‘Aww,’ she says at last. ‘Fuck it. I’m so dramatic. I’ll tell you when I know more.’ She looks up at Klara: ‘What was it you wanted?’

Klara looks at her. She should nag Gabi to tell her what’s going on, but she knows it’s futile. When Gabi makes up her mind there’s nothing anyone can do to change it, especially if it has to do with her job. But it’s still a relief that this is job-related, Klara thinks, that Gabi’s irritation isn’t because she’s tired of Klara.

‘No, I just thought I heard something,’ Klara says. ‘A car outside.’ She points over her shoulder to her own room. ‘It was headed here with its headlights turned off.’

‘Out on the road?’ Gabi says.

‘Headed down towards us, towards the hostel,’ Klara says.

Without a word, Gabi goes past her into the hall and into Klara’s room. The lights inside are turned off, and Gabi goes over to the window, stares intensely out into the darkness. The only sound is the radiator knocking, the wind whining around the house. No engine. No lights.

Gabi turns around and puts a hand on her cheek.

‘It’s been a long day for both of us,’ she says. ‘It’s time for us to go to bed.’

‘But there was something,’ Klara says. ‘I saw a car earlier that seemed a little off… after the funeral… it drove down to the campsite… there’s nothing there at this time of year…’

She looks at Gabi, but at the same time she hesitates. What was off about it anyway? Maybe it was just someone taking a driving lesson. But in this weather? Of course, it could have been anything – maybe someone got lost – and right now she’s not even sure if she really heard that engine, saw the lights.

‘Okay, okay,’ Gabi says, holding up her hands. ‘If it makes you feel better, we’ll look.’

Klara sees it. Gabi is trying to calm her by making it seem like it’s ridiculous that some mysterious cars would be out here. Which of course it is. But at the same time there’s something in Gabriella’s eyes that’s not totally convincing.

*

It takes a few minutes to find a couple of flashlights, and then they spend a half hour in the snow and wind searching the parking lot in front of the hostel, but they don’t find anything. Not even any tyre tracks.

Now they’re back in the living room of the hostel, wet and frozen.

‘You’ve been through a lot,’ Gabi says. ‘You’ve been through the wringer, friend.’