‘You have to eat either way. There will be salmon with juniper and golden neeps. And apple pie with cardamom, your favourite. All three boys are coming. Einar is on shore leave and dying to see his cousin.’

She hadn’t promised, and yet Karen knows she’s going to be sitting there with a heaped plate of diced, honey-glazed turnip and salmon baked in a thick protective layer of salt and juniper branches. And she knows she’s going to have to answer questions about her work and plans for the future, grateful everyone is tactful enough not to mention her past. She’s going to pretend not to notice the looks exchanged when they realise Karen is still living alone and seems disinclined to change that. And she’s going to ignore Ingeborg’s derisive tone when she asks if Eleanor still likes it down in the tropics.

Oh yes, Karen will be there.

The eagle lets the winds carry it out to sea. She reluctantly looks away, pulls her collar up and realises she’s alone in the cemetery. The sky has grown overcast and the clouds that have scudded in from the west are heavy with snow. Everyone else has already noticed the change in weather and hurried off toward the car park. The cold wind and the desolateness send a shiver down Karen’s spine.

She makes a slight bow to the grave, turns around and freezes. The man standing at the edge of the cemetery is staring straight at her.

Chapter 67

67

‘What are you doing here?’

He’s standing less than twenty yards away and yet Karen is unsure whether her words reach him before they’re snatched away by the wind. Odd tosses his head, takes a drag on his cigarette and starts walking toward the car park. She hesitates briefly before following. That her cousin has come to find her here probably means he has bad news.

Karen’s green Ford Ranger and Odd’s Harley-Davidson are now the only vehicles in the small gravel lot. He reaches her car first, flicks the butt of his cigarette away and plants himself next to the passenger door with his arms folded. He looks cold despite his leather trousers and jacket.

‘How do you drive a hog in this weather?’ she asks as she gets closer and digs around her jacket pocket for the car key.

Odd doesn’t return her smile.

‘We need to talk,’ he informs her curtly. ‘Could you hurry up?’

She unlocks the car and they climb in.

‘My God, I’d almost forgotten how quickly the weather changes up here,’ she says and pulls the door shut behind her with both hands. ‘Have you seen the forecast?’

‘Storm this evening, but I guess they were off by a few hours, as usual.’

Odd leans forward and peers up at the leaden sky.

‘I have fifteen minutes, tops, before I have to get out of here,’ he says.