After finishing the call, she stays in the driver’s seat with her phone in her lap. Three days until charges have to be brought. Seventy-two hours to find something to strengthen the case against Björn Groth – or dismiss it entirely. We’re going to have to talk to every member of the Groth family again, but that can wait, she decides. What I absolutely have to make time for today, if I want to interview Björn Groth tomorrow, is another chat with William Tryste. He might know more about Fredrik Stuub’s threat than he was willing to admit before. When he finds out we already know about the research and that it will eventually be included in the public investigative file, he might stop protecting his employer and realise he’d be better off telling us what he knows. It’s more likely than getting someone in Björn Groth’s family to talk, at any rate. It’s certainly worth a try, she tells herself, carefully avoiding what she doesn’t want to think about.

She needs to talk to Odd again. Convince him to testify.

She might as well do it tonight. After dinner. Or maybe before is better. More upfront. Once the rest of them find out I made a promise and went back on it, I won’t be welcome to dinner ever again. On the other hand, I’m not going to have a job if it gets out that I prioritised protecting my relatives over solving a murder case.

‘Fuck,’ she says loudly and punches the steering wheel.

Then she turns the key and starts the engine. She might as well drive over to the distillery and wait for Loots and Byle at the bottom of the driveway.

Chapter 69

69

Karen watches the hot dogs glistening with grease on the steel rack behind the glass counter with a mix of fascination and disgust. The young man with the petrol station’s logo on his shirt pocket notices and holds up a pair of tongs with a querying look.

‘No thanks, I’ll have a couple of those instead,’ she says, pointing to the pizza slices in the fridge next to the grill. ‘And a Coke. And this guy,’ she adds and takes a chocolate bar from the shelf by the counter.

The guy puts two slices of pizza on a paper plate and pops it into a microwave, then turns around and checks the petrol receipt before punching in the total cost.

‘That’ll be two hundred and seventy-six marks. If you want coffee, it’s included,’ he adds with a nod toward the vending machine.