If Håkan Almquist thought he was going to find his daughter in a room like one of these, his expectations were soon dashed. But I suppose he took very little notice of his surroundings, for when Liv saw him she screamed. It must be disconcerting for a parent when his child reacts like that and Liv’s father certainly seemed distressed. He sat down heavily on one end of the sofa. Wim was on the other end, wearing his plum-colored tunic, and consuming a breakfast of Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut chocolate and what looked like a banana milkshake. Liv’s screams turned to crying, the tears rolled down her cheeks, while she shouted, “I am not going home, I am not, I am not!”

There’s a saying that home is where they have to take you in, which to my mind implies that it’s a last resort. You don’t want to go there and they don’t want you but there’s really no option. I hadn’t reached that point (though I did eventually) and if Liv had, she was still fighting it. Mr. Almquist spoke to her in Swedish and she replied in that language until, suddenly, she said, very loudly and clearly, “I am British now. I stay here and become a British person.”

Sweden was not in the European Union at that time and in order to stay Liv would have needed a work permit, which she must have had while working for James and Claudia. Mr. Almquist, still speaking Swedish, mentioned their names, and Liv began shouting again.

“They are never giving me a reference. I tell you, they hate me. They like to see me dead. That is why I never can go in the street. Do you understand now? I never can go down into the street.”

Plainly the poor chap didn’t understand. Silver tried to explain, but of course he knew better than to mention the money or the car crash, so Håkan Almquist became more and more mystified. All the while Wim sat there finishing his milkshake and the last square of his chocolate. I won’t say I never saw him eat anything but chocolate but it was his staple food, his rice or his potatoes you might say, and the occasional slice of pizza or packet of crisps was just garnish. Liv seemed to be directing her sobs and cries at him as much as at her father, perhaps she thought it made her attractive. He ignored her. He might have been quite alone in the room. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had got up and climbed out of the window, but Liv’s father would have been.