‘So, what do we do now?’ he says as soon as the door is closed. ‘As far as I understand it, Alex Morell has admitted that he and the others attacked Simon Vidje both physically and verbally, but that’s all. Do you think he’s lying? Confessing to a minor crime in order to get away with something more serious?’

Anna has been considering this for a while now. It’s not unusual for suspects to go down that road, but she hasn’t seen anything to suggest that’s what Alex is doing.

‘No. I believe he’s telling the truth. How about you?’

‘Same here. In which case the four of them are guilty of assault and possibly causing the death of another person.’

Anna nods.

‘I’m not sure of the statute of limitations off the top of my head, but I’m assuming that twenty-seven years is way too long to be able to bring a case?’ Jens raises an enquiring eyebrow.

‘Five years,’ she replies. ‘Ten if the crime is regarded as serious. Whichever it is, we’re seventeen years too late. We need to focus on Rylander.’

Jens pulls a face.

‘At least the motive is clear now. The question is – how did Rylander find out what happened? Did he and Tanya go back? Did they see something?’

Anna shrugs. ‘Maybe, although my guess is that Rylander knew nothing.’

‘No?’

She takes out the letter from Elisabet Vidje and gives him a moment to read it.

‘I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot,’ she says when he’s finished. ‘I think Rylander received this letter and saw a business opportunity. He took a chance on the possibility that something really had happened that night, and that one or more of the four friends would be prepared to pay to keep it quiet. So, he sent the blackmail message, then turned up at the homecoming party.’

It is Jens’s turn to nod. He doesn’t ask why she didn’t show him the letter earlier.

‘In which case he was partly right, wasn’t he? Someone wanted to make sure that whatever took place that night didn’t come out, but they weren’t going to pay. Within a very short time Rylander falls to his death. Thanks to Alex Morell we now know why – we just don’t know who was responsible.’

Anna holds up her right thumb.

‘Alex Morell has an alibi, plus he’s admitted to the events in the quarry.’

She moves on to her index and middle fingers.

‘Marie and Bruno provided each other with an alibi. We also know that they and Alex are involved in a major building project, and that the financing is an issue.’

She raises her ring finger.