She tells him to shut up, she knows what he’s doing, it’s not going to work this time either. But he’s not listening, he keeps going on and on at her. He is determined to break down her defences, sentence by sentence.

She deserves to know, Anna. She deserves the truth. You’ve put it off long enough. She’s strong. You’re strong. You can both cope.

Eventually she has to give in. She puts the Vidje and Rylander files in her briefcase, locks her office door and heads for her car. The emissions from the clay burning hover over the rooftops like a faint cloud of smoke. She doesn’t start the engine immediately, she just sits there.

So – what’s your decision? Do you want Henry Morell to go and tell Agnes you’ve been arrested? Or Jens Friberg? Do you want . . .

‘OK, OK!’ she screams, beating the wheel with her hands. ‘You can have it your way, but please shut the fuck up for a little while. Give me a chance to think things through in peace.’

Håkan doesn’t say another word. Anna takes a minute to compose herself, then starts the car and slowly sets off. Since the confrontation with Mats, her relationship with Agnes is back to square one – or worse. If they’re going to talk to each other, then she has to open with a peace offering. She drives over ten miles to the nearest shopping centre, finds the obligatory phone shop and buys the latest ridiculously expensive iPhone in a colour she thinks Agnes likes. She picks up two portions of sushi for dinner and makes it back to Nedanås just in time to collect her daughter from the train station.

Agnes is still sulking, but she accepts the present. When they get home Agnes transfers the SIM card from her old phone, and after messing with the new one for a while, she mumbles something that could possibly be interpreted as a thank you. Agnes takes Milo out while Anna sets the table. She spends most of their silent meal trying to gather her courage.

Can she do this?

Of course you can. You’re the strongest person I know, Håkan whispers. Do it now. For my sake.

*

As the moon appears, she goes into Agnes’s room and waits patiently until her daughter lowers her phone and gives her that now-what-do-you-want look.

‘The man who started the fight in the park has been found dead,’ she says. ‘It turns out he was with the others in the quarry the night Simon Vidje died.’

Agnes is interested. ‘Wow!’ The sullen expression disappears. ‘Can you tell me any more?’