‘Listen to me,’ she said, rising to her feet. ‘This is a really interesting story. What it has to do with Hege’s case, we’ve no idea as yet. Possibly nothing. But the fact is that we now, only a few hours since you asked me to take a closer look at what might have happened, have stumbled upon something highly irregular. This is an ace up our sleeve. If we reveal that we have it, it loses its value.’

‘This case isn’t about Hege,’ he said. ‘It’s about cronyism. It’s about our whole bloody system being based on the idea of protecting one another. So that they can swan around with VIPs and …’

‘Jan!’

Selma took two steps towards him, stopped and spread her arms in a gesture of dismay.

‘You know the Cross-Country Skiing Federation better than me. But I’m a better player, don’t you think?’

As he opened his mouth to answer, with a sharp retort if his expression was anything to go by, she corrected herself loudly: ‘More experienced. I’ve more experience in gambling than you.’

He didn’t answer. Didn’t nod. But at least he stood still.

‘Don’t show our hand, Jan. This is only the first card. We have to collect a few more if we’re to have any chance of winning. Don’t toss this card down on the table just yet.’

After a brief pause, encouraged by the fact that he still hadn’t made a move, she added: ‘Please.’

‘OK. Fine. But now I have to turn in. You can leave now.’

‘Promise me you won’t do anything.’

He murmured something that could be interpreted as a promise, and then he was gone.

At the same moment, Hege wilted.

Cowering on the settee, she sat with her arms tightly curled around her legs and her face partially hidden behind her knees.

Selma couldn’t understand her.

In the outside world, Hege Chin Morell was polite to everyone, loyal to her teammates and friendly towards spectators. Especially if they were children. In 2016 she had been named a UNICEF ambassador and, instead of two World Cup races during the pre-season period, had chosen to give reports from a refugee camp in Greece linked with a fundraising campaign on TV2. To the obvious disapproval of the Norwegian Cross-Country Skiing Federation’s senior management, although it didn’t affect her in the least. In such cases she was determined, almost headstrong, while at other times she could appear so evasive that she seemed immature. Spineless, even, Selma had thought on a couple of occasions. Hege Chin was a regular target for racist trolls, especially on far-right pages where the kindest name for her was ‘Ching-Chong’. To the equally regular questions from the press about her reaction to that sort of thing, she never gave a more forceful answer than some reference to freedom of speech. And then she made herself scarce.