Chapter 2
Detective Inspector Hanna Ahlander is having an early dinner with her older sister, Lydia, at the restaurant known simply as the Wine Bar; the place is packed.
It is just after seven, and they have ordered coffee and dessert.
Both have had a mild dose of COVID; otherwise they wouldn’t have dared venture out to this kind of environment.
They are sitting at a round table in the corner. At the long bar a few yards away, the bartender is busy preparing a tray of liqueur coffees for another party.
Lydia pushes back her blond hair and picks up her glass of Italian Ripasso.
The large diamond in her wedding ring sparkles in the candlelight.
She is a successful lawyer and owns a huge house in Sadeln, an area a few miles outside ?re.
That was where Hanna sought refuge the Christmas before last, when she was dumped by her partner Christian and sacked from her job with the Stockholm City Police on the same day.
Lydia, who is ten years older, has always been Hanna’s rock. She and her family have arrived in ?re to celebrate the Easter break, and the sisters have sneaked away to spend some time on their own.
“How’s work going?” Lydia asks, taking a sip of her wine. “I guess it’s been pretty quiet lately.”
Hanna nods. During the winter she has been mostly investigating narcotics crimes, and one or two cases of extortion. She is usually in ?re for a couple of days each week, and works from ?stersund the rest of the time, where she is attached to the Serious Crimes Unit—just like her colleague Daniel.
As usual she feels a stab of pain in her heart when she thinks of him.
As usual she ignores it.
Right now he is probably at home with Ida and their daughter, Alice, preparing Sunday dinner. That’s how it should be. He is with his family. That’s where he belongs.
She and Daniel are workmates, nothing more.
Hanna wipes her mouth with her napkin and pushes aside the forbidden thoughts. It has been more than a year since she realized she had deeper feelings for Daniel, and every day, she tries to make them go away.
Back then they were working together on the murder of the skier Johan Andersson, and grew very close.
Daniel has been a great support over the past year.
Hanna still wakes in the middle of the night after a terrible dream about the traumatic resolution of the case.
It has taken her a very long time to process what happened, and the burden of guilt because she didn’t manage to intervene quickly enough is always with her.
“What’s wrong?” Lydia asks.
Her sister is very good at picking up on small signals, but Hanna can’t tell her how she feels. Lydia gives her a searching look.
“Nothing,” Hanna replies dismissively.
Fortunately the waitress arrives with their desserts, distracting Lydia’s attention. Hanna tucks into her crisp apple pie with Marcona almonds, beautifully served on a bed of vanilla sauce. Lydia has chosen a chocolate mousse with cherries and meringue.
“Is it about a guy?” Lydia persists. “Have you met someone new?”
Hanna’s sister didn’t only take care of her when Christian broke up with her out of the blue—she also made sure that he shared the money from the sale of the apartment they had lived in together.
Without her, Hanna would have received nothing, and she wouldn’t have been able to buy a place of her own.
“I’m afraid not,” Hanna mumbles with her mouth full. “This is delicious,” she adds. “How’s yours?”
Lydia has no intention of dropping the subject, despite Hanna’s best efforts.
“Just because Christian behaved like a pig, it doesn’t mean all men are the same,” she points out gently.
Hanna sees Daniel’s face in her mind’s eye. The hazel eyes that can switch between warmth and gravity in a second, the short beard, the way his cheeks move when he smiles.
He is the one who has made her feel at home in ?re. They often travel to ?stersund together, and those are the best times in the whole week as far as Hanna is concerned.
Daniel would never have an affair behind Ida’s back, or try to con her out of money. He is totally different from Christian, a much better person.
But he is taken, Hanna reminds herself.
The music from the loudspeakers has been turned up, and the hum of conversation increases accordingly.
“It’s time to move on,” Lydia says. “Time to meet someone who really cares about you.”
“I know. I know.”
The problem is, Hanna has no idea how that is going to happen.
Not when she can’t stop thinking about Daniel.