“Ah, an amazing piece of art, isn’t it?” the woman said. “You can really feel the love in it.”

Jeppe nodded. The averted gaze, the light on the dark surfaces, it really was a beautiful drawing.

“Malin’s sister, Jenny, drew it. They’re a pair of talented sisters, you’ve got to admit.”

A thought formed in Jeppe’s mind, a silent bubble. Without quite understanding why, he got the feeling that he shouldn’t be leaving this office.

You can really feel the love.

“THERE’S SOMETHING YOU should know about me.”

Mads fumbled and then pulled a picture out of his back pocket with his free hand. The other one was still holding Anette in an iron grip. The picture was of a child, round-cheeked and smiling, with little braids and big eyes.

“This isn’t easy for me. I’ve never talked to anyone about it before…”

“Who is she?” Anette let her free hand stretch out to the left, until her fingertips reached a heavy swan display.

“Olga, her name was Olga. She was only four.”

She locked her hand around the display. Her left arm wasn’t as strong as her right but strong enough.

“She died 268 days ago today. We buried her ashes under an apple tree on my parents’ farm.” Mads let go of Anette and set down the picture, then covered his eyes with both hands. “My daughter, Olga Marie Teigen. She died almost a year ago. I often wish I had died with her.”

“What happened?”

He removed his hand but didn’t look at her.

“Melanoma, it happened so fast. Some say we were lucky that way.”

Anette let go of the swan display and rubbed her palm against her pants. Her heart was still racing, and she felt dizzy.

“We didn’t discover it in time. We thought it was a fungal infection and waited too long to take her to the doctor.… By the time Olga was finally admitted to National Hospital, things started moving at the speed of light. She was diagnosed after only a few days of testing and then started getting high-dose chemotherapy right away. But it was too late. Melanoma is rare in children, so we never thought.… Maybe if we had caught it earlier, if we had done something right away…”

Anette put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry for your loss.”

What else was there to say? She knew the fear of losing one’s child. It dwells in every parent. And Mads was living it.

He lifted his eyes and looked at her.

“I’m telling you, because… because I like you, Anette. And I have the sense that you like me, too.” He smiled. “But if we’re going to be anything to each other, then you need to know about Olga. Even if it’s almost impossible for me to talk about her.”