All she can do is grit her teeth and put up with the situation. Wait for the right moment to repair the gash Friberg has just inflicted on her authority. Hopefully, it will come along very soon. After meeting his gaze through the car window, she is quite certain that what happened was neither a coincidence nor a one-off.

When she sees the sign for Tabor, she decides to let go of work, at least for tonight.

‘Who was that you were chatting to?’ she asks.

‘Nobody. A couple of girls from school. We were on the same train,’ Agnes mumbles, eyes fixed on the screen.

‘Do they live in Nedanås too?’ She knows it’s a stupid question, and expects to have her head bitten off. Instead, she gets a neutral ‘Mm’ in response, which encourages her to try again. ‘So, what were you talking about?’

‘Nothing special. There’s some kind of party in the park on Friday. Caia Bianca is coming, so everyone’s really excited.’

‘Who?’

Agnes looks up and sighs. ‘Seriously, Mum? Caia Bianca. She’s a reality TV star, turned blogger, turned businesswoman. She’s got her own makeup brand; she often appears as a judge on TV talent shows.’ She fiddles with her phone, then shows Anna a picture of a platinum blonde with pouty lips, cheeks that owe a great deal to fillers, and a smooth, shiny forehead – thanks to Botox.

‘Oh, her,’ Anna says. She still hasn’t a clue who Agnes is talking about.

‘Apparently, she grew up in Nedanås, but she doesn’t seem to come here very often. Like I said, everybody’s really excited. They couldn’t talk about anything else on the train. Big deal.’

‘Right – well, we don’t have any plans for Saturday, if you want to go?’

Agnes gives a snort of derision. ‘No chance.’

*

Anna parks right by the door. She can hear Milo barking in the kitchen. He is beside himself, bouncing up and down around Agnes as soon as the door opens before shooting off into the forest like a small white arrow.

‘Milo!’ Agnes calls anxiously. She looks as if she’s about to go after him.

‘Leave him for a while,’ Anna says. ‘He hasn’t eaten since this morning, so he must be hungry. We’ll give him ten minutes, and if he’s not back by then I’ll help you catch him, OK?’

Agnes bites her lower lip the way Håkan used to do, sending a pang of loss through Anna’s heart. Sometimes they’re so alike it hurts.