‘You mean the homeless bloke who has an assault arrest on his record? I’m given to understand he’s living with you now? Pretty unprofessional, Eiken.’

‘Well, at least he’s not homeless anymore, right?’

‘He’s hardly a star witness, either, and from what I gather, you weren’t there, so you don’t actually know what happened, do you?’

‘No, but—’

Karen stops herself. Telling Smeed his daughter was present won’t help matters. And Leo is still refusing to report what happened to the police. She’d made another attempt to persuade him before talking to Bo Ramnes, but had quickly realised she was wasting her breath.

‘I have a good mind to take you off this case,’ Jounas says.

‘Of course you do. But you won’t because . . . ?’

‘But,’ he continues, ‘I realise that the further you are from Dunker right now, the better. You’re going to stay up there until this case is solved. And you will not contact Bo Ramnes again. Understood?’

Karen makes no reply. Instead, she changes the subject.

‘When are you going to get me some more help? Karl and I won’t be able to get this done on our own. We’re talking about two murders now, and people are in bed at home instead of out here, helping. Or sitting on a beach,’ she adds and instantly regrets it.

Her boss has saved her, if not from being fired then at least from a suspension. This is not the time to push his buttons.

‘Björken and Loots are both up there right now,’ Jounas Smeed replies frostily. ‘The only one who’s not where she’s supposed to be is you.’

And when Karen steps through the doors to the local police station in Lysvik, she realises her boss was right. Detective Sergeant Cornelis Loots is sitting at the conference table with Karl Björken, Thorstein Byle and local constables Röse, Andersson and Svanemark.

‘What time do you call this?’ Karl says and receives an anxious look from Byle.

He would apparently never even contemplate speaking to a superior that way. Karen takes a seat and reaches for the coffee urn.

‘All right,’ she says, ‘are we going to solve this thing, or were you planning to sit around and gossip all day?’

*

Ten minutes later, Röse is still looking sour, but he seems to be keeping his feelings about the growing CID contingent to himself. Maybe Thorstein Byle has had a talk with him. Andersson and Svanemark seem more at ease with the situation. They’re happily chatting away with Cornelis Loots, which reminds Karen that he actually grew up on the island. It’s also clear that while the team took a break, they didn’t entirely waste their time. They have been bringing Loots up to speed about where the investigation stands.