‘I have to double-check with him,’ she says. ‘But that’s all I have for you right now.’

‘You do realise we can publish what we have anytime? I’m thinking: “Star Kidnapped, Police Clueless”. It’s all ready to go up on our website. All I have to do is push a button . . .’

She can picture Jon Bergman’s face as he trails off. The small, condoling smile.

You’re probably about to shit yourself with excitement, she grumbles inwardly.

Out loud, she says, ‘Yes, Jon, I do realise that. But I also know it’s in all our interest that you hold off until you have the whole story, otherwise you risk being overtaken by your colleagues at other news outlets. I don’t like it, but if that’s what the brass want me to do, I’ll contact you as soon as I know more.’

‘We want our phones to ring every thirty minutes, even if there’s nothing new.’

‘Oh, come off it,’ she snaps. ‘You’re not dictating the terms here. I’ll get back to you the moment I have anything I deem to be important. I promise,’ she adds in a tone she hopes might come off as slightly milder.

Two beeps again. Probably Stolt looking to give me my marching orders, she thinks.

‘Fine,’ Jon Bergman says. ‘I’ll trust you. But the second someone else catches wind of this, or if I feel like you’re holding out on me, we’re publishing.’

‘I don’t doubt that for a second.’

*

‘He didn’t know as much as I feared,’ Karl says after she hangs up.

‘No, but far too much. Do you really think Stolt promised them they’d be there if and when we go in?’

Karl heaves a heavy sigh.

‘No idea. Maybe better than them dropping the bomb right now. At least it seems to have bought us a few sorely needed hours.’

‘A few hours isn’t going to be enough,’ Karen retorts gloomily. ‘Unless the image analysis has turned up something, we have absolutely nothing to go on.’

‘We’re going to have to call Smeed on the way. Are you hungry? Should we stop somewhere for a quick bite? Looks like we won’t be going home for a while.’

She rubs her eyes with her heels of her hands and counts in her head. Ten to three. Normally, she wouldn’t be this exhausted, even considering that she has only had a few hours of sleep in the past few days. As it is, her sense of time seems to be warping. Was it really yesterday she saw Billy in the hospital and then went to see Aylin? Just a few hours since she and Leo were standing in the kitchen back home in Langevik with Billy’s phone? It feels like days ago . . .