No, I think. That is not all.

If Balder’s behind all this, I was wrong to suppose that I’d had a gun thrust on me by some eye-for-an-eyer. In fact, I’m dealing with a recognition-craving bastard who would do anything to avoid boring his greedy, jaded, overstimulated audience.

He would have let me kill an innocent man.

I hear Coco’s voice in my head. I’m scared he’ll do the same to you. I’m scared he’ll destroy you—leave you without anyone, not even able to help yourself. He’s good at that, you know. He finds your weak spot and worries away at it. You don’t notice at first. With me it started when I cut myself off from my friends. I didn’t realise until it was too late.

I think of the way Max and Paul suddenly cut me. I think of Tanja’s similarly abrupt cold-shouldering—and I have to know. I take my phone from my bag, noting missed calls from Max and Coco, and ring Tanja. She sounds alarmed.

‘Hi, Tanja,’ I say, ‘it’s Norah. Did I wake you?’

‘No. But what’s so urgent?’

‘There’s something I have to know,’ I say. ‘Why did you suddenly drop me? I didn’t understand, but I was too hurt to ask you at the time.’

Tanja is silent for a moment.

‘Oh, come on, Norah,’ she says eventually. ‘What are you playing at?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘I read your email. The one you sent me by mistake.’

She laughs bitterly.

‘It happens more often than you’d think,’ she says. ‘I told a few friends about it and a lot of them had had similar experiences. I guess that people who do a lot of bitching about someone get so fixated on that person that they end up sending them one of their bitchy emails by mistake.’

It’s a moment before the penny drops.

‘You think I bitched about you in an email?’ I ask. ‘And sent you the email by mistake?’

Tanja is silent again.

‘I’m such an idiot,’ she says. ‘I really thought you were ringing to apologise.’

‘Tanja, please don’t hang up,’ I say quickly. ‘I know this must sound like a pathetic excuse, but it wasn’t me. I didn’t write that email. My account was hacked a while ago and I’m only just beginning to realise the extent of the damage.’

Silence again.

‘Okay,’ Tanja says eventually. ‘Sure. Good luck to you.’

Then the engaged tone. I stare at my phone. Tanja has hung up. I suppose it does all sound rather far-fetched. I probably wouldn’t believe it myself if I were her.

I have to collect myself before I can ring Coco back. I’m not sure how much to tell her and how much to keep quiet. In the end, I decide not to tell her anything, but just to give her the usual reassurance. To be there for her. She picks up on the second ring.

‘Norah,’ she says, without even saying hello. There’s panic in her voice. ‘Balder’s in Vienna.’