It was only in the ensuing silence that we heard the monotonous click of the stylus running on the inside grooves of the record. Cohen had long been silent. ‘That’s no way to say goodbye,’ I mumbled, got up, went over and lifted the stylus, switched off the record-player and returned to Lady Midnight from Landås.

*

I woke to her getting dressed in the middle of the night. ‘I’m afraid I have to go home,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I’ll ask if Gro’s coming, too.’

New sounds from the hall suggested that Gro had probably had the same idea. She looked in, gave a long whistle when she 60saw me lying on the sofa in the altogether, mumbled something about ‘one good turn deserves another’ and then they were gone, Kari with a peck on my cheek, Gro with a hurried wave from the doorway. The hall door slammed and immediately afterwards Jakob shuffled in, wearing a T-shirt and underpants and scratching his head, and said: ‘The kids won’t be disturbing us anyway. We can get a bit more kip.’

He went over to the wall cabinet. ‘I think I need another drink. That was just like in the old days. You want one?’

I nodded. We had drunk spirits last night. Brandy. ‘How long have you known them?’

‘The fans? Oh, since … Much too long. I was in Gro’s pants even before she was sixteen.’

I wasn’t quite sure how to respond. ‘Oh?’

‘Yes, that’s just how it used to be. When we played at dances. Teenies hung around the stage and if you wanted to dip your wick all you had to do was beckon.’ He took a deep draught, his mouth half open, and looked pensive.

I was deeply uncomfortable now. And not because of the baroque sofa.

‘What about Kari, did you bed her, too?’

‘So you liked her, eh?’

I didn’t answer.

‘I can reassure you on that one. The answer’s no. Gro would never … They were girlfriends, you see.’

I nodded.

‘There was something special about Gro. We were on the same wavelength, even after the first time. Which we’ve kept going, right up until today.’

‘But at that time, when she was…’ I had to pause; ‘…fifteen, that was before you got married?’61

‘Oh, yes.’

‘You saw each other even afterwards?’

He looked at me, made a vague gesture with his head, then nodded. ‘Now and then, yes. Not often. The last time was several years ago.’

‘Where’s she now?’

‘Gro? Walking the plank at Captain Hook’s, I imagine.’

‘I meant your wife.’

‘Ah, my wife.’ His eyes took on a faraway look again. ‘That’s exactly what I’d wanted to ask Johnny about.’ He stood up suddenly. ‘We can talk more about that tomorrow. We need a few hours between the sheets. In peace, I mean. Right? As the kids are out … Come with me.’

He motioned for me to follow him into his son’s bedroom and cleared a place on the bunk bed, under posters of English footballers and American pop stars, behind piles of cowboy comics and Hardy Boys books, space travel and hi-tech magazines, and surrounded by a dozen or so big cuddly toys: tigers and bears, dogs and monkeys.