'Yourbeard's soft,' she said. 'I would never have believed your beard would be sosoft.'
Hewhispered: 'I've never seen a lunar eclipse before.'
'Youmay never see one so clear again,' she said. 'Conditions are very unusualtonight. Soon it'll be total.'
Heintertwined his fingers through hers.
'Infact I should be by Tryvann Lake watching it through a telescope,' she said. 'Ihad arranged to meet a group of college friends.'
'Doyou meet college friends to watch eclipses?'
'Astronomywas one of my courses.'
'Ifyou want, we can take a taxi.'
'Ican see it brilliantly from here.'
Theylay close. Her back against his chest, her thighs against his. She stirred herfeet, like a cat when it is getting comfortable, he thought, breathing in herhair and staring up at the sky. There was a tiny crescent of yellow stillvisible behind the pale red blotting paper.
Hefelt he had to do as she did, to whisper: 'That's the shadow of the earth,isn't it? Why is it red and not black?'
'Sunlightpassing through the earth's atmosphere, which filters out most of the blue. Redis what's left.'
'Nice.'
'Thereare thousands of people at Tryvann. They'll talk about it on TV. People allover Norway wrap themselves up, go out and stare at the sky. Right now we tinyhumans everywhere are captivated by what is going on above us.'
'Nowonder,' he said. 'The earth's shadow, as it were; the sun shining on the earthwhile the shadow covers the moon. That's a pretty big deal.'
'It'sGod moving,' she whispered and pressed her cheek against his hand.
Chapter 41
Onceagain Police Inspector Gunnarstranda drove to Haslum and the well-maintainedsuburban terraced houses to pay Emmanuel Folke Jespersen a visit. This time hehad not warned him of his impending arrival. Hence the reaction when he rangthe doorbell was a little slow in coming. He looked up at the frosty, blue skywhich presaged another cold snap. He breathed in and at length heard the soundsof an elderly man tottering painfully to the front door. 'You again,' EmmanuelFolke Jespersen said when at long last he opened the door. 'Don't you ever gettired?'
Heturned and trudged ahead of the policeman into the flat. Panting, he paused inthe doorway to the living room as the detective slipped off his over-shoes.
Emmanuelslumped back into his wide armchair and looked around. 'Don't have any coffee,'he mumbled. 'Don't have any biscuits…' He took the remote control from thecoffee table and raised it. 'We'll have to make do with Schubert.'
'Howdid they meet?' Gunnarstranda asked as the first sweet violin tones spilledinto the room. 'Do you have any idea?'
'Who?'Emmanuel asked. 'Amalie and her husband Klaus Fromm.'
Jespersenthrew his arms into the air. 'My God, you're persistent, and efficient.' He letout a deep sigh. 'Klaus Fromm was his name, that's right. And Amalie…'
'I'mannoyed that you have withheld this information from us,' Gunnarstrandainterrupted with severity.
Emmanuelshook his head. 'Withheld? No. I know almost nothing about Fromm. And the namehad completely escaped me. I know a little more about Amalie. She was Reidar'schildhood sweetheart.'
Hepointed the remote control at the stereo and lowered the volume. 'Reidar andAmalie were always together from very young. They were the same age. And they didn'tlive very far from each other – in St Hanshaugen. Arvid and Reidar and I – welived over a shop in Geitmyrsveien, next to the sharp bend, you know the one,above Diakonhjemmet, the hospital. Amalie's family lived in a block closer toUllevål. And they became lovers.' Emmanuel splayed his hands. 'It happensnowadays, too. But I don't know that we used the word lovers. Thingschange over time. What is certain is that Reidar spent more time with Amaliethan with his friends. Amalie was Reidar's great love. They were inseparable.Like two magnets, they attracted each other and there was nothing they could doabout it, it seemed.'
Emmanuelfolded his hands over his stomach and leaned back. 'When you were leaving lasttime, I wondered whether I should tell you what I'm going to tell you now. ButI decided you would have to make some progress first, at least winkle out thename of her husband. In a nutshell, if what I'm going to tell you should turnout to be relevant to your case, I thought you would first have to prove itsrelevance. Perhaps that can't be done – proving relevance. But at least youhave proved how hard-working you are. I can't help you much with the story ofAmalie's marriage. But I do know how they met. Amalie's family had connections inGermany. Her father may have studied there or they may have had distantrelatives. I have no idea. Our family always went to Tjøme in the summer;Amalie and family went to Germany. She met her husband-to-be one summer, either'38 or '39. He was mature – much older than her. You can imagine it. I supposeFromm had more to offer her than Reidar. And after that summer things werenever the same between Amalie and Reidar. She finished it. But then there werethose opposite poles, they were fatally attracted, and she was engaged toanother man from another country.'
'KlausFromm?'
'Ofcourse. The love between Amalie and this man was my brother's great tormentduring his younger years.'
Gunnarstrandawrithed with annoyance. 'And you just kept your mouth shut about this?'
Emmanuelstared at the policeman with disdain: 'When she returned after the summerholiday – I think it must have been in '38 – the tragedy was, you see, thatAmalie and Reidar continued to be a kind of couple. While she couldn't quitelet go of him, it was clear that things were not as they had been once. Sheeven wore a ring – can you imagine! Engaged to an older man living in Germany.Well, I don't know what to say. It was this magnetism between them thatdestroyed everything. Instead of two of them there were now three.'
'Thislady betrayed your brother and got engaged to a German, whom she later married.Your brother risked his life fighting against the Germans.'
'Lifecan be like that,' Emmanuel said diplomatically.
'It'sincomprehensible.'
'Mozartdied a pauper. A lot of things are incomprehensible, Inspector.'
'Somethings can be explained too.'
'Likewhat?'
'YesterdayI had an officer go through the files in Bertrand Narvesens vei. He found a strangedocument. It's an invoice issued in 1953. It was made out to a newspaper inBuenos Aires and addressed to a gentleman by the name of Klaus Fromm.'
Emmanuelfrowned. 'Why is that so incomprehensible?'
Thedetective took a deep breath. 'I cannot comprehend how your brother could dobusiness with Amalie's husband after the war!'
Emmanuelwas breathing heavily. 'There's nothing to comprehend. Reidar was adown-to-earth pragmatist, through and through. He was no uncompromising Hamlet!He was Reidar Folke Jespersen. The war was over. There was no one to kill anymore, nothing to fear any longer. What sense was there in remaining enemies -least of all with Klaus Fromm? What was the point of continuing hostilitiesafter the war?'
'Ican't make what you are telling me add up,' Gunnarstranda interruptedobstinately.
Emmanuelpursed his lips with exasperation. 'And why not?'
'KlausFromm was not just anyone. He was part of the German Occupation Forces inNorway. He signed the death certificates of innocent men – in retaliationagainst your brother's actions. This man was the personification of every man'shatred for the occupying power. Amalie Bruun chose this man. Your brother musthave perceived this as offensive.'
'Andhow can you claim that?'
'It'sobvious. She betrayed your brother and instead chose someone who representedeverything he was fighting against, everything he put his life at risk tocrush. She couldn't have done anything worse to him.'
'Andyou have the audacity to express an opinion about this?' Emmanuel's eyes wereflashing with anger. 'You have the audacity to set yourself up as a judge overtwo people's love for each other, people you don't know?'