no turning back. He took a deep breath and rang the bell.

EPILOGUE
    The chapel stood in a secluded spot near the fishing village of Kovik on the west side of the island, about five miles south of Gnisvärd.
    It was built from Gotland limestone, with a single window like a porthole facing the cow pastures, the windswept boathouses, and the sea. The chapel had been dedicated to the memory of the men who had drowned at sea.
    Leif Almlöv came from a family of fishermen who for generations had fished the stormy Baltic along Gotland’s coast. That was where he was to be buried, in accordance with his last wishes. Only his immediate family were present.
    Knutas sat in the back row of folding chairs that had been set up in the small space. He fixed his eyes on the flower-bedecked coffin in the front of the chapel as he pondered who Leif really was. Or rather, had become.
    Everything seemed to have started with Fanny Jansson. Of course Leif had visited the stables on numerous occasions. This was confirmed by his father-in-law, with whom he shared ownership of the horse. That was where he had met the girl.
    Then Leif had hired Dahlström to build the sauna out in the country, but the carpenter had discovered what Leif was doing with Fanny. Maybe Dahlström had spent the night there while he was working on the sauna and then saw something that he wasn’t supposed to see.
    That was the