She shook her head.

‘Strange thing to ask, don’t you think?’

‘Yes,’ she said and coughed as he moved toward the kitchen counter.

‘And yet you immediately shook your head.’

‘Well, yes, because no one came by.’

‘Ever?’

‘What’s the matter with you?’

‘Mum.’

She came over and sat down at the table.

‘What did they say?’

‘Who?’

‘The people who came by.’

‘No one came by.’

‘Then why were you so weird when I called you last night?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘You don’t remember me calling you?’

She shook her head.

‘Fine,’ Diana said and pulled out her phone. She opened the call list. ‘Look. Thirty-five minutes past midnight. Kent Sillfors. Outgoing call. One minute. See?’

‘Yes, but that’s for your dad.’

‘You picked up.’

‘You know what, I don’t think so. I’m usually pretty on the ball. You know I’m a light sleeper.’

Diana took hold of her hands. They were cold as wood.

‘Mum. It’s okay. You can tell me. I know exactly what happened to you.’

‘Please don’t touch me.’

The words caught her off guard. She let go and pulled her hands away. Then she sat looking at her mum, who was smiling sheepishly, with her eyes on the table top like a carefree dementia patient. Diana picked up her phone, got to her feet and left; her mum stayed seated, silent and with a disengaged look on her face.

*

She inserted the card into the lock and hacked at it until it clicked. The room was empty; when she realised this, she dashed out into the hallway and over to Gudrun and Roland’s room. She banged the door. Susso opened and when she stepped aside, she could see Kiruna on the bed with a pillow in her arms, watching TV.

‘What did they say?’ Susso said.

Diana shook her head.

‘Mum’s completely away with the fairies. I don’t know about Dad. But he’s probably just as bad. We have to leave.’

‘You didn’t tell them we’re here, did you? At the hotel?’

‘Of course not. But I want to take Kiruna and go somewhere.’

‘Come here,’ Roland said, pushing past her into the hallway. ‘I want to have a word with you.’

‘No, we’re leaving. We can’t stay here.’

‘And where are you going?’

‘I don’t know. We just have to get out of here.’

‘I think there’s another way to go about this.’

‘How?!’

‘Come on.’

They took the lift down to the lobby. Roland sat down on a sofa and she took a seat across from him, bewildered by his inscrutable expression. He looked severe but also amused. He got up and went to the bar and when he came back, he was carrying a sheet of A4 paper and a pen.

‘I’d like to know more about that village.’

‘You mean Rumajärvi?’