Then she turned around and left the bedroom. In the kitchen, she took out two pieces of crispbread, decided against the usual smear of butter and put three slices of cheese on each. She sat down at the table to eat but realized that she wasn’t hungry anymore.

She got up and tossed the sandwiches in the garbage. She went into the bathroom instead to shower.

For thirty-eight minutes.

* * *

“What are you doing here?” Pim asked in English, her eyes wide. “Municipal Council” was written in pale letters on her shirt, above her left breast. She stared at Jana Berzelius with fear in her eyes.

“Don’t be afraid,” Jana answered in English as well. “I just have a question for you.”

“About what?”

“I have to ask... The man who held you prisoner...”

Pim turned quickly onto her side with her back to Jana.

“Listen to me. This is important!”

But Pim didn’t answer.

“I need to find him, and you are the only one who knows where I can find him.”

“I’ve already told you everything I know.”

“Then we’ll go over it all again.”

“I don’t know where he is.”

“But you know where you were.”

Pim suddenly said something in Thai.

“I didn’t understand what you said,” Jana said.

“I said that I don’t want to talk to you.”

Pim quickly raised her hand to the emergency call button. Jana reacted instantly, throwing herself forward and blocking Pim’s arm just two inches from the button. She twisted it and put her other hand over Pim’s mouth.

“Don’t do that again,” Jana said, meeting Pim’s panicked eyes. “When I take my hand away, you’re going to tell me exactly where you and the man I’m looking for were. Okay?”

Pim swallowed and nodded.

Jana slowly removed her hand from Pim’s mouth but maintained her grip on her arm.

“I don’t know...but I heard...water.”

“Okay,” Jana said.

“It was cold.”

“And?”

“That’s it.”

“And there was another girl named Isra in the room?”

“Yes.”

Jana thought for a short moment.

“This man who kept you, did he whip you?”

Pim looked up at Jana with confusion on her face.

“No.”

“Did he scratch you?”

Another, even more confused expression.

“No.”

“Do you cut yourself?”

“No!”

“Then I’m wondering...” Jana said, taking hold of Pim’s arm again, examining her arm and hands, “how you got these big scratches. Show me your neck.”

Pim leaned her head to the side. The sores on her neck were a jumble of lines and crosses. Some were deep, others were wide.

“I think you were somewhere surrounded by branches. And that when you ran away, you were scratched by all of the branches. Is that right?”

Pim flushed, pulling her leg under the comforter.

“I don’t know how to get there,” she said quietly.

“But it’s enough if you describe it.”