‘You’re telling me you’ve fitted in another job since you left Solomon?’

He knew he sounded like a nagging parent, but he couldn’t help himself.

‘Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?’

Peder’s voice was louder now, slightly stressed.

Alex backtracked; he didn’t want to risk Peder hanging up on him. At the same time, he didn’t like what he was hearing. Peder was a sensitive soul, and he had gone through a great deal in the past. As long as life was running smoothly he was fine, but over the years he’d had something of a tendency to go off the rails – often deliberately.

‘I do,’ Alex said, even though he was uncomfortable at not knowing where the conversation was heading. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t be telling you what to do – you’re all grown up now. So . . . you worked for another security firm for a little while?’

‘Yes, what’s so strange about that? Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you expect.’

Alex suppressed another sigh. That was precisely Peder’s weakness. He always had an explanation, an excuse when something didn’t go according to plan. And Peder’s voice . . . It wasn’t just defensive. If they hadn’t known each other so well, Alex would have thought it sounded threatening.

But why?

Adopting a conciliatory tone, he said: ‘Okay, tell me what you know.’

‘Noah Johansson contacted us. It must have been early autumn, just after I started there. He was scared, thought someone was after him.’

‘What?’

‘Exactly. That’s more or less what I said – “What?” I told him I could help him with an alarm system and so on, but that he had to contact the police if he was being followed or harassed. He wasn’t prepared to do that, and I never did find out why. To be honest, I think he was making it up. He was kind of volatile, talked a load of crap.’

Volatile, talked a load of crap.

An assessment directly at odds with Alex’s own.

Not that it was unwelcome. If Peder was right, it would undeniably explain a great deal. After all, Alex didn’t have personal knowledge of Noah’s character; he couldn’t assess his reliability from the brief contact they’d had.

He glanced over at the window. If he wanted to he could go out and enjoy one of the season’s few warm, sunny summer evenings. However, he lacked both desire and company, and preferred to remain indoors.

‘You don’t think whoever was threatening Noah could be holding his brother hostage to get what they want?’ he said.

‘If that’s the case I’m pretty sure he would have told you. or kicked off big time when the police insisted there was nothing to investigate. But honestly, Alex – I think he was making it all up. He’s a fantasist.’