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Henrik was standing at the door when Saga arrived. He was smiling, but she could tell he was nervous.
"Astrid's with a friend," he said, ushering her inside. "She'll be here in 15 minutes"
"Okay," said Saga. She was acutely aware of feeling unsure of what to do, and she stood in the foyer while Henrik walked back to the kitchen.
"So, she doesn't know a lot about the cases we've worked on, or about police stuff in general. She doesn't know that you were in prison, or about the, uh, pregnancy. She doesn't know that you lived here."
She suddenly felt even less sure of what to do.
"I didn't live here."
Her voice must have been too loud, because Henrik looked at her with surprise.
"Right," he said, and he crossed the space between them. "Right. Hi. Sorry. It's so good to see you."
"You just saw me yesterday."
Henrik smiled. "I'm nervous."
"Why?"
"I'm nervous because you're important to me, and so is Astrid, and it's a big deal for you to meet each other."
Saga nodded.
"That makes sense. Research shows that the developmental aspects of trauma on adolescent brains can be mitigated by a stable and loving home environment," she said.
Henrik gave her a long look. "Good thing we love each other then, you and I, right?"
Saga let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding. Sometimes it was nice when he understood how she felt. "Yes," she said.
"Will you please take your coat off now?"
She did, and Henrik took it from her. She watched while he hung it on a hanger.
Henrik talked a lot during dinner. Saga looked at Astrid, who smiled at her when Henrik told a story about their recent trip to Ikea. It was relaxing to let Henrik do the talking, but Saga knew he actually wanted her and Astrid to talk.
"You should eat," she said to him. The look he gave her was a combination of nervousness and understanding. He took a bite of his meat.
She turned to Astrid, and realized she wasn't really sure what to talk to her about. She asked the first thing that came to her mind: "How are the lunches at your school?"
Henrik jumped up from the table. "Does anyone need seconds?"
Astrid ignored him. "They seem fine so far," she said. "Better this month than last month."
"Good," said Saga.
Henrik brought a second helping of green beans to Saga's plate.
"Astrid is taking an art class," he said.
"Very good," said Saga.
Henrik served more green beans to Astrid. She immediately began to push them around with her fork.
"Aren't you a famous detective?" asked Astrid. "We read about you in the newspaper."
Henrik looked confused. "You were in the newspaper?"
"Only in Sweden," Saga explained.
"We used to play detectives in the woods outside the village."
Saga thought we probably meant Astrid and Anna. Henrik got that sad look, and Saga somehow instantly knew that he was about to ask Astrid a question that she wasn't going to want to answer.
"Do you remember the case you read about?" Saga asked, quickly.
"Yes, it had something to do with a private zoo," said Astrid. "The owner was the killer?"
Saga nodded, and ignored the expression on Henrik's face. "She had been feeding people to the primates and felines."
"We felt bad for the animals. I think we wanted to adopt the monkeys."
"They were capuchin monkeys. Not good pets," Saga clarified.
Astrid nodded, caught up in the memory. Henrik was watching them.
"Those monkeys went to the animal park in Ystad. All of the animals from that case did."
Astrid considered that. "Could we visit them?"
"Some of them might still be alive," said Saga, with a shrug.
"Cool," said Astrid. She turned to Henrik. "Could we?"
Henrik looked from Astrid to Saga. He seemed touched that Astrid had asked his permission. "Yes, of course," he said. "Definitely. Are you guys ready for dessert?"
"Yes," said Astrid. She was still looking at Saga.
"Do you remember any of the other cases you worked on when you played the detective game?" asked Saga.
Astrid did, and she told Saga about them. Henrik listened.
Astrid went to bed after dessert, and Saga helped Henrik with the dishes. Mostly, that involved standing near him while he did the dishes.
"You were good with her," he said.
"I was?"
"She opened up to you. She hasn't said much to me about Anna."
Saga nodded, considering that. "Maybe she thinks you're too interested. She doesn't know me as well."
"Yeah," said Henrik. He stacked the last dish in the rack, and wiped his hands on a towel.
"It's good that she felt sympathy for the monkeys."
"Mmm," said Henrik. He folded and refolded the towel, and then hung it back up. He didn't seem to want to talk more about Astrid's capacity for sympathy. Or maybe he was tired.
"If I say or do something wrong, will you tell me?"
He leaned against the counter, facing her. His body was very close to hers. "You won't."
"I might."
He smiled at her. "Yes, I would tell you."
"Good."
He gave her another long look. She tried hard not to wonder what was going to happen.
"Do you want to stay here tonight?" His voice was very soft.
"Are you sure it's okay?"
He took a little step forward, even closer to her. "Didn't I just tell you that I would tell you if it wasn't?"
"Yes, but—"
"You just keep walking into them," he said. "Hardly what I'd expect from the famous detective."
She knew he was trying to be clever, but she wasn't smiling because she thought he was funny. She just happened to be smiling anyway, because she was happy.