‘But he only took advantage of his right to stay on for a couple of years, until the end of 2015, if I remember correctly,’ Jenny Older continues. ‘From what I understand, he gave up his research and hopefully found something else to do with his time. A lot of people resist retirement, but that usually sorts itself out in due course. I suppose it’s the same in all walks of life.’

She says that last part with a conspiratorial chuckle that seems to signal an unspoken understanding. When Karen does nothing to join in, Jenny Older continues in a tone that says that, as far as she is concerned, this conversation has run its course.

‘We haven’t seen or heard from him in a few years, but I’ll let everyone in his department know about his passing. Do you know when the funeral is going to be? It would be good if I could put that information in the email. It’s possible someone might want to attend.’

Karen ends the call with a sigh.

*

Getting old really sucks, she reflects and resumes ploughing through the links to the contents of Fredrik Stuub’s laptop. As Jenny Older indicated, Stuub’s professional interests seem to have revolved around different types of toxins found in mould; there are links to a few newspaper articles where he was quoted as an expert on the subject of mycotoxins in apple sauce and cold-pressed apple juice. She skims through impenetrable terms and stats from comparative measurements of aflatoxins, ochratoxin, patulin, Baudoinia, trichothecenes, zearalenone and fumonisin, without finding any connection to Groth’s distillery.

She has never heard of mould being found in spirits, but what does she really know? She’s going to have to look into that somehow. Mould in conjunction with shoddy construction sounds more plausible. Those things tend to blow up into big scandals, depending on the extent and consequences, she thinks to herself. Maybe there’s a connection there to the Groths’ expansion plans. Not likely, granted, but perfectly possible.

I’m going to have to ask someone to go through all of this, too, Karen notes ruefully and checks her watch. Already quarter past one; she should really make sure she has something to eat before her headache gets any worse. The moment she turns off the computer, her phone rings.

Karl Björken appears unperturbed by the autopsy he just witnessed.

‘I’m on the ferry now and bloody ravenous,’ he says. ‘Did you already have lunch?’

Chapter 45

45

‘Nothing?’

‘Nope. Björn Groth never responded to Fredrik Stuub’s threat, or whatever that was supposed to be. The IT guys checked all deleted emails, too, even the ones that had been removed from the trash folder. No idea how they do it, but Larsen swears there’s no other correspondence between Fredrik Stuub and Björn Groth.’