‘Yes, that’s one theory. And in that scenario, it’s likely that Hege’s case is linked to Haakon’s. But then we have to ask ourselves …’

All of a sudden he shivered with cold. He pulled off the boots and crammed himself back down inside the sleeping bag. Stiff and cautious, he sat down in his usual cavity, with his back against a stone shaped like the back of an armchair.

‘It’s fucking cold,’ he said, hoisting the sleeping bag all the way up to his armpits.

The gas had burned out. He changed it for the last one he had and took a couple of minutes to light it, turning the burner up full.

‘We have to ask ourselves: who on earth could have done such a thing? It would demand quite a lot, when you think about it. Elite athletes are careful. They don’t just take anything from anybody. And to be completely honest, Mariska, we’re really not suggesting that Swedes, Finns or Germans could come up with anything so radical.’

‘The Russians, though,’ Selma suggested.

Einar nodded.

‘The Russians are just as crazy as me. They have people who could think of far worse things than this and get away with it. They have long experience of poisoning, and doping is, from a purely technical point of view, much the same. The KGB was awful. Its successor, the FSB, is getting even worse, if that’s possible. They are entirely capable of undertaking sabotage such as this. Also, the Russians have far closer links between state and sport than the other countries I mentioned. But then again …’

He tried yet again to obtain some heat from the burner. His hands came so close to the flame that he would have burned himself it hadn’t been for layer upon layer of dead skin, grease and dirt.

‘Do we really believe that?’ he blurted out. ‘In that case, they’d get rid of a couple of competitors, that’s true, but it’s still highly uncertain that we’ll be excluded from the Winter Olympics. Russia itself is being permitted to take part with clean skiers, despite there being evidence of systematic, state-sanctioned cheating prior to the Sochi games. A possible sabotage of two Norwegian skiers would have far too limited an effect for me to believe in anything of the sort.’

Selma’s teeth were chattering. She crept under the baby-blue blanket and pulled the collar of her coat up over her ears.

‘Anyway,’ Einar added, with a grin, ‘if the Russians are behind it, you’ll never be able to prove anything at all. Not even you, Mariska.’

‘I have to go,’ Selma said, getting to her feet. ‘It must be minus ten degrees.’

Einar held a finger up in the air. Checking.

‘Eight,’ he said brusquely. ‘Sit down again, please.’