Jon Bergman obviously hadn’t failed to notice her uncertainty and had leapt to exploit the situation. Quickly and deftly, he had changed the subject.

‘How do you respond to the claims that the perpetrator is lying unconscious in the same hospital as the victim right now?’

This time, her gaze doesn’t waver. But a shadow crosses her face and the yellow rings around her sharply blue irises make her eyes look hard. Her unease is palpable.

‘I have no comment on that.’

‘Is it true the perpetrator is a close relative of the victim?’

‘I can’t comment on that.’

‘Can you comment on the information we have that the perpetrator is Luna’s son?’

‘Like I said, I can’t comment on that.’

Jon Bergman turns to the camera with the words:

‘Well, as you can see, there are many questions the police just won’t answer. Questions we will keep asking until we have a clear picture of what happened, how one of our most beloved artists could be kidnapped right under the nose of the police, and what is being done to make sure something like this never happens again. Back to the studio.’

That was the end of the segment.

*

No, Viggo Haugen is definitely not happy.

Exactly how unhappy becomes eminently clear once the interview is finally over and a painful silence descends on the room. Out of the corner of her eye, Karen had noticed him slowly shaking his head while he watched. Now, he shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath, as if to summon strength, before opening them again.

‘Well, it couldn’t have gone much worse,’ he says.

‘I’m not sure it was that bad—’ Jounas Smeed puts in, but Haugen cuts him off.

‘And this is a situation where we really needed to communicate a positive image of the work we do. Couldn’t you at least have brushed your hair?’ he adds and turns to Karen, unable to completely hide a sneer of revulsion.

His words pop the bubble of shame she has been stuck in since the interview began to play. She slowly draws herself up, gritting her teeth against the pain in her lower back.

Choose your words carefully.

‘I hardly think the way I bloody looked is the most important thing here—’

‘No, the most important thing is what you said,’ Haugen cuts her off harshly.

‘The way we say things is also pivotal,’ the woman from the PR company adds. ‘Body language and facial expressions affect viewer impressions much more than the exact words we choose. We’ll have to think of this as a bad exa—a useful lesson and be mindful of these things as we move forward.’

A bad example. Karen’s eyes are burning now and she digs her nails into the palms of her hands underneath the table to hold the tears back.

‘But I had no idea they knew about Billy . . .’