“It does suggest that they were not looting,” Maja agreed, “but if the maps were taken in order to access or conceal a specific location, wouldn’t you expect them to take all the references to that location? Three maps are gone. My guess is that whoever took them was either looking for something so difficult to find that multiple references were necessary, or that they were trying to keep other people from finding that place. In either case, every reference to the location should have been relevant, which would suggest that the areas of interest are not the ones found on the older maps.” Or that the older maps were antiquated enough to be of no use, or that the maps had disappeared for some other purpose entirely; the whole thing made Maja’s head hurt.
William brushed his hand across his face and Maja felt a brief flash of sympathy; he looked tired, a bit worn about the edges – and with good reason, in this castle with its secrets and traps and enchanted doorknobs. Then he began to probe, and she stiffened. He looked young and weary and quite guileless, and she had no reason to trust him. “Several artifacts went missing a few years ago from the care of the Swedish Ministry,” she said shortly in answer to his question. “I traced the thieves here. They could be anywhere, but given the nature of these particular objects, I think it likely that they were hidden as obscurely as possible.”