Mark’s face dropped as he saw the boys heading his way. ‘Hey, big fellas,’ he said, a look of terror in his eyes as he checked Filip’s position and willed him to go faster. The last time I’d seen that expression, we’d found ourselves alone in a field with a bullon a romantic country walk. Mark had pushed me forward to ‘make eye contact’ because I was a girl.
‘Hei, Mark. What’s going on, buddy? Leaving without saying goodbye?’ Jonas asked.
Relief flooded Mark’s face at Jonas’s friendly tone. ‘Yes! Sorry, didn’t I say? I’m heading back to London, mate. My bill is all settled though – I sorted it with Tore last night and added a nice big tip for the staff. Thanks for looking after me.’ His wink was so cartoonish, I could see it from my spyhole.
‘This isn’t about your bill,’ Henrik said evenly. ‘We need to understand what conversations have been had with Bjorn and Nina Bakken before you leave.’
Filip arrived in a puff of diesel as he steered the boat alongside the jetty with a noisy put-put-put. He threw the rope towards the boys and Jonas caught it, hooked it and knotted it with no more than a cursory glance.
‘Ah, lads, I’d love to stay and chat, but this is my ride,’ Mark said, holding his bag out to Filip, who gave him a curt nod and ignored it.
‘It’ll only be your ride once you tell us everything we need to know,’ Henrik said as Filip stepped ashore. ‘It’s a small community out here, you see, and the reason it works so well is because we all look after each other.’
Mark’s smug smile faded as he looked from Henrik to Jonas and then Filip, and realised he was very much still on his own. The situation hadn’t gone from two-on-one to two-on-two. It was now three-on-one, and he was outnumbered on all sides.
His tone changed immediately. ‘Absolutely, guys! We’re all friends here aren’t we? Anything you need to know, just ask!’
‘We’re not all friends here, no,’ Jonas said. ‘And we need to know it all. Start from the beginning and tell us exactly what is going on.’
‘Honestly, I would if I could, but the lawyers will put my bollocks in a blender – you know how they can be. Especially the girls,’ he said, rolling his eyes. ‘Total control freaks!’
Henrik ignored him and continued. ‘We need copies of the financial proposal, the development plans and any formal paperwork or draft contracts you’ve shared with Bjorn and Nina.’
‘Right,’ Mark said, nodding. ‘OK, well I will absolutely check if I’m allowed to share those with you…’ Jonas stepped forward. ‘I don’t have paper copies on me,’ he said, hurriedly. ‘But I can email you once I’m back in the office.’
‘No.’ Jonas was getting annoyed. ‘Whatever Bjorn has seen, we need to see. Today.’
Mark gulped. He was in way over his head. ‘There was only one certified copy for the landowner as they were authenticated in ink, but I have PDF copies on email – you can print them out?’
Jonas and Henrik were getting increasingly agitated, and it felt like a good time to pop my face in, so I jumped up from my hidey-hole and walked along the jetty.
‘Going without saying goodbye?’ I called, and Mark looked over in relief. A rabbit cornered by three foxes. Or should I say a rat.
‘Heyyy, of course not. I’ve been trying to call you,’ he said, holding his phone in the air. ‘It’s impossible to do anything around here. I don’t know how you can stand it.’
‘Tick tock,’ Jonas said. ‘Your flight won’t wait, and you’re not leaving until you hand over the information.’
‘How can I give you what I don’t have?’ Mark was trying to look innocent, but I could see he was almost enjoying this. He didn’t consider these guys to be anywhere near his level of intelligence. He’d spit out his soy Frappuccino if he knew about Henrik’s rainmaking career.
‘You can’t expect us to believe you don’t have a second copy?’ Jonas said. ‘You came all this way with no backup? That feels like extremely poor planning on your part.’
‘Is it on your laptop?’ I asked.
‘Yes, but they don’t trust me to email it over once I get signal.’
‘I’m sure you can understand why,’ Henrik said, with a wry smile.
‘How about I scan the files on my phone,’ I said, swiping through my apps. ‘Then you can email when you get signal in Bergen and Filip can check we’ve got everything through before you get off the boat.’
‘Great idea,’ Henrik said, nodding. ‘Thanks, Sara.’
Mark forced a smile. ‘Yes,thanks, Sara.’ He was clearly livid to have been cornered when he thought he was home free, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He flipped his laptop open and bashed the keys furiously to bring up the proposal. I smiled at him as I scanned, saving the files onto my phone.
‘Anddd… done,’ I said, snapping the last one. ‘We can make a start with these.’
Mark rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, come on, Erin Brockovich, you’re not getting involved as well, are you? Is this to piss me off?’
‘Not everything is about you, Mark.’
