‘If I put a bullet in your head now,’ Norah said, ‘she won’t have to worry about that, will she?’

Balder blinked.

Under different circumstances, Norah would have laughed; there was something comical about his facial expression. You could almost see the cogs whirring. Then his entire face seemed to drop a centimetre. A surprised old man. Only his cold eyes retained their menace.

‘Say it,’ Norah repeated.

Balder said nothing.

She was still clutching the gun in both hands, the way she’d been taught, pointing it at Balder’s chest. Now she raised her arms and aimed at his head.

‘Okay,’ he said soothingly. ‘Okay, nice and calm.’

‘Okay, what?’

‘Yes, yes, I wanted it,’ Balder said.

‘What did you want?’

‘I wanted you to kill him so that the curse would come true,’ he cried. ‘Death as a work of art. The ultimate artwork.’

‘Where did you get the gun?’

‘Anton got it for me.’

‘Who’s Anton?’

‘A friend.’

‘Did Theresa know that the gun was real and loaded?’ Norah asked. Balder took a deep breath, as if Norah were beginning to bore him.

‘No,’ he said. ‘She didn’t.’

He glared icily at Theresa.

There was a pause and for a moment all was silent; even the waltz music had died away. Suddenly Norah noticed that Balder was no longer looking at her, but staring past her into the darkness, an expression of bewildered astonishment on his face. Norah lowered the gun a little and, without taking her eyes off him, took two steps back and looked about her. In the darkness, just outside the beam of the floodlights, something was stirring. It looked as if a dark shape were growing out of the floor.

Grimm.

‘I think it’s all right for me to get up now, isn’t it?’ he said into the silence.

Norah watched him stand and brush the dirt from his clothes. Then she turned to Balder again.

‘Yes,’ she said, fixing him with her gaze. ‘I don’t see why not.’

A whole sequence of emotions came and went on Balder’s face.

‘He isn’t…?’ he stuttered. ‘You didn’t…?’

He gave a bewildered laugh.

‘Fuck, I really thought you’d… God, you gave me a shock. I—’

‘Get on your knees,’ said Norah.

Balder stared at her in disbelief.

‘You’re not serious.’

‘Now!’ Norah said.

She jerked the gun a second and Balder began to move, kneeling down ponderously. Beads of sweat glinted on his brow, in spite of the cold.

‘This is your chance to apologise,’ Norah said.

‘I’m sorry,’ Balder said quickly. ‘Miss Richter, Dr Grimm—I’m sorry. I didn’t want this to happen. It was an experiment. That was all. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. It wasn’t supposed to be anything but—’

‘Quiet!’ Norah said. ‘God, the man’s unbearable. He can’t open his mouth without lying.’

Balder looked up at her.

‘Anyway, you’re not supposed to say sorry to us, but to Nicolette Thiel.’

Balder’s mouth fell open and snapped shut again. Then Norah saw the muscles at his massive chin tighten. He looked as if wanted to argue with her.