‘I don’t give a shit, I’m retiring soon anyway, but I imagine the rest of you must be feeling a bit miffed about being considered redundant.’

He makes a sweeping gesture towards Cornelis Loots, Astrid Nielsen, and Sara Inguldsen. They say nothing, just turn back to Karl.

‘For God’s sake, Evald—’ he starts to say, but then he’s interrupted again.

This time by Jounas Smeed.

‘I don’t think Björken had much choice,’ he comments drily. ‘The prosecutor, the Head of Police and I myself were all pretty clear we didn’t want the investigation to focus on some poor bloke in a wheelchair. Especially after the embarrassing incident with Martin Talliksen.’

Who is this guy? Karen marvels, looking as surprised as the rest of the team now. This is the second time since breakfast her boss has demonstrated possession of something curiously like a spine.

‘I don’t think anyone here will be shocked Eiken decided not to give a toss about orders from her superiors,’ Smeed continues with a nod to Karen. ‘Somewhat more unexpectedly, she managed to get Björken on board, too. I can assure you their behaviour won’t go unpunished.’

Is he being stupid now, or incredibly bloody smart?

Smeed pauses for effect.

Eyes on the table. Some of the team’s indignant, hurt, offended feelings seem to have morphed into an unspoken objection to his threat of consequences.

‘Still, inappropriate as their actions may have been,’ he continues, ‘it does look like they may have led to a breakthrough in this case.’

Evald Johannisen looks both confused and slightly mollified now.

‘So after some hesitation, I’ve decided to let Björken stay on as lead investigator and bring this case over the finish line,’ Jounas Smeed continues and stands up. ‘I have the pleasure of meeting with the Head of Police in’ – he checks his watch – ‘four minutes. Apparently, I have some explaining to do.’

Then he leaves the room. The silence after the door closes behind him seems to drag on forever. Once again, Evald Johannisen is the one who finally breaks it.

‘What the fuck was that?’ he chuckles and looks at Karl Björken. ‘Did the boss just compliment you or castrate you?’

‘No idea. Both, I guess. But I hope you understand why I couldn’t bring you all in on this?’

Johannisen mumbles something inaudible.

‘OK, fine, Evald, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I kept it on the down-low to protect myself, but also because I didn’t want to waste all our resources on something I actually considered a long shot.’

‘Seems more like back of the net to me,’ Astrid Nielsen says. ‘What do we do now? I assume Freske’s being swabbed today. I’d like to volunteer for that job.’

Chapter 43

43

‘Smart.’