It took him a second or two to find the document. He kept his belongings in pedantic order, and all his contracts had been systematically filed in ring binders stored in the cupboard furthest off.

Three minutes later he sat behind the Biedermeier desk giving thanks to a God he had never believed in. With his eyes closed, his hands folded and his body tensed.

His friend from St Sunniva’s had safeguarded him.

If he withdrew from the project, or did not manage to complete it, then the majority of the advance payment would have to be paid back. The contract specified an exponential scale. The further into the project, the greater the percentage to be repaid. With a rapid mental calculation, Sølve discovered he would have to shell out almost 350,000 kroner if he himself decided to pack it in.

That was money he by no means possessed.

Not without selling the apartment, which was out of the question.

On the other hand, if Statoil were to withdraw, the situation would be completely different. In paragraph 11.2 of the agreement, it emerged that Sølve’s interest in Hege Chin Morell’s drugs case suddenly became of major import. A breach on the oil company’s part, regardless of reason, implied that Sølve Bang, named The Author in the contract, would be able to keep all monies paid plus a sum approximating to three months’ remuneration. Furthermore he would retain the rights to his own intellectual property.

It was too good to be true.

Sølve read the clause three more times.

The good news was actually true.

He placed his hands behind his neck. Fixed his eyes on the stucco between the wall and ceiling, which was dark with dust and yellowed with age. He released his hands and slammed a fist down on the table. It was painful.

Hege’s affair might not be sufficient. Statoil might possibly consider it all to be a one-off occurrence. An occupational accident. A side-track that could be bypassed. Hege had never really fitted in anyway: Sølve himself was struggling to insert the dark-haired foreigner into a beautiful book about Norway and cross-country skiing.

But then there was that little journalist. At the press conference, where he had more than hinted that Haakon Holm-Vegge might also have been involved in drug-taking.

If both the best female and the best male Norwegian cross-country skiers were exposed as cheats, it could signal the end for the Federation. At least in the short run.

‘In the short run’ also included the Winter Olympics. Only a few days ago, the International Olympic Committee had excluded Russia from the games in PyeongChang. If the weirdo from DG really had anything to go on, and hadn’t just been on a crazy fishing expedition, that could lead to chaos. And a rupture between Statoil and the Cross-Country Skiing Federation.