He thinks for a moment. ‘Mother died in 2007, so it must be ten years.’

‘Your father, Bengt – I gather he and Elisabet don’t get along.’

‘They can’t even be in the same room. It’s always been that way. Elisabet doesn’t like the fact that he sold Grandfather’s land to Glarea.’

‘And Henry Morell?’

‘They definitely don’t get along. Elisabet can be difficult. To be honest, Klein is the only one who can talk to her.’

‘I assume it’s because of Simon?’

Mats stares into his coffee cup. Anna decides to stop asking questions and allow the silence to do its work, but Mats doesn’t say another word – he just carries on munching his biscuit. Anna tries a different angle.

‘When Göran delivered Agnes’s moped the other day, he told me that Simon had built his own recording studio above the garage at Änglaberga. Did you see it?’

Mats looks up with a wry smile.

‘I was the one who built it, not Simon. He was no craftsman. I made a booth which we soundproofed with egg boxes, and a window so that you could see in. It turned out well.’ He smiles again, as if it’s a pleasant memory.

‘Were you there when he recorded his music?’

Mats nods. ‘He’d saved up for a proper reel-to-reel tape recorder. Sometimes he asked me to press the buttons while he was in the studio. He had a lovely voice. Everybody thought so. Everybody liked Simon.’ Mats falls silent, stares into his cup once more.

‘Did the rest of the gang come to the studio? Your sister, Alex, Bruno and Carina?’

He shrugs. ‘No. Simon didn’t like having people around. Only me and Karl-Johan were allowed in.’

‘Not your aunt or Klein? Why not?’

‘He said it bothered him.’

‘Was Karl-Johan often there?’

‘Now and again. His summer car was in the garage down below.’

‘Summer car?’

‘That’s what he called it. A red cabriolet with the steering wheel on the wrong side. It was beautiful, but it needed a lot of work. Karl-Johan used to open the door at the bottom of the stairs when he was tinkering with the car so that he could hear Simon playing. Simon would yell at him to shut the door and Karl-Jo would yell back, “OK,” but he’d leave it open.’

Mats inhales deeply as if all this talking has left him breathless. He empties his cup, glances at the track. ‘Do you think she’ll be back soon?’

‘Agnes? I’ve no idea.’ She tries to remember Agnes’s schedule, and immediately feels like a bad parent. ‘Would you like me to go inside and have a look?’

Mats shakes his head. ‘I need to go home. I’ll catch up with her another day.’ He puts his cup down on the tray, picks up his backpack.

‘I believe the studio was destroyed in a fire?’ Anna says.