She disappeared beyond the gate, but after a few minutes she and Gert appeared, walking hand in hand. He heard the sound of an eager child’s voice. He had been a quiet child himself, apparently.
The car door opened.
‘Hi Hawny.’ Gert leaned forward from the back seat and gave Harry a hug from behind before Katrine pulled him back into the child seat.
‘Hello, old chap,’ Harry said.
‘Old chap?’ Gert said, looking at his mother.
‘He’s messing with you,’ Katrine said.
‘You messing, Hawny!’ Gert laughed heartily, and glancing in the mirror Harry gave a start as he glimpsed something familiar. Not himself. Not his father. But his mother. He had Harry’s mother’s smile.
Katrine got in behind the wheel.
‘Schrøder’s?’ she said.
Harry shook his head. ‘I’ll get out at your place, then walk.’
‘To Schrøder’s?’
Harry didn’t answer.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ she said. ‘I want to ask you for a favour.’
‘OK?’
‘You know these cross-country skiers and people who walk to the South Pole and charge a ton of money to give talks and inspire people?’
A wave caused the Nesodden ferry to rock slightly.
Harry looked around. The passengers in the seats nearby were gazing at their phones, wearing headsets, reading books or looking out at the Oslo Fjord. On their way home from work, college, a shopping trip in town. No one looked like they were on an outing with their partner.
Harry looked down at his own phone, at the latest forensic report Truls had taken a screenshot of and mailed to all of them. He had read it while eating in the canteen at the Radium Hospital, after texting Katrine to ask if she could come and pick him up. Had he felt guilty pretending not to know about it when she told him about her visit to the Forensic Medical Institute? Not really. Besides, he hadn’t needed to act like he wasn’t aware of the information about the condom powder and necrophilia, it hadn’t been in the report. Neither had it appeared in Våge’s article. In other words, Våge’s informant was not one of those who had been present at the institute, otherwise he would have had what wasn’t in the report in his story too. But Våge had included that some of the investigators believed the murder was made to look like the work of a serial killer to hide what it actually was.
Condom powder.
Harry thought about it.
Then tapped T.
‘Yeah?’
‘Hi, Truls, it’s Harry.’
‘Yeah?’
‘I won’t take up much of your time. I’ve spoken to Katrine Bratt, and it turns out that not everything the Forensic Medical Institute has found is winding up in the reports.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah. She shared one detail with me which the investigative team at Police HQ are sure to be discussing but we don’t have.’
‘Which is?’
Harry hesitated. Condom powder.
‘The tattoo,’ he said. ‘The killer cut off the Louis Vuitton tattoo Bertine had on her ankle and sewed it back on again.’
‘Like Susanne Andersen’s scalp?’
‘Yep,’ Harry said. ‘But that’s not important. What is important is whether you have some way we can get hold of that kind of thing in the future.’
‘Stuff not in the reports? I’ll have to talk to people then.’
‘Mm. We don’t want to chance that. I wasn’t expecting any suggestions off the top of your head but have a think about it and we’ll talk tomorrow.’
Truls grunted. ‘All right.’
They hung up.
When the boat docked, Harry remained seated, watching the other passengers stream out and go ashore.
‘Not getting off?’ asked a ticket inspector, making a sweep of the empty lounge.
‘Not today,’ Harry said.
‘Same again,’ Harry said, pointing at the glass.
The bartender raised an eyebrow, but took down the Jim Beam bottle and poured.
Harry knocked that one back too. ‘And another.’
‘Rough day?’ the bartender asked.
‘Not yet,’ Harry said, before picking up the glass and walking towards the same table where he had seen the Turbonegro vocalist sitting. Noticed he was already slightly unsteady on his feet. On his way he passed a man sitting with his back to him and smelled a perfume that reminded him of Lucille. He slid into the sofa. It was early in the evening, not many guests yet. Lucille, where was she right now? Instead of drinking more he could go to his room and reread the reports, search for the mistake, the lead. He looked at the glass. The hourglass. Five days plus a few hours until he let someone down again. Yes, that was the story of his life. What the hell, soon he’d have nobody left to let down anyway. He raised the glass.
A man had entered the bar and was looking around. Caught sight of Harry. They exchanged brief nods before the man headed in Harry’s direction, and sat down in the chair on the other side of the low glass table.
‘Evening, Krohn.’
‘Good evening, Harry. How’s it going?’
‘With the investigation? Going well.’
‘Good. Does that mean you have a lead?’
‘No. What brings you here?’
The lawyer looked like he had planned on asking a follow-up question but dropped it. ‘I heard you called Helene Røed today. That the two of you are going to talk.’
‘That’s right.’
‘I just wanted to draw your attention to a couple of things prior to you having that conversation. First of all, her and Markus’s relationship isn’t the best at the moment. There could be several reasons for that. Like—’
‘Markus’s cocaine addiction?’
‘I don’t know anything about that.’
‘Yes, you do.’
‘I was thinking about the fact they’ve drifted apart over time. And that all the public attention Markus has received regarding this case, especially in Dagbladet, hasn’t improved matters.’
‘What are you trying to say?’
‘Helene is under a lot of stress, and I wouldn’t rule out that she might say things which put her husband in a bad light. Both with regard to his person in general and his involvement with Miss Andersen and Miss Bertilsen in particular. Not something that changes the facts of the case, but should the press, Dagbladet, get hold of it then it would be unfortunate for my... or rather our client.’
‘So you came to tell me not to leak possible gossip?’
Krohn smiled briefly. ‘I’m just saying that this Terry Våge will use everything he can get his hands on to smear Markus.’
‘Because?’
Krohn shrugged. ‘It’s ancient history. It was in the days Markus was just investing a little here and there for fun. At the time he was also chairman of the board for the free newspaper Våge wrote for. When the Press Complaints Commission found the newspaper had broken the code of practice for the stories Våge had made up, the board sacked him. That had big repercussions on his life and career thereafter, and he’s obviously never forgiven Markus.’
‘Mm. I’ll keep it in mind.’
‘Good.’
Krohn remained sitting.
‘Yes?’ Harry said.
‘I understand if it’s something you don’t want to dredge up, but we do have a secret binding us together.’
‘You’re right,’ Harry said, taking a swig of his drink. ‘I don’t want to dredge it up.’
‘Of course. I just wanted to say that I still believe we did the right thing.’
Harry looked at him.
‘We made sure the world was rid of an evil, evil man,’ Krohn said. ‘He was, admittedly, my client—’
‘And innocent,’ Harry slurred.
‘Of your wife’s murder, perhaps. But he was guilty of ruining the lives of many others. Far too many. Young people. Innocent people.’