At least he seems sober enough to give a statement, she concludes ten minutes later. By and large, Jens Groth confirms his parents’ account: there are a lot of exciting changes in the works for the company and the family wanted to throw their employees and their partners a big party. No, not entirely selflessly: because many among the staff will be asked to take on more duties, it was deemed important to ‘get everyone on board’ and the thinking had been that ‘a bit of lubrication tastes more than it costs’, as Jens Groth put it.

‘Our employees are our most precious resource,’ he adds and Karen resists an urge to roll her eyes.

After patiently listening to this and various other nuggets of wisdom, she steers the conversation to the ‘resource’ that has just been lost.

‘I’ve been told you and Gabriel Stuub got into a fight at the party. Is that correct?’

‘Yes, he was absolutely shitfaced and determined to ruin the mood. Bergvall and I had to physically stop him from getting at the fireworks.’

‘How physically?’ she asks.

Jens Groth shoots her an annoyed look.

‘We each grabbed an arm and pulled him back. Tried to talk some sense into him at first, but that was completely pointless. He got angry and shouted a bunch of nonsense. In the end, Bergvall had had enough. He dragged Gabriel away, gave him a shove and told him to fuck off until he’d sobered up.’

‘And you didn’t give him a hand with any of that?’

‘I would have loved to, but as a co-owner, I can’t afford the luxury of telling people to go fuck themselves. Not even when it’s called for.’

‘What time was this?’

‘Quarter, maybe twenty to twelve. Bergvall and I had gone down to set up the fireworks and, after a while, Gabriel came out and started making trouble.’

‘And when was the next time you saw him after that?’

‘I didn’t. Well, not until this morning when one of the cleaners came running, screaming that we had to come with her. We had just sat down for breakfast and at first we didn’t understand what she was on about, but then we realised something serious must have happened.’

‘So you went down to where Gabriel was found. Who came with you?’

Jens looks like he’s searching his memory.

‘I definitely remember Bergvall and Elias being there. My sister’s husband,’ he adds. ‘I’m sure they weren’t the only ones, but I can’t say exactly who went with us. It was just mayhem after we saw him lying there in his own blood. And that slash across his throat . . . fuck me.’

Jens Groth reaches for his glass of whiskey but puts it down again after a glance at Karen. She has time to notice his hand trembling.