‘My childhood is a closed chapter. Has been for a long time. Come on, let’s go back.’

He pushed her ahead of him out of the office and closed the door emphatically behind him.

‘You must speak to Hege,’ he said imperiously. ‘That’s why I asked you to come.’

‘Where is she?’

He stopped and surveyed the room, slightly confused, as if he had only just noticed his daughter’s absence.

‘Maggi!’ he shouted.

The kitchen door slid open immediately. The scared, slight figure took a couple of tentative steps into the living room.

‘Where’s Hege?’

‘At the cinema.’

‘At … the cinema? Without telling me?’

Selma wanted to let him know that his daughter was twenty-four years of age, but held back the comment.

‘Yes,’ Maggi said submissively.

Jan dismissed her back into the kitchen. The door slid shut.

‘Sorry,’ he murmured to Selma. ‘I’ve wasted your time.’

He fetched his tumbler from the mantelpiece and sat down again.

‘No,’ Selma said. ‘You haven’t. But now you’re going to answer my questions.’

As he sipped the whisky, he glanced at her over the rim of the glass.

‘That depends what they’re about,’ he said.

Selma perched on the edge of the seat. Straightened her back and let her hands grasp her knees.

‘You said the worst thing that could happen to you, apart from Hege dying, would be her career being destroyed. Why is that?’

His frown made his eyebrows join together.

‘That should be obvious. She’s my only daughter. I love her. She’s the best female cross-country skier in the world. A successful career will open up the world to her. What’s happened now …’

He swung the glass in a haphazard arc.

‘It makes everything difficult for her. Impossible. She will always be known as the one who cheated. Who fell. This will follow her for the rest of her life. It’s not a fate you wish for your only child.’

‘Why didn’t you have a skiing career of your own?’

‘That can hardly have anything to do with this case. I really don’t have time for this.’

‘What would be the worst thing that could happen to Morten?’ Selma said quickly. ‘Klaus, I mean. To die? Was he particularly … afraid of dying?’

Jan shrugged with one shoulder.

‘No more than the rest of us. Death is probably what we all fear most of all. If we’re not terribly ill or aged. Sometimes even then, I expect. But as far as Klaus is concerned …’

He gave a faint smile.

‘Klaus would actually have chosen to die rather than be locked inside anywhere. Many people believe that claustrophobia …’

The rest of the whisky disappeared, and he got up to pour some more.