Jan looked as if his daughter had made a full and extremely surprising confession.

‘How on earth do you know that?’

‘Because … when we were in Central Europe in late summer, then …’

She lifted her face and leaned her head back, as if fighting tears.

‘We shouldn’t really talk about it.’

‘What’s this? What is it you shouldn’t talk about?’

Jan Morell sat hunched forward, with legs spread and elbows on knees.

‘Go out,’ Selma told him. ‘Now. Please leave.’

Jan’s face darkened again, but he gritted his teeth with an audible click and remained seated. Selma made up her mind to give him one last chance. After all, he was the one in possession of the sixteen million kroner she’d been given an opportunity to win back. Sixteen million and a little of her old life.

The old life was fairly high on Selma’s wish list.

At least some parts of it.

‘What are you talking about?’ she said, placing her hand on Hege’s lower arm.

‘About Hedda Bruun. She’s plagued by herpes, you see.’

This was a gross understatement. For several years, Hedda Bruun had been one of the best skiers in the Norwegian national team. Blonde, blue-eyed and gorgeous. Whereas Hege Chin Morell was as athletic as a heptathlete and most renowned for strength, toughness and stylish skiing, Hedda Bruun was small, explosive and displayed a rhythm change Hege had never been able to match.

Hedda Bruun was a poster girl for all things Norwegian, but her lip was a constant, horrid nuisance.

‘Sun and arduous training,’ Hege went on. ‘The cold. Any kind of stress. All of these can make her break out in sores. And when we were in Italy, it looked dreadful. Big and painful, and they split open at night. Her pillow was covered in blood.’

‘You shared a room, didn’t you?’

‘Yes, almost always. That’s why I know.’

‘Know what?’ Jan broke in before, quick as a flash, drawing an imaginary zip across his mouth.

‘That Hedda got a tube of ointment called Trof … Trofodermin. From Stian Bach. The national team’s doctor. Her usual ointment was empty, the sore had been there for days, and the doctor had forgotten to bring more.’

‘Forgotten?’ Selma exclaimed. ‘He’d forgotten something as elementary as that?’

‘Yes. So he went to the nearest town. Livigno, I think it was. He bought the cream at a pharmacy there and gave it to Hedda. We were in our room when he came with it, it was quite late. Most people had gone to bed by then. Hedda asked Stian if the cream contained any of the ingredients on the banned drugs list. He said no and told her she could use it.’

She put two thumbs in the air.

‘That’s what he did. Thumbs up. And then he left. But Hedda, she’s …’

Hege hesitated. She leaned over the plate of biscuits and reached out her hand before changing her mind and straightening her back.