Nanna listened without comment, leaning forward slightly to shelter her face from the rain. Jeanette decided to try lighting a cigarette—she could also lean forward and protect the glowing tip with the palm of her hand and her body.

“It was freezing, so we decided not to go all that far from town. We stopped at the first good spot and ended up on a tiny road—for forestry work perhaps—next to a bigger road. We parked as far in as possible, which wasn’t that far from the road—thirty metres perhaps—but we were well concealed behind the trees. When he touched me, when he undressed me, I forgot about the daily grind and all the greyness. Everything I was questioning about the relationship and our future was forgotten. I was in the here and now, in his arms, and that was what I lived for. I was convinced that applied to him too. Peter.”

Jeanette handed the cigarette over to Nanna. She thought they could share it—they were about to share even more. Or perhaps it was the final time they were going to share anything.

“But we were interrupted. There was a deafening noise that broke the silence around us. We sat up, but couldn’t see anything from where we were. I hauled on my trousers and jumper and got out of one of the rear doors. I pulled on my boots that were outside and dragged my coat with me as I ran towards the main road. The noise had stopped, but when I came through the trees I saw what had happened. A car had come off the icy road and was at the bottom of a deep ravine. It was completely crushed—like a scrunched-up piece of paper. The engine had stopped, but there was still smoke coming from it. I assumed that no one could survive a crash like that. Then I raised my gaze and spotted another car—a blue Audi a little farther up the road. It reversed back to the spot where the car had left the road so the driver could look down into the ravine—that was my interpretation. So I got my mobile out of my pocket and photographed it. And I was probably right, because after standing there for a minute or so without the door opening, it drove off. The driver didn’t even bother to get out and see what they had done before they left the scene of the accident.”

Nanna nodded thoughtfully and took a final drag before handing the cigarette back to Jeanette. She still hadn’t given up faith in her. But it was probably just a matter of time. Jeanette finished the cigarette, flicked the stub into the rain and took a deep breath in preparation for the final and most frightening part of the story. The bit that kept her awake at night and tortured her, day in day out.

The bit about the big betrayal. The two big betrayals, to be precise.

28

Sandra

ONE EVENING WHEN Sandra had gone to bed, but still hadn’t fallen asleep, she heard footsteps on the porch. It happened fairly often when you lived in the country, and sometimes she would catch the intruder red-handed, sometimes she would see the tracks the morning after. In the summer they had no such needs, but during the rest of the year wild animals weren’t bothered by stairs if it was something edible they were after. A pot filled with wilting summer plants for instance, or like now: spring bulbs that were almost over.