The back door of the van swung open and Diana immediately looked over. A young woman. The face under the hood of her sweater was ashen like a dead junkie’s. She shut the door behind her and when she realised Diana was watching her, she glowered back, and in those eyes there was no mercy because there was nothing at all.

The man handed her a plastic bottle, which she accepted with trembling hands and drank from while he gathered up the tape, which he then rolled into a ball.

‘Let’s go.’

He helped her up.

‘Where are we going?’

‘We’re just going for a little walk,’ he said and shoved the ball of tape into his jacket pocket.

They passed the cars; she glanced in through the windows. The sunshade with its suction cups. The hair elastics around the chubby gearstick. Seeing their car there was deeply confusing. It was usually parked outside the garage next to their house on Duvvägen and now it was here, at what felt like the end of the world.

The young woman was leaning against the van with her arms crossed, watching her. Diana was suddenly furious.

‘What the fuck did I ever do to you!’ she screamed. ‘Leave me alone! Leave me the fuck alone!’

The man softly told her to calm down and ushered her on. Across a stony plain. Further on, she could see the roof of a small lighthouse, an orange cone sharply outlined in the haze. The sound of the breaking waves grew louder and soon she could hear gulls screeching mindlessly.

She limped on. Her left leg ached and didn’t want to move. It was as though it had knowledge of something the rest of her was denying. He had given her water; he had been gentle with her hair. We don’t want you to go bald, he’d told her. So they couldn’t very well be planning to hurt her. Maybe if he’d been alone, a murderer who combed his victims’ hair with deranged care. But this wasn’t like that. This was about Susso, that cult she’d crossed. She wanted to ask where Susso was, but was afraid of what his answer might be.

Disorienting swaths of fog were drifting in and the mountain seemed to rise up like a ramp toward the overcast sky. Beyond the sharp edge of the cliffs there was nothing but a hazy void. What could be out there? There couldn’t be anything out there.

‘I need to pee,’ she said and after saying it, she stopped. She turned around and studied the man. He put his hand in his pocket and scooped something out. A slender, hairless body. Some kind of furless weasel with a deformed face and cruel little eyes.

‘You don’t need to pee,’ he said.

‘I’m afraid you’re going to hurt me.’

‘We’re just going for a walk.’

‘Where are we going?’