Her instinct had been to say no. She had no desire to drive all the way into Dunker and take the ferry over to Frisel to break into some luxury villa. She didn’t give a damn if Luna had called or not or about what was going to happen with the rest of the recording sessions. But after Sigrid’s takedown, Karen Eiken Hornby had wanted to prove she wasn’t impossible.

Not impossible at all.

And, what’s more, she was getting curious.

‘I’m on my way there now,’ Kore had said, ‘but I’d feel a lot better if you and Leo came with me.’

‘If you’re so worried, I don’t understand why you’ve waited so long to go out there.’

‘I don’t exactly love the idea of breaking into someone else’s house. And what the fuck do we do if something has happened to her? If she’s hurt or . . .’

‘Seriously? Well, calling an ambulance is always a good option. But sure, whatever, I’ll go with you if you really want me to. We can be there in’ – she had checked her watch – ‘just over an hour.’

*

Leo is driving very responsibly, a little too within the speed limit in fact, Karen notes after yet another glance at the speedometer.

She rolls down her window a few inches and lets the wind cool her cheeks and forehead. Looks out at the landscape and feels her shoulders relax. Studies the rolling hills that are just turning green, the sheep moving lazily along the slopes, and the lambs that stray further and further from the ewes every day. They have all summer and part of the autumn to live, then the fairy tale ends, she thinks and feels a pang of melancholy. She turns her head to catch a glimpse of the sea on the other side instead, but Leo is blocking her view.

I shouldn’t have let him drive, she thinks and turns her attention to the road.

‘What are you thinking about?’ he asks. ‘Sigrid again?’

‘No, just the impermanence of life,’ she mumbles with a glance at her watch. ‘There’s a ferry in thirteen minutes . . . If we miss that, it’s a half-hour wait.’

‘But I thought you said you didn’t want me to—’

Leo breaks off. Then he steps on the accelerator.

*

Kore is sitting in his car at the bottom of the driveway. When Leo pulls in behind him, he opens the door and climbs out. He looks tired, Karen thinks and notes that his black hair is neatly pulled back from his pale forehead, for once. No eyeliner today, no plaits, no bandana around his head, no earrings. Just the tattoos on his scrawny upper arms and his nose ring.

He flicks away his cigarette and hugs her.

‘I’m so glad you’re here.’