‘Liney, are you ready?’ she asked, turning her back to him but making an effort to sound distracted and busy as he trudged into the kitchen. His backpack was bulging, and his shoes were already on.

‘Yes.’ His face was still kissed with sleep, his eyes heavy. Bell knew he’d fall straight back asleep in the car.

‘Now, seeing as this is a special occasion today, do you want to bring the iPad?’

The boy frowned, roused from his early-morning stupor by the question. ‘Huh? You never let me take the iPad from the house.’

‘But today . . .’ Hanna’s voice fractured and she quickly forced another grim smile. ‘Today is our special day. A one-off. Go get it.’

‘I can bring it?’

‘That’s what I said, didn’t I? But hurry. We’re just about to leave.’

Linus gave a small squeal of delight.

‘Agh!’ Hanna said, hushing him before he got too excited. ‘And go up the stairs quietly, please. Your sisters are sleeping.’

‘Yesss!’ Linus stage-whispered, punching the air, his gaze sliding over to Bell. ‘Did you hear, Bell? We’re going on an adventure, just the three of us.’

‘I did!’ Bell gasped happily, falling into her role and pressing a hand over her heart. ‘How lucky are we?’

‘It’s going to be the best day ever!’ he said, dropping his rucksack to the floor and running from the room and back up the stairs like a stampeding wildebeest.

Bell looked back at Hanna to find her and Max staring across the room at one another in agonized silence.

No, today definitely wasn’t going to be that.

Chapter Four

They stole away from the city, leaving Stockholm’s waterways and copper roofs at their backs as they headed north on the E4, passing beneath vast green signs and a rosy sky until endless forests of pines lined the route. Linus remained resolutely awake, the novelty of his tablet on his lap keeping him engaged. Conversation between Bell and Hanna was muted.

Bell had so many questions she wanted to ask, but it was impossible with Linus sitting in the back seat. Every so often she glanced across at her boss, seeing how Hanna’s knuckles blanched white on the steering wheel, her gaze set dead ahead with laser-beam focus, even though traffic was light. What must it be like to be driving towards a husband she hadn’t had a conversation with in seven years – a father whose son had almost grown up without him? What would their first words be? Hello? How are you? What’s the weather like out there? You grew your hair? You cut your hair? She frowned. Would the physical changes in Hanna alert him to the time he had lost? Did he know that almost a decade of his life had slipped past?

So many questions, and not one answer. It wasn’t her business and yet, she had been pulled into this story too.

They arrived in Uppsala before eight, Hanna pulling into a car park with an easy familiarity that suggested she knew it well. Bell looked around with mild curiosity as she stepped out of the car. Kris had told her it was Sweden’s fourth city, but there was nonetheless a quaint, small-town feel to the place, the skyline pierced by the dramatic gothic towers of a cathedral to the west. There were immediate similarities to Stockholm: the coloured buildings in red and yellow, every wall punctuated by multitudes of windows to maximize the northern light, barrelled mansard roofs. But unlike the capital’s wide, pale roads, here the streets were cobbled and shaded with a froth of trees; and the city was bisected not by the sea but a rushing river with cafes strung along its banks.