Hidden in Lies (The Åre Murders #4)

Prologue

The ?re valley is trapped in the depths of the winter chill.

It is so cold that the air is crackling, and the temperature has dropped to minus twenty-five degrees Celsius. The wide slopes are empty and deserted, even the flashing yellow lights of the snow groomers have disappeared. They have completed their work for today.

Everyone is sleeping in the January night.

The body is lying outside the luxurious timber house, high up in the area known as Sadeln.

One cheek is resting on the snow; the eyes are closed against eternity.

Thick clouds hide the stars. The sky is black. The building seems to melt into the darkness, and the faint illumination from the external lighting spreads a ghostly glow over the outside area.

Enough to see, but not be seen.

A few snowflakes drift down from the sky and settle on the frozen face.

Everything is still.