He’d even tried punching in the four-number code from the larger of the keys as a passcode to the marina’s boathouse, but had been rewarded with nothing but an angry red diode.

‘But we can help.’ Matilda turned to Theodor. ‘We’d help, right?’

‘Of course,’ Theodor said with a nod.

‘That’s very sweet of you. But either way, it takes half a lifetime to get dock space at the marina. I remember, we had slip fifty-two and my dad was on the waiting list for the one next to ours, which was a few feet wider. But we never got it.’

How could he not have thought of that? Of course that was what the numbers 0388 on the key meant. It wasn’t a passcode like he’d thought, it was a slip number, and given that there were four digits, it should be in one of the larger marinas, with more than a thousand slips.

‘Fabian, would you mind backing me up here?’ Sonja turned to him.

‘Um, I’m sorry… But isn’t Råå Marina pretty big? It is, right?’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Sonja looked from Fabian to the children, who looked no less surprised than she did, and back.

‘Wow, Theo, hear that?’ Matilda hugged her brother. ‘He’s on our side.’

If Elvin had had access to a boat, of course it would have been docked at Råå.

87

Irene Lilja carried the last bin bag of clothes out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She’d been packing more or less all weekend. Box after box, of which at least half were going straight to the landfill. But it was worth it. She wasn’t going to leave so much as a hairclip behind. When she was done, there’d be no sign she’d ever even set foot there.

As expected, Hampus had trailed her like a grovelling dog, tying himself in knots trying to make her change her mind. He’d tried everything from flowers every Friday to a trip to the Galapagos Islands. He’d even offered going to therapy and letting her choose which party he voted for in the next election.

But unlike all the previous times, she’d stood firm and ignored him. As expected, it hadn’t taken him long to transition from anxiety to anger channelled into threats about how she’d never be free of him and how it made no difference that she refused to tell him where she was moving since he was going to find her anyway.

That was exactly why she’d told him she was moving out on Monday instead of right now when he was at Ring Knutstorp, drinking beer and watching cars drive round and round a bumpy track, adding to climate change.

The only question was when he was going to be home.