But this isn’t a horror film. They all know the records show that Ethel Freske was taken to the hospital with severe breathing difficulties just a few weeks after she was taken to the A & E by her son. That it would turn out to be her last trip is also beyond doubt; Ethel Freske passed away there two days later.

‘Good bulbs these days,’ Smeed comments drily. ‘I’ll bet you anything that has been on since last summer.’

Chapter 71

71

No one seems to notice the man who steps through the doors of Langevik’s last remaining pub, the Hare and Crow, at 7.56 p.m. and takes a seat at a table in the back corner. And if a stray glance were to drift his way, it wouldn’t be because there’s any resemblance between him and the picture that has been prominently featured on every news website for the past couple of hours.

The picture that’s just now flashing by on the TV news.

To the extent the patrons in the half-full pub pay any attention to the TV, it’s a different story that arouses their interest. That the police have finally found the Moerbeck Swine is all well and good, but it pales in significance to the fact that the eyes of the world are suddenly on the Doggerian islands.

All over the country, people are eagerly flocking to British and American news sites, which are all reporting on Luna’s disappearance during a visit to her native country. Lumps of national pride are swallowed as they read about Luna choosing a Doggerian production company for her planned comeback. Fact boxes about the successes of the small studio started by three friends are read with sudden interest. From now on, everyone – even Evald Johannisen – will know what KGB stands for.

And the criticism levelled at the Doggerian police has not yet found a foothold among the wider reader and viewership. Especially not when it’s voiced by foreign media outlets. ‘They rescued her, what more do they bloody want?’ still seems to be the prevailing view among the people of Doggerland.

Attention, yes please, but leave the criticism at the door. It’s nice she chose to come back to her homeland, but she did leave. Just like all the other traitors who set their course for England, Sweden and God knows where during the difficult years and who are now, when times are better, coming back, all smug and full of themselves.

No, there has to be some limit to the brazenness. That much the backbone of the Hare and Crow – also known as Jaap Kloes, Egil Jenssen, and Odd Marklund – are in wholehearted agreement on. Not even owner Arild Rasmussen voices a dissenting view.

‘Coming back here and going missing like that,’ he mutters and mutes the TV.

*