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definitely had not had enough coffee for this kind of morning. She needed all her focus for this case.
    “There are too many guns in this city,” she muttered as she headed toward the nearest coffee pot.
    W HEN I RENE TRIED calling the Vasastan apartment, she could only get Sanna’s mother, who apologized and told Irene that their doctor had prescribed Sanna some sleeping pills for the night and she was still asleep. It wouldn’t be possible totalk to her until later that afternoon. She and Irene agreed that the detectives would come over at around two o’clock.
    “So, what do we do now?” asked Tommy. He was busy cleaning his ears with a cotton swab, an unnerving habit. Irene kept pointing out that it was a dangerous one, telling him her doctor said you shouldn’t put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear. Tommy would agree, and then he’d turn the cotton swab around to work on the other ear. We’re just like an old married couple, Irene thought, though she never said so out loud. They had been students together at the Police Academy in Stockholm, where they’d been the only ones in their class from Göteborg, and had been good friends ever since.
    Tommy got up, the cotton swab still in his ear. “I wonder about the first Mrs. Ceder, the one who died in the sailing accident. Maybe we should look into that.”
    “What’s the connection? By the way, have you figured out what B:son stands for?”
    “It’s an abbreviation for Bengtsson. I checked it out yesterday. Now, back to the accident. No, I don’t really think that they’re related, but it’s odd they both died unnatural deaths. What are the chances that both partners of a marriage suffer violent deaths? Even fifteen years apart?”
    Irene thought about that. “You may be right. According to Stridner, Ceder inherited a lot of money from his wife. It’s never without cause that my police instincts go on alert.”
    “Always follow your instincts.”
    “Go ahead and investigate yours, too,” said Irene. “Meanwhile, I’m going to poke around Askim and see what I can find.”
    T HE K AEGLER -C EDER FAMILY house sat upon a hill at the end of a long driveway. A path of flagstones led to the front door, but beyond that, the rest of the property was a dreary clay field: not a single bush or tree to obscure unwanted anddangerous visitors. An ideal situation for Irene and Tommy; someone must have seen something.
    But no one had seen a thing. The house was far from the closest neighbors, who were away on vacation to the Mediterranean. They were retired, according to a second, talkative neighbor, and weren’t expected home until the end of the month. The chatty informer had been gone herself the evening in question, attending an investment club meeting—“Mostly just to meet with friends, since the stock market isn’t doing much these days”—and didn’t arrive home until just before midnight. Her husband had been in Brussels on a business trip since Sunday evening.
    The third neighbor was not as pleasant or helpful. He was late-middle-aged, overweight, and bald. Irene had to ring the doorbell several times before he came to open the door. When he finally did, he wore a light-blue, plush bathrobe that, once upon a time, might have been elegant, but now wasn’t much more than a rag. It was hard to tell what stank more, the bathrobe or its owner, but the stench of stale alcohol probably emanated from the man’s very pores. He’d stuffed his bare feet into a pair of worn-out leather slippers. He hadn’t seen or heard a thing last night.
    “I don’t understand what you want from me. I was watching television all night. I didn’t see nothing.”
    “I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but we have to ask a few more routine questions. Do you live alone?”
    “Yes,” he grunted.
    “Any cars come by and head up the hill?”
    “Not that I know,” he said, irritated. “So what happened?”
    “A man living in the new house has been