He stopped of his own volition. Held the glass up to the light. The flames from the fire made it sparkle with glints of amber, and he drained the glass in a final gulp.

‘It was definitely a system error that meant Stian Bach could make such a catastrophic blunder as what happened in Italy. And not least that he got away with it. If the story had become common knowledge, the boys would have persuaded the guy to quit, and then blamed it on human error. Human error! It’s to protect ourselves from bloody human error that we have systems! And Hedda, she’d have been the one who’d have had to give up all hopes for the Winter Olympics and probably the whole of season eighteen/nineteen into the bargain.’

He stared into his empty glass.

‘Dilettantes, the lot of them. To some extent they let me take part as well. I’ve personally picked out at least three of the employees over there. The Finance Director, for example. Arnulf Selhus. He worked for me earlier. And I don’t even have any formal connection to the Federation any longer. Christ …’

He gave a lopsided smile. Actually longed for another drink.

‘MCV would have gone down the tubes if I’d run the company the same way,’ he muttered.

‘Could you find out who knew about what happened in Italy?’

‘Why should I … yes! Exactly. Those who knew about that near-catastrophe … They also know you can walk right into a pharmacy in Italy and buy an ointment containing Clostebol. After all, getting hold of the stuff is the first thing you have to do if you’re out to sabotage anyone.’

Selma nodded.

‘That would be a start at least. A start is more than we had this morning.’

‘Here,’ Jan said, handing her his mobile phone. ‘I’ve had this list since Hege told me about that episode down there.’

Selma read the note.

‘Stian Bach,’ she murmured. ‘We knew that. The president, Bottolf Odda. One, two, three, four, five coaches. Arnulf Selhus. Astrid Beita. Who’s that?’

‘The cook.’

‘Physiotherapist. Only one. Knut Nilssen. Don’t they usually have more?’

‘It varies. The skiers themselves would rather have more physios at the expense of having a doctor, but it’s all a question of cost, you see. But before the start of the season, there’s always a doctor with them. And then as a rule it’s only Knut who travels. Go ahead and send that list to yourself.’

‘I’ll probably remember it,’ she mumbled.

All the same, Selma’s fingers followed his instructions, and she gave him back the phone.

‘Journalists,’ Jan added. ‘There was a group of journalists there for two days. I’ll rustle up their names and send them to you.’

‘Fine. Thanks. I have to go now.’

Once again she rose to her feet. Jan followed her out into the hallway. She pulled on a dark-green quilted jacket and thrust her hands into a pair of gloves.