The car was in the driveway, its number plate spray-painted with splattered bugs, as a reminder of her trip to the latitude of death. The front door was locked, but she still called out. Kiruna called out too, but rather than shouting Daddy, she mimicked her mother and yelled Håkan.

‘Håååkan!’

The house was empty. Diana glanced out the terrace doors, but he wasn’t out there. A film of rain on the plastic garden furniture and further down the slope their neighbour’s sled like a forgotten temple in a jungle of weeds.

She went to the bathroom. Both the lid and the seat were up, which was odd because Håkan was always extremely meticulous about that and who else in their household would have put the seat up? But she didn’t give the seat any thought until much later.

She tore off some loo roll and held it in her hand while she peed. Afterwards, she stayed on the toilet, tapping out yet another message to Håkan. Then she changed her mind and called instead.

It took her a while to realise the buzzing sound was coming from the other side of the shower curtain. She stared at the New York subway map, hanging near enough for her to reach out and touch it. A shuffling sound made her jump to her feet. She flung the door open and dashed out with her trousers around her knees.

Outside, she stopped and tried to collect herself, heart pounding. After pulling her trousers up, she took one long step back into the bathroom and tore the shower curtain aside. And there he was. Curled up with his arms around his pulled-up knees. Shirt and chinos. But barefoot. He was staring at the wall and only tore his eyes away from the tiles for a vacant glance in her direction when she said his name.

Diana closed and locked the door. Then she sat down on the toilet and looked at him. He didn’t like that; he twisted away as though her eyes had emitted an unpleasantly strong light.

‘What’s the matter with you?’

It was the only thing she could think of to say, and if there was empathy in her voice, it was artificial. She wanted to scream at him that he wasn’t allowed to act this way, but she curbed herself, for Kiruna’s sake.

‘Leave.’

‘I’m fine right here.’

‘Please.’

‘Get it together,’ she said and then she chortled loudly through her nostrils. She couldn’t help it. It was so absurd. Him sitting there. If anyone should be crying in the bathroom, it should be her, shouldn’t it?

‘Can’t you just leave me alone,’ he said in a thick voice.

‘Only if you tell me what’s wrong.’

When he didn’t reply, she took off her baseball cap and sat holding it for a while before putting it down in the sink.