‘The thing is . . .’ Jens bites his upper lip as if he is trying to stop the rest of the sentence from coming out. ‘I have a great deal of respect for Henry Morell. I regard him as something of a mentor.’

But, she thinks. She is trying hard not to show how unexpected this conversation is.

‘But what he asked us to do last night wasn’t right. Admittedly, I’ve cleaned up after Alexander a couple of times in the past, but those were only minor matters. This could have ended very badly – plus he assaulted a police officer.’

Once again Anna wonders whether this is a ploy, but there are still no signs of insincerity.

‘Were you there when Bruno Sordi was released?’ she asks.

Jens nods.

‘How long was he held?’

‘Not long. He was home before midnight. His wife and father-in-law came and picked him up. They weren’t happy.’

‘Did you speak to him?’ She knows the answer before he nods. Jens is a conscientious officer who doesn’t like loose ends. ‘So, what did he say?’

‘He claims it was a drunken misunderstanding.’

‘A misunderstanding?’

Jens straightens his shoulders, glances at the closed door. ‘He said the DJ played an old song. They were all shocked and thought he was messing with them, trying to ruin their evening. That was why they attacked him.’

‘How could he do that with an old song?’

‘Because the person singing was Simon Vidje.’

Anna inhales sharply, tries to recall what she heard. The beautiful voice, the chords, the lyrics. Something about dark and lonely waters. She can’t help shuddering.

‘Did you ask Kristian Persson about it?’

‘No, he was long gone by then. I didn’t want to call him and wake him early on a Sunday morning, plus I’m pretty sure that after our little chat earlier on, he would have told me to go to hell. It would be interesting to hear his version, though.’

He takes a folded piece of paper out of his shirt pocket and places it on her desk before getting to his feet, giving her a brief nod of farewell and leaving the room. Anna opens up the piece of paper and sees a mobile phone number.

For the third time she tries to work out if this whole thing is a trick, but in the end, she gives in.

*

Kristian answers on the third ring and doesn’t seem very pleased to hear from her, to say the least.

‘Listen, I get it,’ he snaps as soon as she’s introduced herself. ‘Your fascist colleague made it very clear to me last night that it wasn’t a good idea to press charges against Alexander Morell. You could have told me that in the first place instead of dragging me down to the station, and you definitely don’t need to call—’

She interrupts him, her cheeks burning with shame.