‘No, not that I noticed. But one evening …’

Elise was no longer weeping. On the contrary – she suddenly looked alert. She tilted her head and stared intently into space as she tugged at the holes on the knees of her jeans.

‘There was that first evening, of course,’ she said, sounding almost surprised.

‘Of what? The first evening of what?’

‘Of the change. He sat up unusually late. With his laptop on his knee. Right here.’

She gingerly smacked the settee. Selma rushed to ask another question before the girl was overcome by sobs again: ‘Do you know what he was looking at?’

‘Yes.’

‘What, then?’

‘The bank statement. He was looking at his online account. He doesn’t often do that.’

‘What?’

‘His internet bank. So …’

For some reason she was drumming her fingers as if typing on an invisible keyboard.

‘I see,’ Selma said quickly, though she didn’t understand at all.‘Do you know why?’

‘No. I’m the one who’s always dealt with our finances. That is to say …’

The shadow of a smile crept over her face and then vanished.

‘Haakon was the one who earned the money, of course. I just managed it. Loans, insurance, nursery fees. That sort of thing. Plus I always made sure there was money in his current account. He spends next to nothing, but he does need some, you see. I organize it all. We decided that I should stay at home for as long as his career lasted. To take care of everything, sort of thing. We planned to have more children eventually, and …’

‘Do you know if there was anything in particular he was looking at?’

‘No. Not really. He logged out and closed the laptop as soon as I came in to ask if he wasn’t coming to bed soon.’

‘Did you check later? Since you were the one to take care of the finances, did you later notice anything irregular?’

‘Nothing that had to do with infidelity, at least.’

Selma smiled sympathetically to hide her own impatience.

‘He wasn’t unfaithful,’ she said slowly. ‘But did you find anything else there? Anything out of the ordinary?’

‘Nothing of any significance.’

Selma struggled to keep smiling. It was becoming difficult.

‘Anything at all? Something that might have explained why he was on the bank’s web pages, something you say was out of character, so late one night?’

‘N… yes …’

Elise hesitated. She picked up the bottle of Farris, but left the lid on.

‘Just an incorrect entry.’

‘Oh? What kind of incorrect?’

‘They had transferred a large sum of money to him. Over fifty thousand kroner.’

‘Who do you mean by “they”?’

‘The Cross-Country Skiing Federation.’

‘A payment that was … incorrect?’

Elise nodded.

‘At any rate, it was paid back a few days later. A week or so, as far as I recall. Exactly the same sum. Into exactly the same account that it had come from. So, yes …’

Her narrow shoulders heaved.