‘Why did you and Simon Vidje have a fight that night at the quarry?’ she asks, leaning forward. Her voice is gentle, the movement slow, but Alex recoils as if she’d slapped him across the face. His mouth opens, he gasps for air.

‘You said he was your friend,’ she continues before he has time to compose himself. Leans forward a little more. ‘And yet you beat the shit out of him while the other three egged you on. The big, strong, Olympic-standard wrestler versus the skinny little musician. It was only ever going to go one way, wasn’t it?’

‘I . . .’ Alex is as white as a sheet, his tongue moving over his lips as if it’s searching for the right words. Anna sees Jens also lean forward, and raises her right hand a fraction from her knee to indicate that she’d like him to keep quiet.

‘We . . .’ Alex’s brain and mouth still can’t agree on what comes next. He’s obviously struggling, desperately searching for an escape route. So she gives it to him.

‘Tell us what really happened that night, Alex.’

His eyes dart from her to Jens and back again. He looks down, his shoulders slump, and for a second, she thinks he might pitch forward, but he places both his forearms on the table and props himself up. He sits like that for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts. Then he takes a deep breath and begins.

Chapter 50

50

28 August 1990

The rain was hammering down.

Alex had flattened Simon with a headlock, and was using his body weight to keep him on the ground. He was in charge now, he was the one who was in control, and the rage boiling up in his body was mixed with the satisfaction of having regained the advantage. The others were standing around him yelling at him to go in harder, to give Simon what he deserved.

Alex grunted, braced himself and shifted Simon’s whole body, just as he did with an opponent in the ring, so that his face ended up in a hollow that was rapidly filling with rainwater. Landing on the hard ground had knocked the breath out of Simon’s lungs, but grit and gravel dug into his skin and revived him.

‘Let go of me!’

He fought back, tried to turn his head, but Alex held him down. The water entered Simon’s nose and mouth, made him cough.

‘Let me go,’ he ventured again, but it came out as little more than a gurgle. The other three were still yelling, egging Alex on.

Alex tightened the headlock until he could hear Simon’s joints protesting. The water had reached the top of the hollow, and Simon was gasping for air. In spite of the encouragement from the other three, Alex decided that enough was enough. He’d made his point, shown Simon what happened when someone strayed into his territory.