They didn’t have to wait long before the door slammed shut and he came outside. Grete asked his name and he said Elias. For fear of being overheard, he wanted them to move further away from the house, but Grete said that wasn’t necessary. He looked terrified. His eyes darted this way and that and he was unable to stand still.

‘What’s her name?’

‘Fanny.’

‘Is she your girlfriend?’

‘Yes. Or. I don’t know. She used to be, anyway.’

‘And the boy? What’s the boy’s name?’

‘Malte.’

‘If you want us to help you, Elias, you have to help us first. If you help us, we can look after Malte. I promise we’ll look after him if you do.’

‘She’ll never hand him over. She won’t even take him to see a doctor.’

‘And I can see why.’

‘But there should be something they can do …’

‘There’s nothing a doctor can do for him. She’s right about that. He will be better off with me. And Fanny will understand that, in time. He will be better off with me.’

‘What do I need to do?’

‘You have to make Fanny see that you’re not safe here. That you will never be safe here, and that Rune has to come with us.’

Elias nodded.

‘Would you like me to talk to her?’

He nodded.

‘When does he sleep?’

‘Rune? During the day, mostly. It depends.’

‘Take my phone number. And give me a ring when he’s asleep.’

‘Okay,’ he said and pulled a phone out of his pocket.

‘When he’s asleep. Not until then.’

*

An hour later, Grete’s phone rang and Lennart went over to fetch Fanny. She was waiting for him out by the road. She had put on a hoodie and pulled the hood up.

‘We want to talk to you,’ he said.

She walked about fifty feet behind him to the motorhome. He opened the door for her, but she stopped outside with her hands like lumps in her jacket pockets. Her mouth pressed shut, her lips pale.

‘She’s in there,’ he said.

‘Why can’t she come out?’

‘She’s resting.’

Her eyes darted away. She was thinking. Then she walked up to the door and climbed the little steps. Grete’s voice croaked from inside.

‘Hi there, Fanny. But where’s your little boy?’

Håkan took off his watch…