Susso had suggested they go to her dad in Riksgränsen, but Diana had been set on coming here, where she felt at least a little bit at home. She also entertained a flicker of hope that Håkan might be here. That the key was hanging on its secret nail and that the door was locked were, of course, signs to the contrary. She had a look at the neatly made beds in the bedroom and went out to the sauna, but he wasn’t there either. Of course he wasn’t. Even though she knew she was naïve to expect anything else, the sight of the empty guest room, which, like the sauna, was pine from floor to ceiling, filled her with cold unease. The bed where Kiruna had been conceived.

She moved on to the storage shed that housed the generator. She grabbed the recoil cord and pulled. Once the engine was running, she straightened up and contemplated the little machine. Then she went back up to the cabin. Susso was standing by the window, gazing out, her head ducked in under the valance. The squirrel had jumped up on an ancient cooking stove with a curved chimney that was sitting in the middle of the lawn. It looked funny. As though the animal felt it had come across a strange relative made of iron.

‘That generator is bloody loud. It’s all you hear.’

Susso didn’t react.

‘What do you think?’

‘About what?’

‘The generator. Should I turn it off?’

‘I suppose that depends on the food. What did you buy?’

Diana picked up the bag of groceries and looked in it.

‘Let’s see. Ice cream and prawns.’

She didn’t think the joke would get through, but apparently it did, because a small but unmistakeable puff of air escaped Susso’s nostrils.

The little girl came inside and wanted to go on the swing and pulled Susso outside with her. Diana packed the food into the refrigerator with the squeaking of the tyre swing’s chains in her ears, struggling all the while to keep the horrifying thoughts circling her like vultures at bay. There weren’t too many places he could be. If only he’d taken the car. Or packed a bag. She had inventoried his clothes and shoes in the hallway and concluded that he was wearing a blazer and his new suede shoes. His wallet was gone too. But he had left his phone.

When she walked up to the car, she saw Susso standing in front of the little girl, pushing her with both hands. She opened the boot and took out the rifle and ran back to the cabin so the little girl wouldn’t see it.

*