Her fingers press every button they find, but nothing happens. The bend is rushing towards them. Anna grips the wheel with both hands and wrenches it to the side. The tyres screech on the tarmac and she steers into the curve, just as she learned on the emergency response driving course many years ago. She almost makes it. She thinks she’s done it, but in the middle of the sharp turn the back wheels lose their grip, and she realises that the worst is about to happen.

‘Hold on tight!’ she shouts. The car leaves the road sideways, the engine roars, and for a couple of seconds it feels as if time has slowed down. Every detail becomes incredibly clear: Lisa’s horrified expression, the lights on the instrument panel, the feeling of the smooth leather on the steering wheel pressing against the palms of her hands, the warning beep, the sound of Simon Vidje’s soft voice coming through the speakers.

‘. . . dark and lonely waters.’

The car spins through the air and she sees the ground approaching through the side window. She even manages to close her eyes and prepare herself before the impact makes time switch from slow motion to double speed.

Agnes and Lisa scream, Milo produces something between a bark and a howl, then everything is drowned out by the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass. The car rolls down the slope, over and over and over, up becomes down, the whole world is blurred. They hit a tree, change direction, hit another tree.

A fresh blow crushes the roof above her, and she throws herself across the gear stick to protect her head. Suddenly they are weightless again, and Anna sees something sparkling outside the window. Just as the car plunges into the river, she realises what it is.

Shit, she thinks before the broken windscreen shatters and there is nothing but the dark and lonely waters pouring into the car.

Chapter 54

54

Autumn 2017

WAKE UP ANNA WAKE UP ANNA WAKE UP ANNA!

Håkan’s voice echoes inside her head and for a millisecond she is filled with joy. He is talking to her again!

Then she remembers where she, Agnes and Lisa are: in a car filled with ice-cold, dark water. She is lying across the gear stick, her head halfway beneath the rapidly rising surface of the water, and when she tries to sit up, she discovers that she is trapped. She wriggles to try and free herself, and feels something pulling across her neck and shoulder. The seat belt. She manages to find the release button, and at the same time she pushes so hard with her feet that she bangs her head on the roof, which has been partly crushed. White light explodes, and she almost passes out again.

AGNES! Håkan shouts. YOU HAVE TO HELP AGNES!