She lets Karl Björken and Thorstein Byle continue their summary while she furtively rubs her knee under the table, but when Byle moves on to an account of his conversation with the distillery’s secretary, Eva Framnes, she sits up straight and pays attention. With everything that’s happened, she hasn’t had time to read the written report he sent her. A few minutes later she leans back with a disappointed sigh. A wonderful party, Eva Framnes had said, though she felt people had had too much to drink, but amazing fireworks and yes, she had been dropped off at her door by the Trystes and no, she had neither seen nor heard anything out of the ordinary involving Gabriel, other than that he was very drunk. Well, she had noticed him tapping away on his phone during dinner, which she had found very rude. But apparently that’s what people do these days.

Karl Björken also fails to suppress a deep sigh.

‘Well, we’re unlikely to ever find that phone, but when is the service provider going to have call logs for us? And when are we getting the forensic results from Gabriel’s house?’

‘Today, I hope,’ Karen replies. ‘I’ll talk to Larsen as soon as we’re done here. Would you mind going over what we found out on Saturday?’

She allows her mind to wander while Karl Björken recounts their interview with Björn Groth and their conversation with the Trystes. She realises Thorstein Byle is taking notes and feels a pang of guilt. She hasn’t had a chance to talk to him since leaving so abruptly on Saturday night. All she had time for was a text saying she had a family emergency and would be back on Monday. For a moment she considers apologising, but decides against it.

Instead, she listens while Karl Björken wraps up his summary and then starts handing out assignments.

‘We still haven’t talked to the party guests who didn’t spend the night,’ she says. ‘Among them, two couples that left before midnight. They may have heard or seen something of interest. Would the two of you mind handling that?’

Thorstein Byle and Cornelis Loots nod.

‘Karl and I are going to talk to Gabriel’s wife, Katja. Have you been able to reach her?’ she says, addressing Björken.

‘Yes, she said she’s off work today, so we can stop by any time.’

‘Great. And then, if we get the go-ahead from Larsen, I would like us to have a look at Gabriel’s house. Who knows,’ she says with a conciliatory smile in Thorstein Byle’s direction, ‘maybe there’s a concealment Larsen and his team missed.’

Chapter 60

60