‘Quite the opposite. You should never go back to Bo. What I mean is that we’re going to make sure you’re safe, that he can’t hurt you, even if he finds out where you are. You’re not alone anymore.’

‘He’s going to take the children. He says I don’t stand a chance of winning custody.’

‘No one is going to take your children away from you. Are you sure he’s never hit them?’

‘Never. He’s a good dad. He really is.’

Karen clenches her jaw shut.

‘He’s probably going to get partial custody, maybe even half the parenting time,’ she says. ‘But he’s never going to lay a finger on you again.’

There’s a wet, sucking sound as Aylin tries to pull air in through her nose.

‘He can turn up here any moment. Don’t you get that?’ she says. ‘He could be standing outside right now.’

‘He can’t get in,’ Karen says with feigned conviction. ‘Now drink up so we can get you to bed. We’re going to stand watch all night and tomorrow we’re going to come up with a plan.’

Chapter 54

54

They go through the available options, one after the other, while hopelessness settles like a heavy blanket over the living room where Karen, Leo, Sigrid and Marike, who has joined them, have gathered to deliberate. When Karen called to tell her what had happened, Marike had ignored all attempts to persuade her to wait until the morning and had instead immediately jumped in her car and driven all the way from her house in Portlande to Langevik. Probably much too fast, too, since it had only just gone half past eleven when she stomped through the front door. And maybe it was knowing that four people were now guarding the house that finally made Aylin feel safe enough to doze off. Or maybe it was sheer exhaustion.

They sat down in the living room and are now slumping deeper and deeper into the sofas and armchairs with every rejected suggestion. In the long run, Aylin won’t be able to hide from Bo, they realise; sooner or later, he’s going to figure out where she is. What they need to focus on now is getting through the next few weeks; they need to create a calm space amid the chaos, to give Aylin time to heal and muster the strength required to start divorce proceedings.

Karen’s house in Langevik and Marike’s house in Portlande are both too isolated. Kore and Eirik’s house in Thingwalla is better, but not an option until they get back from New York next week. The suggestion that Aylin simply take the children and leave the country for a few weeks is rejected. Even though she has their passports, Bo would probably be able to exploit that kind of behaviour in a future custody process.

They’re stuck.