Chapter 21
A glowing full moon surprises Hanna when she finally emerges from the police station after a fourteen-hour day.
The mountaintops beyond Lake ?re are sparkling, the moonlight is so bright that she can see her own shadow in the snow, and everything around her is in silvery tones.
In spite of the ongoing investigation, she is transfixed. Thoughts of the horrific homicide fade away. It is almost ten o’clock, Hanna is exhausted, but the cold, fresh air chases away her tiredness.
She stands there with her face turned up to the sky for a few seconds before reality catches up.
It is time to go home; she wants to make an early start tomorrow.
At least she knows that Henry Sylvester has an unshakable alibi for Sunday evening—that was the last thing she checked out before leaving the station.
Several witnesses have confirmed that he had dinner with them in Stockholm.
The moonlight accompanies her on the short walk to Solbringen.
The snow crunches beneath her feet as she walks up the hills.
After the last bend, her little house appears, bathed in a magical, luminous shimmer against the background of the dense forest, a brown gingerbread house that is hers and hers alone.
She takes her keys out of her pocket, and as soon as she opens the door, she is met by Morris’s meowing. He winds himself back and forth between her legs, even though Lydia has been over to feed him. He is so thrilled that she feels like a queen making her grand entrance.
Before she goes to bed, she must check on the local Facebook groups to see if anyone is missing a fluffy gray-and-white cat. Part of her hopes not. She posted on the noticeboard of the ?re police home page asking if anyone had inquired about lost pets, but so far there has been no response.
Hanna kneels down in the dark hallway, and Morris rubs his body against hers. He is purring like a tractor. When she strokes his head, he stretches his neck and closes his eyes; there is no mistaking his intense enjoyment.
She is covered in cat hairs, but it doesn’t matter.
It is so nice not to come home to an empty house.