‘Be. Quiet.’

This time he managed. She saw him swallow his tears.

‘You don’t have to do this,’ he said.

Norah put her head on one side.

‘Listen. Listen to me for a moment. You don’t have to do this. Call the police. I’ll confess to everything.’

Norah didn’t react. Then she shook her head.

‘If there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that people like you get away with everything. You’d even get away with this. Because this is your world. Coco, Theresa, me—we just live here, right? I can only think of one way to change that.’

Norah cocked the gun.

‘Don’t,’ Balder cried in panic. ‘You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.’

‘He’s right,’ someone said behind Norah and at first she thought it was Theresa. Then she realised it was Sandra’s voice. What on earth was she doing in Vienna? Norah glanced over her shoulder and saw that Sandra wasn’t alone; Max and Paul were with her. All three out of breath and drenched in sweat.

‘We heard a shot,’ Sandra said. ‘We thought we were too late.’

Norah turned back to Balder and her friends closed in on her, entering her field of vision.

‘What are you doing here?’ Norah asked them.

‘Looking after you,’ Max said. ‘Put the gun down, Norah.’

Norah was silent.

‘You know you’re not going to shoot him while we’re looking on,’ Sandra said. She sounded quite calm.

‘What makes you think that?’ Norah asked.

‘Because you’re not like that.’

‘Like what? Angry? Oh, believe me, I’m angry. Angry enough for ten people.’

‘I know,’ Sandra said. ‘But you’re not stupid. You don’t want to spend the best years of your life in prison. Not because of a piece of shit like him.’

Norah didn’t reply, but lowered the gun a little.

‘Put the gun away, Norah.’ Now it was Max’s turn to reason with her. ‘You’re a good person. And you’re definitely not a murderer.’

Norah thought of Coco and Grimm and, completely irrationally, unable to separate her emotions of the last few weeks from the present situation, she thought of Valerie.

Norah looked at Balder. Balder looked at her.

Norah raised the gun and pulled the trigger.

63

Like water. Time had frozen like water in a lake. Balder was kneeling before her, his eyes squeezed shut. Sandra and Paul had screamed; Max’s hand was clapped to his mouth; Theresa and Grimm just stood there, their arms hanging at their sides.

It was a moment before time began to thaw. The first thing Norah heard was the thud of the gun as it hit the ground. Then she heard someone breathe out and realised that it was her. Then Balder opened his eyes. And then, realising that Norah had shot into the air, high above Balder’s head, everyone started talking at once.

Balder blinked as if waking from a nightmare, but he didn’t move.

Norah looked down at him.

His mouth snapped open and shut.

‘Go,’ she said.