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tiny hill in the playground. It was the first winter the Huss family had spent in the townhouse neighborhood, and the twins had gotten used to their new surroundings quickly. They’d found lots of new friends, but that had created some friction between the Huss family and their childless neighbors, who did not appreciate the children running through their flowerbeds during their wild games. Mr. Bernhög had come over to Irene and Krister to complain many times. Their relationship with the neighbors remained strained, but it was something they had to deal with now that they were living in a townhouse.
    I NSTEAD OF TAKING her usual route over the Västerleden highway after her workout, Irene drove over the Älvsborg Bridge. Sinéad O’Connor’s new hit, “Nothing Compares 2 U,” was on the radio. Irene sang along with the refrain and let her thoughts run freely.
    Even if Superintendent Andersson had decided to put aside the Björkil fire case, he couldn’t stop her from going out and taking a look at the area on her own time. Even though they were swamped with other cases, Irene couldn’t let this one go. Perhaps it was a nagging feeling that she’d failed somehow. Perhaps it was the riddle that was Sophie. During the past few nights, the girl and her dark eyes had been haunting Irene’s dreams … and there was that unusual electric aura surrounding her. There were too many unanswered questions in this investigation. For her own peace of mind, Irene decided to keep digging. She was now convinced that they would never get the truth from Sophie.
    Lost in thought, Irene missed the turnoff and had to drive a few hundred meters past it before she could turn back. The road was not plowed, but there wasn’t much snow left, so Irene had no trouble driving on it. The shadows haddeepened between the trees, but the thin snow cover reflected the last glimmer of the fading sun.
    Irene sat in the car for a while and looked at the blackened remains of the house. A bit of the northside wall and the foundation were still there and looked like rotting teeth standing upright in the twilight. The rest of the remains were piles shoved into various corners of the burned area, covered by the thin snow.
    What had happened that late afternoon in November?
    There were a number of scenarios.
    The first one was the one Angelika insisted was the truth as Sophie had told her: the girl had come home, had a snack and then rushed off on her bicycle to make it to class. She did not notice that Magnus Eriksson was sleeping in the upstairs bedroom, and she also had not smelled any indication of a fire.
    In that case, there were also four possible ways the fire could have started.
    The first was most probable: Eriksson had been smoking in bed and had fallen asleep while his cigarette was still lit. It had happened before.
    The second was that the unknown Björlanda arsonist had struck again. Perhaps the arsonist had thought no one was home when he lit the fire.
    Naturally there was a third possibility: there could have been a short in the electrical system of the old cottage. However, the technicians had not found any indications that this was the case. In fact, they’d stated just the opposite. The electrical system had been replaced and was completely new.
    Then there was the question of candles. Angelika had been asked whether there were any candles in the house, which could have been lit and not snuffed out. Angelika had replied that she had no candles in the house at all since she’d not yet put out any for Advent. She was certain that herhusband would not have lit any candles and then forgotten about them. “He wasn’t the kind to have any candles around,” she’d said firmly.
    So that left the theory that kept bothering Irene. Sophie had come home from school and found her stepfather asleep, or passed out drunk, more likely, and therefore unable to wake up. The girl, in cold blood, could have set a fire and then ridden away on her bicycle