‘Want?’

‘Yes. What would you like? What is it you’d like to happen?’

‘I’d like to turn back time and quit helping myself to other people’s cash.’

‘You can’t do that.’

‘I’d like to win the bet with Jan Morell. I want to find some peace without having to resort to gambling on the sly. I’d like to find a place to live. I want people to stop contacting me. Today I had nineteen missed calls and twenty-nine text messages. Friends, former colleagues. Journalists. It’s driving me crazy.’

‘Mobile phones are the work of the devil,’ he said, nodding. ‘Incidentally, I’d start with the first one.’

‘Win the bet?’

‘Yes. If you manage to resolve the Chinese girl’s case, a lot of the rest will fall into place. Then you’ll have an incredible amount of dosh, get the rest of your debt wiped out, and will be able to make a fresh start. Get treatment. Drive out your demons. Concentrate on solving Hege Morell’s case, that’s what you should do.’

‘I’ve tried, Einar. For a week, now. I’m just treading water. Or to be more correct, I’m going round in circles. This business of Haakon’s mysterious death, and especially the fact that he too had Clostebol in his body when he died, hasn’t exactly made the case any simpler.’

‘Forget Haakon. It’s not those lesbian friends of yours who have engaged your services. It’s that Croesus up on the hill there.’

‘One case may well be connected to the other.’

Einar tugged off his mittens and curled his hands around the gas flame.

‘That’s of no consequence. If they’re linked, then you’ll solve both cases by finding out what happened to Hege. If they’re not linked, then you’re wasting a lot of energy and screwing up your own investigation by looking into Haakon’s case.’

‘But where should I begin?’

‘With yourself.’

Selma looked up from the dancing, almost pulsating, gas flame. Einar leaned forward and placed a heavy hand on her lower arm.

‘With yourself,’ he repeated. ‘You have to start by focusing on what you’re good at. Give it a try, now.’

‘I’m systematic.’

Silence reigned. A tram, empty at this time of night, rattled past along Muselunden to its berth for the night. A magpie had perched on a stone only two or three metres away from them, its coal-black eyes glinting with the reflections from the gas flame.

‘And pretty smart,’ Selma went on.

‘You’ve got a phenomenal memory,’ Einar added helpfully.

She nodded.

‘Also, you’re a good judge of human nature, even though you actually like to keep everyone at arm’s length. At the very least.’

‘I’m a good lawyer,’ she said quickly, aware for the first time that the conversation was causing her a touch of revulsion.