‘Attack!’ Marie yells again as she runs down the slope at the other end of the hollow. The wobbling beam makes it easier to locate the threat. The dogs are approaching; Milo barks again, but to no avail this time.

Anna sees Marie running towards her with the gun in one hand and the torch in the other. For a second the beam catches the other woman’s face; she looks both triumphant and excited. There is a second beam behind her, which must be Bruno’s torch.

We’re fucked, Anna thinks. Her body is about to give up.

Marie is still running, with the gun pointing straight at her. The light of the torch is reflected in the raindrops in the air, creating tiny flashes.

‘Att—’ Marie yells just as something moves among the wet leaves at her feet. One of Mats’s wolf traps clamps its serrated jaws around her leg with a horrible clang, transforming the command into a piercing scream.

Marie’s body maintains its forward trajectory. The chain attached to the trap looks like a black snake, rearing up from the leaves. When it reaches its full extent, it pulls her over with a sudden jerk. She is still holding the gun and the torch, and cannot save herself.

A millisecond before her face hits the ground, Marie sees what is waiting for her. Her eyes open wide, the scream changes tone and is cut off abruptly as a second trap closes on her neck.

The gun flies through the air but the torch drops by her side, illuminating the horrific scene being played out just metres away from Anna. Marie’s eyes are still open, her arms and legs are twitching, and a faint gurgling is coming from what is left of her windpipe.

‘Marie!’ Bruno hurtles through the hollow to his wife’s side. ‘Marie! No, no!’

He drops to his knees and tries to pull apart the metal teeth, but without success. Blood stains the leaves, diluted by the rain pouring down on Bruno as he continues to repeat his wife’s name, until she stops moving and he lets out a protracted howl of despair.

The German Shepherds limp over to Marie’s lifeless body and sit down on either side of her. After a few seconds first one, then the other joins in with Bruno’s howl.

Anna staggers over to the spot where the gun landed. She picks it up, brushes off the leaves and points it at Bruno.

‘It’s over,’ she says.

Chapter 62

62

Autumn 2017

Anna is standing in the doorway of Elisabet Vidje’s hospital room. The upper part of the bed is elevated so that the old woman can sit up. A nasal cannula is supplying her with oxygen, and along with her hospital gown and the rest of the equipment, it makes her look weak and frail. However, she is anything but weak.