The Man In The Window [Mannen i vinduet - no]

'Yes,it may play a part,' Jespersen replied. 'There's not much bloody pointstopping, though, when you're over seventy, is there? I've stopped inhaling.That's fine, so long as the cigarillo is strong enough.'

'Hm,I still inhale,' the policeman conceded.

'AndI cheat a bit, too.'

'Butback to Karsten,' Gunnarstranda interrupted. 'Wouldn't he have seen the sale asa kind of threat? I mean if a job he had been clinging to for years were to besnatched from him?'

Jespersensent the other man an amused scowl – to show that he had seen through thepoliceman's questioning technique – then shook his head again. 'I don't thinkso, in fact. I think he would look upon it as a kind of – a kind of release.'

'Andyou?' enquired the Inspector.

'Me?'

'Itmust have been sad for you that the deal went down the Swanee.'

Jespersennodded. 'Not so sad,' he said guardedly.

'Whatdo you mean?'

'Notso sad that I would hurt my brother.'

Gunnarstrandanodded to himself and looked around in the ensuing silence. The piano wasblack, one of the old stand-up types, a Briichner. Above the piano hung alandscape painting of a meadow of flowers with a daisy as the central focus. Apicture of boats adorned the other wall. There was a storm and a sailing boatwas, symbolically, half a length behind a steam ship going at full speed. 'Whatsort of relationship did you have with your brother?' he asked.

'Close,but also distant,' Jespersen growled, circling the cigarillo in the ashtray toget rid of the ash. 'We each had our own families, but we kept in regularcontact. Close but distant is quite an accurate description.'

'Youmet in your other brother's flat – Arvid's?'

'Yes.And we had invited our buyers as well, a pleasant married couple. They know allabout antiques, and we thought everything was hunky-dory, and then along comesReidar… I could smell trouble as soon as I saw his face. He was in a terriblemood.'

'Washe surprised?'

'Whatdo you mean?'

'Washe surprised… by… the situation, the two buyers? Hadn't he been involved in theprocess?'

'Yes,we were all agreed on the sale, but in fact it was Arvid who stepped into thebreach.' Jespersen searched for words. 'Who was the driving force.'

'Drivingforce?'

'Yes,who did the brunt of the work.'

'Soyour brother, Reidar, was kept out?'

Jespersenshook his head. 'No, it's not right to put it like that. Both Reidar and I leftthe actual sales pitch to Arvid.'

'So Reidarwasn't against the sale?'

'No,that's what's so strange. I think something must have happened that day. Thatwas why he dug his heels in – he was just in a bad mood.'

Gunnarstrandatook his tobacco pouch and began to roll himself a cigarette. 'Just grumpy?'

Jespersensplayed his arms. 'Something must have happened. I saw he was furious themoment he arrived. And then I regretted the whole arrangement -I mean thebuyers were there before Reidar came. You know, that meant he was the last toarrive, a kind of outsider, and I don't think he liked that very much.'Jespersen put on a weak smile. 'I know he didn't like it at all.' Heshook his head in despair. 'The man hated being put last.'

'Whatdo you think put him in such a bad mood?'

'Ihaven't the foggiest. Perhaps he'd had a row with Ingrid. But…' Jespersen shookhis head. 'That happened very seldom. No, I don't know.'

'Howdo you see their relationship? I mean their marriage. Your brother was mucholder than her.'

'Youmean whether she…?'

'Yes,whether she flirted with other men.'

Jespersenshook his head gravely. 'Have you met her?'

'Ofcourse. But you know her better than me.'

'She'sthe loyal type,' Jespersen affirmed. 'She's always been light-headed, likeddancing, you know, but loyal, very loyal.'

'Soyou don't think she has someone?'

Jespersengave a shy smile. 'No, that…' He shook his head. 'No,' he concluded.

'But,Reidar, was he angry during the meeting?'

'No.He didn't say much, well, while the buyers were there, but as soon as they hadgone, all hell broke loose.'

'Inwhat way?'

'Herejected the whole proposal without any discussion, without even wantingto enter into any discussion, although that was nothing unusual actually, butwhat was new was the rest. When we started arguing he got so angry that hekicked Arvid's little dog.' Jespersen grinned. 'I've never seen Reidar reactlike that, I mean, it was so childish, to smash things and so on, it's whatyoung sweethearts do when they're jealous.' He shook his head. 'It was verystrange.'

'Hedidn't give a hint of what was to come when he arrived?'

Jespersenshook his head. 'That's what's so weird. Because he wasn't play-acting. Arvid,you see, was knocked sideways by what happened to the dog. And it wasimpossible to go on with our discussions. The meeting had been torpedoed.Afterwards I wondered if that had been Reidar's intention.'

'Whatdo you mean by that – his intention?'

'Well,to bring the meeting to a close, get out and away from us. You see we stood upto him. We were not going to give in, Arvid and I. And it was when we appliedpressure, two against one, that he kicked the animal.'

Gunnarstrandaran his fingers across his lips. 'I see,' he murmured and looked around. 'Youlike crosswords?'

'Yes.'Jespersen followed Gunnarstranda's gaze to the bookcase where there were rowsand rows of crossword books and reference works. 'I can see you are adetective…' He nodded, and pointed to the magazines under the table: 'Yes,indeed, all my grandchildren come here with magazines and newspapers.Crosswords and puzzles, they're my passion. What about it?'

Gunnarstrandashook his head. 'I was just wondering. You see I have a puzzle I'm still tryingto solve, but I can't crack it.'

'Comeon then,' Jespersen ventured.

Gunnarstrandalooked him in the eye and said: 'There are four symbols. The first is J forJorgen. Then there's a number, one. Then nine and lastly five: J – one hundredand ninety five.'

Jespersencocked his head. 'Hm,' he sighed. 'Have to think about that one.'

'Dothat,' the policeman said and went on: 'Did you contact Reidar later?'

'Mm…there are no other clues… there are only four symbols – the letter J and a oneand a nine and a five?'

Gunnarstrandanodded. 'J one-nine-five – that's all there is.' He repeated: 'Did you contacthim?'

'Itried. I rang him.'

'Whenwas that?'

'Atabout six, early evening. I tried a couple of times, first at home, but Ingrid saidhe would be late home – he had rung home to tell her. Then I rang the Ensjonumber, but no one answered.'

'Whatsort of time?'

'Atabout half past six. I don't remember exactly.'

'Mm?'Gunnarstranda lit one of his roll-ups. 'When did you try next?'

'Halfpast ten in the evening. Reidar said he didn't want to discuss the matter.Karsten and the family were there and he kept things brief.'

'Didyou visit him later?'

Jespersenstared glumly at the policeman and gave an emphatic shake of his head.

'No,I did not.'

'Whendid you go to bed?'

Jespersenconsidered the question. 'At one, maybe half past.'

'Andyou were alone in the house?'

Theman nodded.

'Howdid you find out about the murder?'

'Irang the next day. A priest answered. The one who was with Ingrid.'

Gunnarstrandainhaled and focused for a few moments on the cigarette glow. 'I'm sorry, butI'm afraid I have to ask you these questions,' he apologized and for a secondtheir eyes met. Emmanuel Folke Jespersen understood. At that moment he was asad man with heavy jowls, a large stomach, doleful eyes and an extinguishedcigarillo in his hand.

Aftercalling on Emmanuel Folke Jespersen, on the way back to Oslo, Gunnarstrandatook a detour via Roa. He drove down Griniveien, but turned off beforeSorkedalsveien, into Røahagan, one of the typical West Oslo streets where theold houses set in large grounds have been cut up and divided over the years, sothat an ever-increasing and more status-conscious middle class can build kitschpalaces in what once had been shaded apple orchards. Karsten and SusanneJespersen's house was red, an obviously ex-functionalist house, built in the1930s, and converted out of all recognition. The Police Inspector stoodhesitating for a while in the drive. Many years ago a colleague and he haddeveloped a secret code. They had given interviewees their own labels when theytalked about them in the presence of others. A woman could be LH; a man mightbe LTP. These codes were used so that witnesses and interviewees would notunderstand the internal messages they were sending to each other, but alsobecause this kind of categorization is important when you are trying toestablish an overview. LH stood for lognhals (liar), LTP stood forliker trynet pa'n (like the look of him). They had devised a list of suchcodes and used them to great effect.