‘It’s strange, isn’t it,’ Cecilie said. ‘It’s at times like these you discover who your true friends really are.’ She poured a bit of milk into her cup and stirred. ‘At first everyone wants to pay their respects. We’ve received flowers, cards, messages of support and love from God knows where. It’s when things start to calm down a bit you really need people. When the emptiness fully hits you. That’s when you need something – someone – to help get you through the days.’

I thought about my mother, who had recently said something similar. She’d also been angry at the woman sitting in front of me.

As though she’d read my mind, Cecilie said: ‘I wasn’t a very good friend to your mother after your dad died. It was a very difficult time for me too. Your father was a good friend of mine. A good colleague.’

I remembered what Tom Hulsker had said about them.

Cecilie looked away. ‘The accident had a deep impact on me. My grief … it was hard for me to explain or control.’

She looked up at me. Old grief mixed with new.

‘I think your mother was disappointed with me,’ she said. ‘The fact that I wasn’t there for her when she needed me most. But I just couldn’t, not when…’ Again she turned her head away.

I wasn’t sure I knew what she meant.

She looked at me again and smiled. ‘You’re very much like your father,’ she said. ‘You’ve got the same chin. The same eyes. Your hair’s a bit longer, though.’

She smiled again.

‘Mari seemed to be really interested in my dad just before she…’

Cecilie’s smile vanished in an instant. Then she stood up and went over to the table in the corner. It was where we’d had dinner together. She grabbed the back of a chair and just stood there, holding on to it. She was crying, even though she didn’t make a sound.

‘Did she ever tell you why she split up with me?’ I asked.

It took a while before Cecilie nodded. Then she shook her head. ‘She couldn’t be with you, Even,’ she said, suddenly overcome with tears. It sounded like an echo of the message Mari had sent me the day she dumped me. That I was the best guy, but that she just couldn’t be with me any longer.

I got up and slowly moved closer to Cecilie. ‘Why?’ I asked.

She sniffed. ‘Have you really not guessed it yet, Even?’

I shook my head. ‘Guessed what?’

Cecilie took a deep breath, lifted her shoulders, then dropped them again. ‘Your father and I, we … we were more than just good friends,’ she said, with a sob. Then she gave me a piercing look.