‘So you’re living together now,’ she said without looking up from the paper.

‘Yes. It seemed easiest.’

I took cups out of the cupboard and put them on the counter.

‘What’s Minerva?’ she said.

‘Minerva? Isn’t that a goddess?’

Susso said nothing and kept her eyes fixed on the paper.

‘Is it maybe Diana,’ I continued, ‘but in Greek?’

Just then, Roland stepped through the door. He went into the guest room and then joined us in the kitchen. He was holding a plastic camping pump. He blew air on me until I pushed him away.

‘Do you know who Minerva is?’ I said.

‘It’s a kind of potato,’ he said. ‘Extremely hardy.’

Diana was out of bed…

Diana was out of bed before she even understood what had woken her up. She ran out of the bedroom so quickly she clipped the doorpost and staggered out into the light of the hallway.

Then he shouted again.

‘Disgusting fucking bastard, I’m going to end you!’

Håkan was crouched as if about to hurl himself at the little girl, who had crawled up into a corner of her bed, where a mountain of stuffed animals surrounded her like a bizarre praetorian guard. Diana let out a roar as she lunged at him and pushed him away. She unleashed a flurry of hard punches that drove him backward. He tottered sideways but other than that, barely noticed her. His eyes shone with a searing insanity. She stepped onto the bed, pulled the little girl close and stroked her hair.

‘Daddy’s dreaming, he’s sleepwalking and having a nightmare.’

She had expected the little body to be stiff with fear, but it wasn’t. The girl didn’t even look scared.

Håkan had got down on all fours; he was looking for something under the bed.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Just come out already!’

‘Håkan!’

‘It’s a mouse. There’s a mouse in here.’

Diana sat with her arms around the girl. The blind was up and the sun flooded the room with light.

‘I’m not sure you’re completely awake.’

‘I saw it!’

She climbed out of the bed, sank into a squat next to him and put a hand on his back. He jolted up into sitting. He stared at her and for a few fractions of a second, she glimpsed a desperate insecurity in his eyes. Then he turned back to the little girl.

‘You tell her!’

The girl’s lips were tightly pressed together.

‘You’re scaring her.’

‘Tell her!’

She shook her head defiantly.

Diana pulled on Håkan until he got to his feet.

‘Come with me,’ she said.

But he broke free.

‘She was playing with it,’ he said. ‘That’s why she won’t say anything. I know it’s in here!’