‘If possible, she’s even more paranoid than me. So she checked the packaging. That’s to say …’

A solitary frown became visible above her flat nose.

‘The tube didn’t come with any packaging. It wasn’t in a box, you see.’

‘Should it have been?’ Selma asked. ‘Do you know that it comes in a box?’

‘Maybe not,’ Hege said quickly, and hid her face in the steam from the big mug. ‘But there’s usually accompanying instructions for use. They’re usually inside a box. Aren’t they? Anyway … Hedda read what was printed on the tube. One of the things it said was that the ointment contained Clostebol. The ending of the word freaked her out … bol, you see! It took only a few seconds on the internet to confirm that she’d been only a hair’s breadth from catastrophe.’

‘And this was something the national team doctor had given her? Really?’

Hege nodded.

‘Hedda was raging. She screamed so loudly that I was afraid she’d wake everyone around us. It was about eleven o’clock at night. We had a long session planned for the next morning, so I got pretty stressed out.’

‘What happened then?’

‘Hedda wanted to go to the president of cross-country skiing. To Bottolf. Bottolf Odda. At once. I’ve never seen her so furious. The sore on her lip burst open from all her ranting and raving. She looked like …’

A rare smile crossed her face. Hege Chin Morell was a beautiful woman, with regular features and large, narrow eyes, but she smiled far too infrequently. Even after winning, she was serious and sober in interviews. At the beginning of her career, this had been used against her by sports journalists, especially reading between the lines, but eventually as the medals came rolling in, her lack of visible pleasure was taken as a sign of concentration and dedication. For the first time, Selma noticed she had an alluring dimple just beside the left corner of her mouth.

‘Dracula. She looked like a vampire. Blood was trickling down her chin.’

‘And then?’

‘I managed to calm her down a little. Offered to fetch Bottolf, since she was so upset. And then I did that. Luckily, he was awake.’

‘Was he on his own?’

‘Yes … yes, he was. He was dressed and alone and came with me at once.’

The sci-fi sound of the kitchen door made them all turn their eyes.

‘Do you need anything else?’

Maggi had taken off her apron.

‘No,’ Jan said curtly. ‘You can go to bed. I’d like breakfast at six a.m.’

The Polish home help nodded in acknowledgement before disappearing into the hall. Selma assumed that the stairs down to the basement went from there.

‘Goodnight, Maggi!’

Hege waved at her back, like a little child.

‘And then?’ Selma asked once the home help had gone.

‘Bottolf listened to Hedda. Examined the tube. He agreed, absolutely, that Stian had made a mistake. A massive blunder. He praised Hedda for being vigilant and then asked us to keep our mouths shut.’