‘Absolutely hopeless it was! The Managing Director came on to Reidun, made some dubious suggestions to her, while Bregård was knocking it back and scowling like a jilted suitor in an American B-film.’
Svennebye mopped his sweaty brow with his bandage. ‘The next morning I had breakfast on my own. I sat in the lobby waiting for them for a couple of hours. We were supposed to be going to this fair. No one turned up. Can you believe it? No one. I went looking. Found Reidun and the MD in the jacuzzi wrapped around each other, oblivious to anyone else, most of all to me, standing there with my briefcase and indicating my watch.’
He wiped his brow again. ‘I thought it best to turn a blind eye. It wasn’t any of my business where she slept at night. But I was pretty annoyed that the MD wasn’t interested in doing any business. So I knocked on Bregård’s door instead.’
Svennebye angled another ironic smile. ‘Øyvind had just woken up when I arrived. Unshaven, and with a king-size hangover. The guy was only interested in where the others were. When I told him where I had seen them, he went ballistic.’
Svennebye’s lips forced a smile. ‘The big guy set off in his underpants. At the end of the corridor we met the lovers coming arm in arm. Bregård said nothing. Just pasted one on Engelsviken, who fell to the floor. The guy went completely beserk. Øyvind, that is. Called Reidun a tart.’
Svennebye paused.
Gunnarstranda lit a cigarette, removed a flake of tobacco stuck to his lip. Inhaled and blew out a cloud of blue smoke.
Svennebye stared at the cigarette poking out between the inspector’s fingers. Gunnarstranda reached into his pocket for a crumpled pack of non-filter Teddys, tapped out a creased one and offered it.
The man accepted and smoked greedily. Got up, went to the sink and spat. Drank some more water and sat down again.
‘You were saying?’ Gunnarstranda prompted. ‘What did Engelsviken do?’
‘Struggled to his feet. They flew at each other. Uneven contest. Engelsviken is a bit podgy and not exactly fit. And have you seen Bregård? The weightlifter. Engelsviken was back on the floor within two seconds.’
Svennebye gave a weak smile. ‘A cleaner down the corridor ran off in a complete panic. Shouting and dragging her Hoover. Straight afterwards two security men appeared with bulges under their jackets. Big guys who spoke some weird English no one understood. Could have been Scottish or Irish or something. I tried to calm everyone down. Seemed to work, anyway the security boys carried off Engelsviken and laid him on his bed. Reidun, the poor thing, was so embarrassed she fled to her room. Bregård went back to bed, and I went to the fair alone.’
‘Engelsviken is married, isn’t he?’
‘Mm.’
‘She’s in the office as well, isn’t she? Sonja Hager? How did that work?’
‘Sonja didn’t go to London.’
‘But afterwards, between Reidun and the MD?’
Svennebye shrugged. ‘Nothing to do with me. But I really don’t know what the young woman was thinking about back in Norway. Having fun on an office trip is one thing. Continuing with it at home is quite another. Have you met Engelsviken?’
‘I’m afraid not.’
‘You haven’t missed much.’
He raised his hands in defence. ‘OK, stupid thing to say. The point is I don’t like him. But it’s personal. The guy’s all right.’
He nodded.
‘Very all right. That’s why he’s dangerous. He doesn’t look much.’
He tilted his head. ‘A man in the panic years. Silk suit, sports car and a roving eye when his wife isn’t looking. But he’s got charisma. Energy, immense energy. Friendly manner with people and dominates groups with his personality. So I didn’t think it was very strange when he checked out Reidun for a night. She was fresh and new and out for a bit of fun.’
He snuffed his cigarette. Leaned forward and grabbed the pack Gunnarstranda pushed across the desk. Lit up. Took a few drags with a contemplative pucker in his brow.
‘But I don’t understand why she persisted.’
‘The two of them were having a relationship?’
‘Mhm. For a while.’
The man on the chair closed his eyes. ‘Things turned nasty after the trip. That was how I perceived it. I’d seen them in London and observed the odd incident afterwards that maybe others hadn’t.’
‘Sonja Hager knew nothing?’
‘Nothing.’
He hesitated. ‘Perhaps she did. I don’t know.’
He gave another weak smile. One of the sores on his top lip cracked. ‘If she had known…’
‘Yes?’
‘Then she would not have had an easy time. I mean, they all worked together…’
Gunnarstranda, in a brown study, stared into space. ‘How long did the relationship last?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘How can you be sure it did finish?’
Svennebye licked the sore lip. ‘There was a break-in at the office about a fortnight ago.’
He bent forward and rested his chin on one fist.
Gunnarstranda’s ears pricked up. The word ‘break-in’ had caused a bell to ring at the back of his mind. He listened to Svennebye describing all the mess. The drawers that had been emptied and slung across the floor. Svennebye said no other tenants in the block had been affected, only Software Partners. He had been the first to arrive that morning. He had been the one to discover it and had immediately rung Engelsviken. To tell him what had happened and warn him he was going to ring the police. The MD had got into quite a flap. Started to give him a bollocking, as good as. It ended up with Svennebye being forbidden to do anything at all until Engelsviken was present. When he did eventually come Svennebye and Reidun Rosendal were instructed to clear everything up. Thenceforward all employees were banned from mentioning the break-in to anyone else.
Svennebye extinguished his cigarette and leaned back. ‘For almost six months they had been running down to the law courts on trivial matters! But when it came to the break-in… they weren’t even willing to entertain the bloody idea!’
He jerked his head. ‘That’s what I meant by two camps in the place. It was as if Reidun, Lisa Stenersen and I were being kept in the dark. As if there were a secret connected with this break-in.’
The man sighed. ‘It all culminated in a row, and this led to quite a drama between the two of them, Reidun and Engelsviken.’
He sighed in despair. ‘Just imagine, the middle-aged MD pinches the girl’s bum, wants to drag her into his office and no one is supposed to see what’s going on. Absolutely hopeless.’
Svennebye licked his lips again. ‘So she told him what he could do with his pinches!’
‘It wasn’t just a lovers’ tiff?’
‘Far from it! Reidun had had enough of being a mattress for her boss, there’s not a doubt in my mind. She was livid with him. This strange reaction of his is what triggered the avalanche!’
‘How did he take it?’
‘It was pretty embarrassing at first. But later… I think he would have liked to keep the relationship alive.’
‘You mean he was still hankering after Reidun?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you could see that?’
‘Well, I could, anyway.’
‘And the others?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘What was stolen in the break-in?’
‘Nothing.’
Svennebye snorted in annoyance. ‘But that’s not the point. It’s the principle of the thing. A break-in is a break-in.’
Gunnarstranda raised an arm to pacify him. ‘How can you be so sure nothing was stolen?’
‘We talked about it for ages.’
‘What was said?’
‘Well, first of all we checked everything. Among other things I had a few hundred-krone notes in a cup on the desk. Untouched. Reidun went through everything else. We all agreed nothing had been stolen.’
‘But who was talking? Everyone? Or just those not in the know?’
Svennebye sat staring at the policeman. Chewing his bottom lip.
Silence descended over the room. Gunnarstranda gave him space to reflect. Got up and went to the window from where he surveyed the traffic in Grønlandsleiret.