‘Only briefly. She was very busy.’

Yngve used the pause that followed to make a few notes, mostly to fill time. Then looked up again. ‘We couldn’t find Mari’s mobile phone,’ he said in a soft voice. ‘Neither in her bag, nor anywhere else at school. Do you have any idea where it might be?’

‘I don’t know,’ Frode said.’

‘It’s broken.’ Cecilie’s voice was quiet and slow.

‘What happened?’

‘I don’t know. I just know that it’s broken.’

‘So where is it?’

‘Repair shop, probably.’

‘Do you know which one?’

She shrugged.

Yngve nodded and made a note.

‘We couldn’t find her keys, either,’ he continued. ‘Do you know if they’re here?’

‘I can check,’ Frode said and got up. He seemed happy to have something to do.

Yngve tried to make eye contact with Cecilie while her husband was out of the room, but it was almost as if she was in a trance.

‘They’re not in the basket in the hall,’ Frode said as he returned and sat down. ‘That’s where she leaves them.’

‘Alright. Is there anything about the keys that would make it easier for us to identify them?’

‘The keychain has a blue-and-white string on it,’ Frode offered. ‘I think it has three keys.’

Yngve made a note of that as well. Then waited a beat before asking: ‘She had started to work for the school newspaper, is that right?’ Once more he looked from one parent to the other.

‘Yes,’ Frode said and lowered his head again.

Yngve waited for Cecilie to speak, but she didn’t.

‘According to my colleague your daughter came by the precinct the other day, asking questions about a car accident. Do you know anything about that?’

Cecilie started to sob. Frode squeezed the socks again.

Yngve knew he had to press them. ‘Do you know anything about that?’ He turned towards Cecilie this time, as if addressing her directly.

Slowly she lifted her gaze, then whispered a dry no. She then turned towards her husband, whose cheek muscles were pulsing – on and off, on and off.

‘No, we don’t know anything about that,’ he said quickly.

Again Yngve took his time writing.

‘We also found Ole Hoff ’s business card among Mari’s things,’ he said. ‘Did she talk to you about needing to speak to him about something?’

Frode stood up and took a few steps away from them. Cecilie followed his movements with tear-filled eyes. Frode had his back towards them, one hand on his hip, the other in front of his eyes.

Yngve waited.

And waited.

‘I … gave it to her,’ Frode Lindgren finally said. ‘Ole’s business card.’

He turned to face Yngve. Fresh tears had formed shiny stripes on his cheeks. He wiped them away with the sleeve of his shirt and snorted at the same time. ‘The other day, she asked me about that … car accident.’

‘Which car accident?’