‘Fine, but our job isn’t to believe, it’s to know. And we’re going to find out, sooner or later, so you might as well come out with it. Did you contact Fredrik, as he asked?’

‘No. And I want a lawyer. I’ve changed my mind.’

Karen sighs.

‘Please, just answer the question.’

‘I have no further comment. I don’t know what this is about and I never contacted Stuub. I want a lawyer.’

‘OK, then we’ll resume this conversation tomorrow. Or, actually, let’s make it Monday morning. I hear this neighbourhood is practically teeming with local politicians on Monday mornings, though, so I guess you’d run the risk of bumping into people who have a lot of questions for you. You can tell us now or you can come back on Monday, if you prefer. But, sooner or later, you will have to answer our questions.’

Karen leans back and waits, watching Groth as he wrestles with his options.

‘Fine,’ he says eventually. ‘I called him.’

‘You’re saying you called Fredrik Stuub? When?’

‘On the nineteenth, the day I had the email. I figured it was about the damn road again.’

‘Would you mind telling us a bit about “the damn road”?’ Karl asks gently.

‘The old git was doddery,’ Björn Groth says with a shrug. ‘He’d got it in his head that the new road we’re building posed a threat to the bloody ship setting. He was always running around up there, acting like it was his private property.’

‘And was he right?’ Karl asks. ‘A new road and a conference centre – that does sound like it would have a significant impact on cultural heritage sites.’

Björn Groth snorts derisively.

‘Those rocks have stood there for two thousand years so they can probably survive a road passing by almost a mile away. Yes, we had originally planned to build it closer, but the culture and environment authorities went against us on that one, so we submitted a revised proposal, which was approved. As Stuub was well aware.’

‘So what did he say, when you called?’

‘Nothing.’

Karen can feel herself getting annoyed and opens her mouth, but Groth beats her to it.

‘I told him he would be in real trouble if I took his email to the police. I said it sounded a lot like blackmail.’

‘And he had nothing to say to that?’

‘Well, he said I was full of lies and that he had never threatened anyone, but if he wanted to, I’d better believe he could. Then he hung up before I could get another word in. Like I told you, the old git was doddery.’

*

‘OK, so, what do you make of all that?’ Karen says after Björn Groth has left.

She wearily pushes a strand of hair out of her eyes and squints at the flickering lights.