‘How are things there? Have you read any of our coverage in the past few years?’

‘Yes, that’s why I’m asking. I know what you’ve written. I also know that at any time there’s also a whole lot you don’t write. For a variety of reasons.’

The man suddenly grew serious. Inquisitive, she saw. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he leaned forward again with a confidential air. Even lowered his voice.

‘Of course there’s a great deal we don’t write,’ he said. ‘If only the public knew how much we have on prominent personages, government departments, organizations and institutions that we let drop. Maybe we can’t really crack the story. We know, but we don’t have sufficient documentation. Sometimes what we know is notorious enough, but the harmful effects of what we’d write aren’t worth it, bearing in mind the relative insignificance of making it public.’

He sniffed and ran a long, slender forefinger under his nose.

‘You also have all those stories that are more than spicy enough, but that despite it all come under the umbrella of private life and privacy restrictions. At other times we know, but have an editor who’s scared to death that we’re barking up the wrong tree. For example …’

He drew his chair closer to the table. The noise of chair legs scraping across the tiled floor assaulted her ears.

‘Arnulf Selhus, the Federation’s Director of Finance.’

Selma nodded.

‘Years ago, when he began at the Federation, I was fairly recently appointed to DG. I picked up a whisper about some shady business where he had been employed previously. In MCV, by the way. Jan Morell’s company.’

Selma sat absolutely still.

‘It’s a long time ago, so I don’t remember the details. At any rate, at the time I went to my editor and suggested I follow up the story. After all, Selhus was newly appointed as the Director of Finance in a sports organization. I thought it’d be interesting if …’

‘What happened?’

‘He turned me down. All I had was one source and when I wasn’t able to come up with anything more specific in the course of a couple of days, I was told to drop it. There was never any police involvement. There was never any story. What’s more, and I think this was decisive for my editor at the time, when the opportunity arose, Jan Morell spoke well of the guy in public. Old Antonsen was of the opinion that there couldn’t be anything behind it. The point is …’

He smiled, almost shyly.

‘The source was fucking solid. He was Selhus’s immediate sub-ordinate.’

‘And you knew him well?’

He didn’t blush, but went on to answer: ‘To put it this way, I wouldn’t have let the story lie today.’