ELLEN

8.00 A.M.

When Ellen opened her eyes, she was met by Jimmy looking into them and smiling warmly.

‘Good morning. I only meant to stay until you fell asleep last night, but I must have dozed off too.’

It made her warm all over.

‘It’s creepy the way your parents are staring at me,’ he said, looking at the portraits above the bed.

‘Oh, really,’ Ellen said, smiling. She wanted to hug him, touch him, but didn’t dare. She was trying to understand why Jimmy was in her bed, and slowly but surely, she started to remember the night.

He gave her a kiss on the nose. ‘Sorry,’ he said, sitting up. ‘I shouldn’t have done that. I’d better get back to Stockholm.’ He got up.

Ellen sat up in bed. ‘Tell me about yesterday — what actually happened?’

‘They found the girl, it seems she got scared and ran away. Her mother found her in the sandbox at the school. In her hand, apparently, she was holding Liv’s phone. In the course of the search, a stone with dried blood on it was also found out in the field. The police think it could be the murder weapon.’

She nodded. Carola had been right. ‘But how could the girl have Liv’s phone?’

‘Yeah, you tell me. She claimed she found it in the sandbox.’

Ellen didn’t understand at all. ‘Was the dad there?’

‘Not that I saw, but there was a big search party before she was found.’

‘Why didn’t you send a photographer?’

‘There weren’t any available.’ He smiled, shoved his hands into his pants pockets, and leant against the doorframe. ‘Okay, I wanted to see you.’

They looked at each other in silence for a few seconds.

‘Come here,’ she said, even though she knew it was wrong.

‘Ellen …’

‘Come.’

‘It won’t work. I have to leave.’

It felt like nothing mattered any more. She’d already thrown herself off the cliff. Whatever happened now she would fall headfirst. She didn’t want to think about Bianca and Jeanette, or about any consequences whatsoever.

‘Stop biting your lip like that, Ellen Tamm.’ He shook his head, pulled off his T-shirt, and went to her.

His skin was olive, and his chest hairless. She had never felt as attracted to a man as she was to Jimmy. He pulled off his pants, but before he crawled into the bed, he took down the portraits and put them on the floor.

She was laughing as he lay down beside her.

His body was warm. ‘You don’t know how much I’ve missed you.’ He kissed her carefully.

Ellen’s body was shaking.

‘Relax,’ he said, caressing her cheek, continuing down over her shoulder towards her breasts. He pulled up her singlet and carefully pinched her nipple with his lips.

She closed her eyes and felt her body slowly let go.