Behind me, in the living room, I heard Vee and Elsa talking easily, their voices full of light and air. I stepped out into the passageway, pulled the door to behind me.

“You did not tell me you would use my footage for this,” he said. “You are happy in your revenge against the police.”

“No.”

“It is not a question.”

I stared at him. He was more disheveled than ever, though his black shirt was neatly ironed and his shoes freshly polished. He said, “I see through your window you are happy now. In your revenge.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

I looked at him. Had he really been watching us from outside?

His phone chirruped. He took it from his pocket, checked the lock screen, and put it back. He waited until I was looking him in the eye. Then he said, “Since your broadcast I have received threats on my life. Because everybody googles Polish helicopter pilots who live in Norway and they find Pavel Lisowski. And eighty-seven of these people contact me to say they will kill me. This is a lot, no? Maybe eighty of these threats are not credible. These are from people who are angry that I did not share what I knew. People a bit like you, only without your good manners.”

“Wait,” I said. “Slow down. It was never—”

“Never your intention?” he said.

“No.”

“Maybe you think I am being paranoid about these threats? Maybe you think I am a coward? And maybe you are right. Maybe even eighty-five death threats are not credible. But two of them are. I think actually more than two. These Andersen men have a lot of admirers.”

“Why are you standing here? Why aren’t you telling this to the police?”

He laughed. It sounded wild and hysterical, bouncing off the tiled walls of the stairwell. He stopped laughing. “You will say, Cal, that you are only telling the truth. But we know—we both know—that you are doing so much more than that.”

He began to walk away from me.

“Pavel,” I said. “You need to tell the police.”

“You think I will trust the police?” he said without turning. “You think perhaps they are good enough for me, but not for you? No, I am going to run away and hide from these people. Like the coward you think I am.”

“I don’t think you are a coward. You did the right thing.”

He laughed again: that same angry, hysterical laughter. Then he stopped laughing and turned, walked back to where I was standing. He brought his face very close to mine.

“To sacrifice me, this is not for you a big sacrifice, I think. But do not sacrifice your family in your quest for truth, Cal Curtis.”

“He made his choice,” said Elsa, when I told her. “He knew that giving Vee the footage could have consequences.”

“Do we need to worry?” I said.