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a matter of children and their safety in
general,' he said. 'OK, maybe I do know too much about
the potential dangers. So would you if you stood outside
a children's playground and took a careful look at what
was going on. Maybe you'd notice somebody walking
about and devoting an unusual amount of attention to
the kids. Types like that often hang around a day nursery
as well. Or outside a school at leaving time. Or they
might be sitting in their cars watching the girls play
handball or volleyball. Businessmen who get into their
posh cars after work or the latest board meeting and
park outside the schoolyard with the morning paper
over their knee and their hand round their cock when
the girls jump up under the basket.'
    'You sound cynical, Erik.'
    'Cynical? Because I'm telling it like it is?'
    'What do you do, then?'
    'Eh?'
    'What do you do about these posh gents in their posh
cars? And the others who loiter around these locations?'
    'Try to keep an eye on them in the first place. You
can't arrest someone for sitting in his car reading a newspaper,
can you? That's not a crime in a democracy.'
    'For God's sake!'
    'But don't you see? We have to wait until a crime is
committed. That's the bloody frustrating thing about it.
We know, but we can't do anything.'
    'Why can't you . . . caution them?'
    'How?'
    'Erik, it's not—'
    'No, but I'm being honest and serious now. I'd love
to hand out loads of cautions, but I also want to keep
my job. You can't just march up and fling a car door
open. Or arrest somebody for looking shady and
standing under a tree next to a children's playground.'
    'But you think about it.'
    'It struck me this morning at the day nursery just
how vulnerable little kids are, and older ones as well
come to that. All that watching, and all that goes with
it. And what it leads to. But the danger as well. Real
danger.'
    'Yes.'
    'I'd love to hand out no end of cautions, but it's difficult.
    And we need more police.' He poured himself some
more wine after all. 'In that respect we're in the same
position as the staff at the day nursery,' he said with a
smile.
    She gave a shiver, as if the window looking out over
the courtyard was wide open instead of just a narrow
crack letting in a little wisp of night air.
    'You know, Erik, you give me the creeps with all
this.'
    He didn't reply.
    'Elsa goes to a day nursery,' she said. 'Elsa's one of
a group of children with too few staff to look after them
properly. I can't get that out of my mind now.'
    'I'm sorry.'
    'No, no. It's just as bad for you as well.' She suddenly
burst out laughing, short but loud. 'By God, I must say
it's dead easy to be worried when you are a parent.'
She looked at him. 'What shall we do? Send her to a
different day nursery? Employ a nanny? Hire a bodyguard?'
    He smiled again.
    'There is a fence round the place, as you pointed out
a few minutes ago. And Elsa loves her day nursery.'
    She drank up the rest of the water in her glass. 'You've
certainly set me thinking, Erik.'
    'Oh hell, it was stupid of me to go on about all the
dangers.'
    'At least about all those sick weirdos hanging around
outside schools,' said Angela. 'What's going to happen
when she starts school?' She stood up. 'No, that's enough
for one night. I'm going for a shower.'

4
    Inspector Janne Alinder answered the first call of his
evening shift three seconds after it had started. He hadn't
even sat down.
    'Police, Majorna-Linnéstaden, Alinder,' he said, flopping
down on to his swivel chair. It creaked under his
weight.
    'Hello, is that the police for Linnéstaden?'
    Come on, what have I just said? he thought. It was
always the same. Nobody ever listened. Was it his fault,
or the caller's? What did they want confirming? It would
be better just to say 'hello', as the question was bound
to come anyway.
    'This is the police station in Tredje Långgatan,' he
said, spelling it out in detail.
    'It's my little girl,' said the voice: it could belong
to a young woman, or a middle-aged one. He