‘Feel free to say wives, or in some cases girlfriends. All our employees are men,’ Björn Groth says. ‘It’s not that we wouldn’t welcome women, but—’

He breaks off at the sound of his wife chuckling.

‘As usual, my husband forgets that one of our most pivotal employees, Eva Framnes, is a woman. She works as a secretary and is also in charge of invoicing and payroll.’

Björn Groth looks momentarily sheepish; Karen turns to him.

‘You mentioned upcoming changes to the business. Can you tell me more about what they will entail?’ she asks and notes that the question seems to make him feel more relaxed.

‘Well, in a nutshell, we’re going to put Noorö on the map,’ he says with a pleased smile and leans back, pulling one leg over the other with some difficulty.

‘Is that right?’ Karen says. ‘I don’t seem to recall any difficulty locating it in my school atlas.’

The sarcasm is wasted on Björn Groth.

‘Sure, sure, but what are we known for? Aside from the whiskey, I mean. What draws people here?’

Karen forces out a smile but says nothing. She hates rhetorical questions.

‘Exactly,’ Björn Groth says triumphantly. ‘Nothing! Tourists simply don’t come here. Even though we have Northern Europe’s most beautifully situated golf course and an ancient ship setting. People should be flocking to this part of Doggerland! The problem is that we’re not trumpeting what we have. We don’t market ourselves.’

No, Karen agrees inwardly, you certainly don’t. She knows about the old golf course, though she’s never been. And now that she thinks about it, it must be beautifully situated out on the promontory, surrounded by the sea on three sides. But she has never heard it spoken of as an attraction worth flocking to. If she’d had to guess, she would have said it was closed down years ago.

‘And how can we, unless we also offer potential visitors somewhere to stay?’ Björn Groth continues his game-show host act.

Karen can feel her impatience growing and discreetly glances down at her watch. Laura Groth notices.

‘What my husband is trying to say is that we’re planning to build a conference facility that capitalises on its proximity to the golf course and the distillery.’

‘A conference facility? Is there really demand for that up here?’

Karen makes no effort to hide her incredulity.

‘Not yet,’ Björn Groth admits. ‘Though we’ve actually already hosted our first international guests. And they weren’t just your ordinary golfers, let me tell you.’

He pauses for effect.

‘I can’t tell you their names, we’ll save that for the marketing, but I can tell you two of them count among the world’s leading businessmen and another two have close connections with the British royal family.’