To make matters worse, she couldn’t hurry back. Of all the children she’d looked after over the years, Siri was the only one she’d never been able to pick up without scratching and loud protests. So they walked on at a snail’s pace.

An eternity later, with her heart pounding in her ears, they passed through the leafy archway. Siri immediately let go of her hand and scampered off to play with Quentin and Nova, who’d collected a pile of stones and were now busy arranging them in a straight line.

She saw Harald playing with Samuel, Ruben, Lisen and Sonja at the other end of the playground, and Ebba, Alva, Niki and Victor were on the big swing, waiting for a push. She spotted Vincent’s bright ginger mop of hair on its way across the bridge to the miniature copy of Helsingborg’s medieval tower, Kärnan, to go on the slide. And Melvin was in the sandpit.

At first glance, everything seemed calm, almost calmer than usual. And yet, every alarm bell in her head was ringing so loudly it was difficult to think.

The bench where the man with the backpack had sat was now occupied by two mothers with buggies that must’ve cost the equivalent of providing for an entire African village. But who wasn’t there? Who was missing? It was someone, she was sure of it. Every cell in her body was screaming at her that something was about to go terribly wrong.

Ester. Was Ester the one she hadn’t seen? She almost always played with Lisen, but right now Lisen was with Sonja, waiting for Harald to tag Ruben and Samuel. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Not again, she thought, spinning around one more time.

‘Harald,’ she called out, in a voice that had already given up hope. ‘Have you seen Ester?’

‘Ester?’ Harald replied, scanning the playground with a bewildered look on his face.

‘Yes, Ester Landgren with the yellow jacket and the blue tights,’ she said, even though she was sure he knew.

‘She was playing tag and was going to run and hide.’

‘Where, Harald?’ she said, grabbing hold of his jacket. ‘Where did she run and hide?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You don’t know?’

‘No, I had my eyes closed and was counting to twenty. But I’m sure she’s here somewhere.’

‘She was here somewhere! Where she is now, we apparently have no idea!’

‘The tower. Did you check the tower? Sometimes they hide in there.’

No, she hadn’t checked the tower, and on her way there, she wasn’t even able to try to hope they’d find the little girl. She’d already given up and could only watch as one scenario more horrible than the last played out in her mind. Even so, she burst into tears when, seconds later, she looked through one of the openings in the tower and confirmed what she already knew.