Karen has briefed him on the situation and the few facts she has managed to dig up. Luna Johns, born in 1977 in Ravenby as Lena Johanson, in Doggerland for the past three weeks to record new material at KGB Productions for her planned comeback. Luna knows the founders of KGB from playing in a band with them in their youth. She left the islands for the US in 1997. This is, as far as the KGB guys know, her first visit since.

They had agreed to meet in the studio yesterday for some last-minute changes. But Luna never showed up and no one has heard from her. It has now been thirty hours since she was last seen.

‘Yes, according to Kore, her net worth is in the hundreds of millions,’ Karen replies. ‘Kidnapping is the worst-case scenario; we don’t have the resources to handle something like that.’

‘Well, no one has been in touch so far, so there are plenty of less dire explanations. Especially since you’re telling me she’s here incognito. How the fuck does that work, anyway? Even I know who she is and what she looks like. Bloody gorgeous, if you ask me.’

‘Rented villa, completely isolated, on one of the private peninsulas on Frisel. And her appearance has changed quite a bit. All the bling and make-up are gone. And her hair, she wears it really short now. And apparently she’s been a Buddhist for years.’

‘That’s a shame. About the hair, I mean. I wonder if it was real?’

Karen refrains from commenting on the blonde mane that used to reach well past her bottom and was probably made from other women’s hair soaked in hydrogen peroxide.

She also says nothing about the fact that Luna is probably more beautiful now than ever before.

‘Anyway,’ she continues instead, ‘Luna is some kind of straight-edger now and has withdrawn from both the media and the party scene. Four or five adopted children, divorced, but friendly with her ex, according to Kore. I’m told the kids are with him while she’s here.’

‘Kore?’ Smeed says with a grin. ‘Your gay friend is looking after Luna John’s kids?’

‘Come off it,’ she says wearily. ‘The ex. His name is Jarred Kostas. So, how do you want to play this? If we appeal to the public for information, we’re going to be hounded by the media, and not just the usual Doggerian suspects. Luna may not have performed in ten years, but there’s clearly still widespread international interest in her.’

‘You’ll have to deal with it, of course.’

‘“Deal with it”?’