Without a word he grabs her arm and pulls her towards him. The movement is so rapid and forceful that she doesn’t have time to react before she is out through the hole, hanging over Mats’s shoulder. Her eyes are still streaming, but she can just make out an old iron ladder propped against the side of the house. At the foot of the ladder is a little white shape with its hackles raised, tail up. Mats drops her on the ground right next to Milo, but the dog barely gives her a glance. His attention is on the corner nearest the yard, and a faint gurgling is coming from his throat. The icy rain soon brings her round; she coughs and points to the upper floor to let Mats know that someone else is still inside, but he is already halfway up the ladder. He reaches inside, and in no time Lisa’s apparently lifeless body is draped over his shoulder. Anna gets to her feet, rubs the rain and soot from her face and helps Mats to lay Lisa down. Her face is stained with tears and soot and her eyes are closed, but within seconds her eyelids flicker and she starts coughing. Above them the flames break through the roof, hissing angrily as they meet the pouring rain.

‘H . . . how?’ she asks Mats. She can’t possibly form a sentence.

‘I saw that you’d called me from Aunt Elisabet’s phone, so I went up to the house. You were in the courtyard, and Marie was holding Grandfather’s gun. She and Bruno put the two of you in the back of the car with the dogs, even though you don’t like dogs. I heard her talking about Tabor. And a fire.’ He points to the hole at the top of the ladder. ‘I’ve got in that way at night a few times to look at the wall painting.’

The big man looks embarrassed despite the seriousness of the situation, and Anna understands why. He’s the one she’s heard up in the chapel at night. He’s come in without permission and crept around up there, but this is hardly the moment to get angry with him.

Milo growls again, louder this time. Anna listens carefully; she can just make out voices through the roar of the fire. Marie and Bruno are still in the courtyard, which means the danger is far from over.

‘We have to get away from here,’ she says, helping Lisa to her feet. ‘Can you run?’

Lisa nods, looking surprisingly determined.

‘This way,’ Mats says, loping off towards the forest. Anna takes Lisa’s right hand to help her along.