Jan Morell looked as if he would leap up from the settee on the other side of the highly polished concrete table. Now his face was deep red. The look Selma gave him forced him back into his seat.

‘What do you mean, you should keep your mouths shut?’ she asked Hege.

‘In Bottolf ‘s opinion, no damage had actually been done. Since Hedda hadn’t used the ointment. And if other people got to know about this, it would all come out. To the press. Become public knowledge, you know. A whole gang of journalists had been there a few days earlier. To suss out the lay of the land, so to speak, a couple of months before the start of the season. But they had gone. If we just said nothing, no one would know anything about it.’

‘Who would gain by that? Stian Bach?’

Hege let her ponytail slide through her left hand. Her hairline drew a straight, almost diabolical, V across her forehead. A lot of hair had come loose from the elastic band in the course of the evening, thick, black strands that were plastered to her neck. She seemed sweaty, even though the temperature in the uncomfortable living room was on the cool side.

‘No. It would be best for Hedda, he claimed. If this got out, her name would come up in conjunction with a doping case. On the internet, you know. When people did a search on her name. Bottolf said it was vital not to tell a soul, and he’d take care of the rest.’

‘Search on the internet?’ Selma said, perplexed.

It was completely illogical. If you conducted a search on, for example, ‘Ole Einar Bjørndalen’ and ‘doping’ in the same field, then it was dead certain that you’d end up with a shedload of results. Because he’d been staunchly opposed to that kind of thing. Not because he’d been suspected of or caught cheating.

She fished out her mobile and rapidly keyed in three words on Google.

‘Look at this,’ she said, holding the display up to Hege. ‘More than 1,100 hits on my name cross-referenced with ‘doping’. Because I’ve dealt with drugs cases, both for Anti-Doping Norway and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. No one has ever, on any occasion, accused me of taking drugs for that reason! Did he really say that?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you both went along with that?’

‘Yes. What should we have done?’

Selma slumped back in the settee. With a loud sigh.

‘What about confronting the doctor? As far as I know, he’s still the national team doctor. Do you know what consequences this had for him? If any?’

‘No. Apart from Hedda refusing to have anything further to do with him. Me too, for that matter. To be on the safe side.’

‘Has nobody ever reacted to that, then?’

‘No. Hedda went home from Italy before the rest of us to receive treatment for her herpes sores. When we got back, another doctor had already been appointed to the team. Both Hedda and I have used her ever since.’