‘It’s call Norrblicka nowadays,’ Marie says, with a small but noticeable grimace. ‘Were you looking for Bruno? Is it about Saturday night?’ She sounds worried.

‘No, I just took a wrong turning.’

Marie is clearly relieved. ‘It’s easily done – there are so many dirt tracks up here.’

One of the dogs lets out a low growl, but a sharp word from Marie silences him.

‘Would you like to come in? It’s a bit of a mess – as you can see, we’re living on a building site at the moment.’

Anna shakes her head. She isn’t feeling particularly sociable after the events of last night, and longs to get home for a shower and a nap.

‘Not today, thanks – some other time, maybe? This is quite a project.’ She nods in the direction of the house. ‘I hear it’s going to be a conference centre.’

Marie smiles wearily. ‘Well, that’s the plan – right now it feels like hard work. We only have water and electricity in half the house, and the fact that Bruno and the architect keep altering the design doesn’t exactly help.’

‘I’m sure it’ll be amazing when it’s finished.’ Anna doesn’t know why she says that, but she can’t help feeling a little sorry for Marie, living in the middle of this mess with her family.

The other woman nods. ‘That’s what I keep telling Bruno. Just between the two of us, he moans more than the kids about having to shower in the cellar.’

They exchange a smile.

‘Anna, before you go . . .’ Marie tilts her head to one side. ‘Bruno has a lot on, with the build and his father’s restaurant. Fabbe thinks he spends too much time here instead of doing his job. Bruno and Alex had too much to drink, and combined with the stress and everything else . . .’ She makes an apologetic gesture which makes both dogs look up at her.

‘I realise that’s no excuse, merely an explanation, but I wanted to apologise, and to thank you for your help. We’ve already sent the DJ a gift hamper to try and smooth things over, and needless to say we’ll replace all the equipment that was damaged,’ Marie concludes with an artificial smile.

‘According to Bruno, it was the song that triggered the whole thing,’ Anna says. ‘An old track by Simon Vidje that the DJ played?’

Marie is still smiling, but the reaction provoked by the name is clear to see in her face – anxiety, disgust, even fear.

‘I don’t know anything about that. It was so noisy I could hardly hear myself think.’