Why it was such a big deal, she had never been able to figure out. She had never met Susso’s grandfather, but had assumed he was a bit of a prankster. Wasn’t it actually kind of funny? Why had it been such a sore point? Because it definitely was a sore point. Susso had always found it surprisingly difficult to talk about it. You didn’t know Grandpa. That was her only argument. Diana thought she should pull herself together; in fact, she more or less kept waiting for that to happen. For Susso to come to her senses and abandon her childish fancies. Grow out of them. Was she really serious when she claimed she believed in trolls? Susso said she was, but it was hard to tell whether she meant it or was just being contrary. Torbjörn had always taken Diana’s side, though he had been careful not to admit it. Susso had a temper on her, as he was very well aware. But he had giggled at Diana’s comments and given her cautious backup, and thus they had formed a pact against Susso; maybe it was this pact that had driven her into the arms of Simonsson.

She had no idea how Susso had lived after she left for Umeå, but there seemed to have been a vacuum of some kind, and Susso had filled this vacuum with cryptozoology. For lack of better options. It had been a hobby at first. But it had grown. Assumed new forms.

And that was because of the internet.

She had made contact with people who shared her delusions on cryptozoological forums and bolstered by this community, she had constructed a website that revolved around the secret photograph. Which thereby became anything but secret, since now the whole world could see it. Diana had visited the website but hadn’t even wanted to show it to Håkan. She didn’t want him to slap some cynical diagnosis on her best friend.

Because that’s what she was. Or at least there was no one else who could aspire to that title. But what kind of friend had she been to Susso? Since she moved back, they had barely seen each other and after what happened in 2005, when that boy disappeared and Susso was in the papers, she had outright avoided her. And not just her. All of Vänort Square and the surrounding area had been a no-go zone for her, and when she had to walk past the shop she had always quickened her step and stared at her phone to give her eyes an alibi. If Gudrun had managed to catch her eye from inside, she would have been forced to go in. And talk. And ask. And find out about the thing she didn’t want to know anything about.