‘That time was planned. I had packed a bag with things for the children and took the car. I took off the moment he left for work and drove all the way to Frisel. Dad’s parents left him a house down there. A small cottage they used to rent out. Bo and I had never talked about it and I was sure he didn’t know it existed. Even so, it took him less than twenty-four hours to find us. He’d had help, he told me. He’s always going to find me, he said.’

She runs a hand across her forehead. Then she freezes and stares at the window.

‘The rowan tree,’ Karen says gently, trying to hide the fact that she, too had jumped. ‘The branches scratch against the windows when it’s windy.’

‘Do you think your parents might have told him?’ she continues once Aylin tears her eyes away from the window. ‘About the cottage down on Frisel?’

‘They were abroad when it happened. I asked them later if Bo had called them. Lied and said something about Bo having mentioned wanting to ask Dad something. But they said he hadn’t. He must have found out about the cottage some other way. I assume there are property registers.’

None Bo Ramnes should have access too, Karen thinks to herself.

True, it’s relatively easy to find out who owns a certain property, but Doggerian law has long been restrictive about going the other way. Only police and prosecutors have access to the registers and databases that list individual residents’ income, assets, debts, fishing rights and properties. In other words, only a police officer or prosecutor could have helped Bo Ramnes find out about Aylin’s father’s cottage on Frisel.

Maybe she’s misremembering, Karen reflects. Maybe she had mentioned the cottage at some point. The alternative is so alarming she prefers not to contemplate it. Out loud, she says, ‘Do your parents know Bo hits you?’

Aylin listlessly stirs her mug with a spoon and shakes her head.

‘Dad asked me once, but I denied it,’ she says without looking up.

Silence falls between them while they both recall the previous summer, when Karen had asked the same question. Neither of them speaks.

‘And since then, you haven’t made any other attempts to leave him?’ Karen continues after a while. ‘Until today, I mean.’

Aylin takes a deep, trembling breath.

‘I’m going to fail again,’ she says shrilly. ‘You don’t understand. He’s going to find me, sooner or later.’

‘Yes, he probably will,’ Karen says calmly.

‘So you think I should just go home?’

Aylin’s tone is a mix of resignation and surprise. Karen leans forward and puts her hand on hers.