Iâve never heard of a prosecutor going to an autopsy.â
âPerhaps that says more about other prosecutors than about me?â
âDonât you like your colleagues?â
âI didnât say that.â
âIsnât it simpler in your position to let the police do the legwork?â
âI am not interested in what is simple.â
âYou know, as a prosecutor you can complicate an investigation.â
âIn what way?â
âBy calling attention to yourself.â
Hearing those words, Jana Berzelius decided to take the stairs down to the garage anyway. For every step she cursed Peter Ramstedt.
CHAPTER
SIX
THE ROCKING HAD STOPPED . They were traveling silently, shut inside the dark container.
âAre we there?â said the girl.
Her mama didnât answer her. Nor her papa. They seemed tense. Her mother told her to sit up. The girl did as she was told. The others also began to move. There was a feeling of unease. Several others were coughing and the girl felt the warm, stuffy air as it sought its way down into her lungs. Even her papa made a wheezing sound.
âAre we there now?â she said again. âMama? Mama!â
âQuiet!â said Papa. âYou must be completely quiet.â
The girl became grumpy and pushed her knees up toward her chin.
Suddenly the floor shuddered under her. She fell to one side and stretched out an arm to brace herself. Her mother got hold of her and held her close. It was silent a long, long time. Then the container was lifted up.
They all hung on tight in the cramped space. The girl gripped her mamaâs waist. But even so, she hit her head when the container landed hard on the ground. At last they were in their new country. In their new life.
Mama got up and pulled her daughter up too. The girl looked at Danilo, who was still sitting with his back to the wall. His eyes were wide open, and just like all the others he was trying to hear sounds outside. It was hard to hear anything through the walls but if you really concentrated then you could perhaps distinguish weak voices. Yes, there were people talking outside. The girl looked at her papa and he smiled at her. That smile was the last thing she saw before the container was opened and daylight poured in.
Outside the container stood three men. They had something in their hands, something big and silvery. The girl had seen such things before, in red plastic that sprayed water.
One man started to shout at the others. Something weird was on his face, an enormous scar. She couldnât help but stare at it.
The man with the scar came into the container and waved the silvery thing. He was shouting all the time. The girl didnât understand what he said. Neither did her parents. Nobody understood his words.
The man went up to Ester and pulled at her sweater. She was scared. Esterâs mama was also frightened and didnât realize what was happening until it was too late. The man pulled Ester and held her in a firm grip around her neck as he backed away, all the time with the silvery thing pointed at Esterâs mama and papa. They didnât dare do anything; they stood there completely still.
The girl felt somebody take a firm hold of her arm. It was Papa, who quickly pushed her in behind his legs. Her mama spread out her skirt to cover the girl even more.
The girl stood as still as she possibly could. Behind the skirt she couldnât see what was happening. But she could hear. Hear how the grown-ups started to shout. They were shouting no, no, NO! And then she heard Daniloâs desperate voice.
âMama,â he shouted. âMama!â
The girl put her hands over her ears so that she wouldnât have to hear the other childrenâs crying and shrieking. The voices of the grown-ups were worse. They were crying and shrieking too, but they were much louder. The girl pressed her hands even harder against her ears. But then after a while, all became