‘Shut up, Kristina,’ he says, kicking the cabin’s door open, letting a gust of icy air inside. ‘Shut up. I need to think. I don’t… I don’t believe you.’ Eirik steps outside and begins to drag me toward the trench he’s dug in the snow, up toward an inky black night sky throbbing with stars. I bite my lip to stop myself from screaming out loud from the pain in my leg; I don’t want to antagonize him more than I have to.

I glance at the rifle cabinet on the wall in the hallway and notice that it is still open and empty. Where is the rifle? Last night when Eirik came back inside the cabin from inspecting Leah’s body, he said he’d brought the weapon back with him and secured it in the cabinet. Smart – that would justify to the police why his fingerprints are on it. So where is the rifle? Is he planning on giving me the same ending as Leah – a shattered skull, a bared ice-blue toe on the trigger, a spray of blood in the snow?

‘I killed her, Eirik,’ I say, my voice trembling, then breaking as I speak the words out loud. ‘I killed them both.’

‘You’re fucking with my head, Kristina. I know you are. You’re trying to manipulate me, just like you always manipulate everyone, knowing full well that your calm demeanor falsely makes everyone trust you, but it doesn’t work on me, not anymore—’