'Justa moment,' the public prosecutor interrupted: 'What about the particles of skinunder the nails?'
Gunnarstranda:'I'll come back to that.' He cleared his throat.
'Theclothes?' the public prosecutor asked.
'Abag was found in the ditch down by Ljansbrukveien by Lake Gjer. It must havebeen thrown out of a car. It was found… well, I can start somewhere else first…we know for certain that the victim left the party at the house of Gerhardsenand As of her own free will. She was picked up by Henning Kramer close by, inall probability, at around midnight. The two of them were seen in Aker Bryggeby several witnesses at some point between midnight and half past. They seemedto be having fun and, according to Kramer, they drove to Lake Gjer to talkabout the stars and to… to…'
'…have a romantic interlude?' the public prosecutor rounded off with raisedeyebrows.
'Yes…at a car park by Lake Gjer between Tyrigrava and the amusement park… what's itcalled?'
'Tusenfryd,'Frølich answered.
'That'sit.' Gunnarstranda fumbled around with the paper. 'The woman's clothing, thatis, most of her clothing – a shoe we haven't been able to trace is stillmissing – was found between the car park and the victim's body. This mightsuggest she was killed close to the car park where she and Kramer had sex andthat the killer got rid of the clothes before the body. But I'll come back tothat, too…' He searched through the pile of papers. Frølich and thepublic prosecutor said nothing while the police inspector flicked through hispaperwork.
'Therewe are,' Gunnarstranda muttered. 'Lots of paper. And you've got to read throughthe whole bloody lot yourself…
'…Henning Kramer's version of events was that the two of them had a romanticinterlude in the car park, they drove off and he dropped the victim at theroundabout over the El8 in Mastemyr at around three in the morning because shehad expressed a wish to walk to her boyfriend's flat at Holmlia senter vei 13.'
'Boyfriend?'exclaimed the public prosecutor, grimacing.
Thedetective inspector looked at him in silence. The silence persisted and thepublic prosecutor pulled another grimace.
'OleEidesen,' Frølich interposed. 'Katrine Bratterud left her boyfriend OleEidesen at the party.'
Fristad'sglasses fell on to his chest.
Gunnarstrandacoughed. 'All right?' he asked.
Fristadnodded and put his glasses back.
Gunnarstranda:'Later we had reason to doubt Kramer's statement. A reliable witness had seenthe car Kramer was driving – it was a bit special, an Audi cabriolet – in thesame car park by Lake Gjer more than three hours after Kramer claimed he haddriven off. The sighting was made early in the morning at a time when Katrinewas in all probability already dead. We never managed to confront Kramer withthis witness's statement because Kramer died. However, in the course of ourenquiries we interviewed Kramer's mother. Kramer lived with his mother, butspent occasional nights at his brother's flat when his brother was on histravels. Kramer's mother told us that Henning came home at half past three onthe Sunday morning. He woke her up and was very perturbed. He told her he andKatrine had been for a ride in the car, they had fallen asleep and when he wokeup – at about half past two – she had vanished without a trace.'
'He'dbeen very perturbed?' the public prosecutor queried. 'There could be manyreasons for him to be perturbed. He may have been lying to his mother.'
'Ofcourse. But according to his mother Kramer is supposed to have said he had beenlooking for Katrine, and afterwards he began to drive around to find her butwithout success. In the end he drove home and told his mother everything.'
'Hasthe time of death been established?'
'It'sdifficult to determine the exact time. All we have to go on is the contents ofher stomach, a verified meal bought from McDonald's in Aker Brygge at aroundmidnight, the semen in her vagina and the state of rigor mortis. Thepathologist believes death occurred at somewhere between two and five o'clockin the morning.'
'Andthis Kramer went back to the car park. Is that right?'
'Accordingto the mother, he did, yes. She says he left home just before six that morningto resume his search for Katrine and he returned at eight.
'Onthe assumption that Kramer killed her he could have driven home to his motherfirst – with the corpse in the car – and then panicked. He could have told hismother some twaddle. She told him to go back and search and then he drove back.He could have stopped in Hvervenbukta and tipped the body over the crashbarrier. Then he could have driven on a bit and thrown away her clothes.
'Wetherefore examined the car Kramer was driving and found some hair, some stainswhich could have been semen and a variety of textile fibres. But for the timebeing these things have only been recorded. The best evidence we have againstKramer is the semen. But, according to Kramer's mother, he was having arelationship with Katrine. So Kramer may well have been telling the truth whenhe said they had consensual sex in the car that night.'
'Butit has not been proved that Kramer did not rape Katrine,' Fristad interjectedin inquisitorial manner, without a grimace.
Gunnarstranda:'There is, of course, a chance that Kramer did commit rape and then murder.That's what he claims in the suicide note.'
'Butyou don't believe the letter is genuine?'
'Noton the face of it.'
'Whatdo the pathologists say about Kramer's body?' Fristad asked.
'Theyare holding both options open. But the strongest indication that he died by hisown hand is that he was found strangled with the noose around his neck.'Gunnarstranda rummaged through the pile of photographs and found one of Kramerwith the cord around his neck. 'In addition, we have the suicide note in whichKramer writes that he took Katrine's jewellery, posted it to Raymond Skau, thuslaying a false trail to cast suspicion of Katrine's murder on to him.' v
'Butis that improbable?'
'Notat all. Kramer and Katrine were on very intimate terms. Kramer must have knowna lot about Katrine's past and Raymond Skau constituted a large chunk of thatpast. Kramer could have had many motives for damaging Skau, about which we knownothing.'
'Ahhh…,'Fristad said, lost in thought. He sat studying the photographs.
Noone said anything. At length the public prosecutor raised his eyes. 'And?' heasked with a sideways grimace.
'Theproblem is the particles of skin under Katrine's nails. First of all, we didn'tfind any indication on Kramer's body that would confirm that he had beenscratched. In addition, the DNA analysis shows that the skin did not belong toKramer.'
Fristadwas quiet. Everyone went quiet.
Gunnarstrandasorted his papers into piles.
'Doesthat mean she scratched someone else?' Fristad asked at last.
Gunnarstrandaput down the papers. 'It's possible. But we don't know. It's feasible that shemight have scratched someone else during the course of the evening. She mighthave bumped into someone at the party or someone in the queue at McDonald's in
AkerBrygge. Nevertheless, if Kramer had lived, and he had been charged, thisevidence would have given the defence very strong cards.'
'Butthe case seems pretty clear, doesn't it?' Fristad said in a loud voice. 'Wehave Kramer's confession. He says he killed her and he planted the jewellery onSkau because he knew she owed him money and all that other stuff about tryingto shift the blame on to someone else. Then he committed suicide. Seems verytempting to drop the whole thing.'
'Exceptthat the accused should be given the benefit of the doubt.'
'Butthe accused is bloody dead.'
'Heshould still be given the benefit of the doubt,' Gunnarstranda asserted withobduracy. 'If the particles of skin under Katrine Bratterud's nails belong tosomeone else, a person with a motive, then we have to ask ourselves why Kramerwould make a false confession in a suicide note.'