Anna hooted and slapped her knee. ‘Patrik! Sure I remember Patrik! He used to follow you around like a little puppy with his tongue hanging out. So he finally got the chance…’

‘Yes, I mean, I knew that he had a slight crush on me when we were younger, but I had no idea how he really felt…’

‘Good Lord, you must have been blind! He was head over heels in love with you. God, how romantic. Here he’s been pining for you all these years, and finally you look deep into his eyes and discover the great love of your life.’

Anna clutched her heart dramatically, and Erica couldn’t help laughing. This was the sister she knew and loved.

‘Well, it wasn’t quite like that. He’s been married in the meantime, but his wife left him a few years ago and now he’s divorced and lives in Tanumshede.’

‘So what does he do? Don’t tell me he’s just a carpenter. I’d be sooo jealous. I’ve always dreamed about hot carpenter sex.’

Erica childishly stuck her tongue out at Anna, who stuck hers out in turn.

‘No, he’s not a carpenter. He’s a cop, if you must know.’

‘A cop, my, my. A man with a truncheon, in other words. Well, that’s not so dumb either…’

Erica had almost forgotten what a tease her sister could be. She simply shook her head as she poured coffee into two cups. Anna made herself at home. She went to the fridge, took out the milk and poured a little in her cup and a little in Erica’s. The teasing smile disappeared from her face, and Erica understood that she would now find out the reason why Anna and her kids had suddenly appeared in Fjällbacka like this.

‘Well, my love story is over. For good. I suppose it really has been for years, but it was only now that I realized it.’

Anna fell silent and gazed sadly into her coffee cup.

‘I know you never liked Lucas, but I really did love him. Somehow I managed to rationalize why he hit me. He always asked forgiveness and swore that he loved me, at least he used to. Somehow I managed to convince myself that it was all my fault. If only I could be a better wife, a better lover, and a better mother, then he wouldn’t have to hit me.’

Anna was answering Erica’s silent questions.

‘Yes, I know how absurd it sounds, but I was incredibly good at fooling myself. Since he was a good father to Emma and Adrian, that excused a lot. I didn’t want to take their Pappa away from them.’

‘But something happened?’

Erica was prodding Anna. She could see how hard it was for her to talk about this. Her pride was hurt, and Anna had always been an incredibly proud person who would only reluctantly admit when she was wrong.

‘Yes, something happened. Last night he went off on me like he usually does. More and more often lately, actually. But yesterday…’

Her voice broke and Anna swallowed a couple of times to stifle her tears.

‘Last night he went off on Emma. He was so furious, and in the middle of everything she came into the room and he couldn’t stop himself.’ Anna swallowed again. ‘We drove to the emergency room, and they confirmed that she had a fracture in her arm.’

‘I assume you reported Lucas to the police?’

Erica felt rage forming a hard knot in her stomach, a knot that was growing bigger and bigger.

‘No.’ The word came almost inaudibly from Anna and the tears started rolling down her pale cheeks. ‘No, we said that she fell down the stairs.’

‘But dear God, did they really believe that?’

Anna gave Erica a crooked smile. ‘You know how charming Lucas can be. He completely turned the heads of the doctor and the nurses, and they felt almost as sorry for him as they did for Emma.’

‘But Anna, you have to report him to the police. Surely you can’t let him get away with this?’

She looked at her weeping sister. Sympathy was competing with fury. Anna was shrinking before her eyes.

‘It will never happen again, I intend to see to that. I pretended that I was listening to his excuses, and then I packed up the car and drove off as soon as he left for work. I never intend to go back to him; Lucas will never have a chance to hurt my children again. If I’d reported him to the police they would have brought in social services, and then maybe they might have taken the children from both of us.’

‘But Lucas is never going to sit still for you taking the children, Anna. Without a police report and an investigation, how are you going to prove that you should have sole custody of the children?’

‘I don’t know, I don’t know, Erica. I can’t think about it now, I just had to get away from him. The rest of it will have to be worked out later. Please don’t yell at me!’

Erica set down her cup on the table, got up from her chair and put her arms round her sister. She stroked her hair and murmured consoling words. She let Anna cry on her shoulder and felt her jumper getting wetter and wetter. At the same time her hatred towards Lucas grew. She really wanted to punch that fucker in the mouth.

Birgit looked out at the street, hidden behind her curtain. Karl-Erik could see from her hunched shoulders how tense she was. She had been pacing anxiously up and down ever since the police rang. For the first time in ages, he felt utterly calm inside. Karl-Erik intended to give the police officer all the answers – if he asked the right questions.

The secrets had been burning inside him for so many years. In a way it had been easier for Birgit. Her manner of handling the situation had been to deny that it ever occurred. She refused to talk about it and fluttered on in life as if nothing had happened. But it did happen. Not a day had passed when he hadn’t thought about it, and each time the burden had felt even heavier to bear. He knew that from the outside it looked as if Birgit were the stronger of them. At all social events she glittered like a star while he was the grey, invisible man at her side. She wore her beautiful clothes, her expensive jewellery and her make-up like a suit of armour.

Whenever they came home after yet another glittering, exhilarating evening, and she took off her armour, she seemed to collapse into nothingness. All that was left was a quivering, insecure child who clung to him for support. During their entire marriage he had been torn between conflicting feelings for his wife. Her beauty and fragility aroused tenderness and a protective instinct that made him feel like a man. But her unwillingness to face life’s more difficult aspects sometimes drove him to the brink of madness. What made him most furious was that he knew that she wasn’t stupid, but her upbringing had taught her that a woman must at all costs conceal the fact that she had any sort of intelligence. Instead, she should focus all her energy on being beautiful and helpless. And pleasing others. When they were newlyweds he hadn’t seen this as anything odd; that was the spirit of the times back then. But times had changed, placing whole different demands on both women and men. He had adapted, but his wife never did. So this day was going to be very hard on her. Karl-Erik believed that deep inside she knew what he was intending to do. That was why she had been pacing back and forth across the room for almost two hours. But he also knew that she didn’t intend to let him drag their family secrets out into the open without a fight.

‘Why does Henrik have to be here?’ Birgit turned towards him, anxiously wringing her hands.

‘The police want to talk with the family, and Henrik is part of the family, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, but I think it’s unnecessary to get him mixed up in this. The police will probably just ask some general questions. Do we really have to drag him all the way out here for that? No, I think it seems unnecessary.’

Her voice rose and fell with unspoken questions. He knew her so well.

‘Here he comes.’

Birgit quickly stepped away from the window. It took a moment before the doorbell rang. Karl-Erik took a deep breath and went to open the door, while Birgit retired to the living room where Henrik was already sitting on the sofa, deep in his own thoughts.