‘Happy? Why would I be happy?’ Regret was pointless. It was already too late, even though he’d been in his son’s room for less than thirty seconds. ‘You know what Mum and I have said about drinking before you’re eighteen.’ Apparently, this was all his son had to do to throw him completely off balance.

In an attempt to steer the conversation in a gentler direction, he took a deep breath, walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. ‘Look, I wasn’t exactly teetotal at your age either.’ He met Theodor’s eyes. ‘It’s not that I don’t understand that people your age need to break rules and try forbidden things. And between you and me, I have no problem looking the other way if it’s two beers. But two beers is nowhere close to what you’ve had tonight. Can we agree on that?’

Theodor pondered that for a while before nodding.

‘Good. Because that actually wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about.’ He broke off again.

‘What? Did something happen?’

‘I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out.’ He simply had no idea how to go on. ‘We all make mistakes from time to time, don’t we? Take me, for instance. I’ve done my best, but I would also be the first to admit that I’ve hardly been the world’s best or most involved dad. And in the light of everything that’s happened, it’s clear I’ve made more mistakes than most. Mistakes that in some cases are so serious that we’re going to have to live with them for the rest of our—’

‘All right, stop, what are you on about?’ Theodor cut in. ‘It’s the middle of the night and I’m exhausted. Could we maybe talk about this some other time?’

‘I’m sorry.’ Fabian shook his head. ‘This is already some other time, or the time after that. Much as we might like to, we can’t put it off any more. I need to know, right now, what really happened that night you came home, beaten black and blue and with a gun down your trousers.’

Finally, a reaction. In the form of an eye-roll, sure, but it was better than nothing.

‘We’ve already talked about that. I don’t even know how many times.’ Theodor shook his head. ‘I was walking through Slottshagen on my way to meet up with some friends and these blokes appeared and—’

‘You’re right,’ Fabian interrupted. ‘That particular story I’ve heard enough to last me a lifetime. But that’s not what really happened, is it?’

‘Of course it fucking is.’ Theodor glared at him from bloodshot eyes.