The Redeemer hh-6

by Jo Nesbo

  They drove in silence for a while.

  'How are you so sure it's him?' Thea asked. 'If his face is smashed to pieces, I mean.'

  'They recognised the jacket,' Ola said.

  'Is that all?'

  Ola and Toril exchanged looks.

  'No,' Toril said. 'There was dried blood on the inside of the jacket and on the piece of glass they found in the pocket. They're checking that against Halvorsen's blood now.'

  'It's over, Thea,' Jon said, pulling her closer. She rested her head on his shoulder, and he inhaled the fragrance of her hair. Soon he would be asleep. For a long time. Through the front seats he saw Toril Li's hand on the top of the steering wheel. She moved over to the right of the narrow country road when they met a small, white electric car. Jon recognised it as the same model as the one the Salvation Army had been given by the royal family.

  25

  Saturday, 20 December. Forgiveness.

  The charts and numbers on the screen and the regular sonar beep of the ECG bestowed an illusion of control.

  Halvorsen was wearing a mask that covered mouth and nose and what looked like a helmet on his head, which, the doctor had explained, registered changes in cerebral activity. His eyelids were dark with a network of fine blood vessels. It struck Harry that he had never seen this before. He had never seen Halvorsen with closed eyes. They were always open. The door creaked behind him. It was Beate.

  'At last,' she said.

  'I've come straight from the airport,' Harry whispered. 'He looks like a sleeping jet pilot.'

  It was only when he saw Beate's strained smile that he understood how ominous the metaphor was. If his brain had not been so numb he might have chosen a different one. Or just kept his mouth shut. The reason he had been able to put up some kind of facade was that the plane between Zagreb and Oslo is in international airspace for a mere one and a half hours and the stewardess with the alcohol had seemed to serve everyone else in the plane before she noticed the lit lamp above Harry's seat.

  They went outside and found a sitting area at the end of the corridor.

  'Anything new?' Harry asked.

  Beate ran a hand across her face. 'The doctor who examined Sofia Miholjec rang me late last night. He was unable to find anything apart from the bruise on her forehead, which could well have been due to a door, he thought, as Sofia had explained. He said his professional oath of silence was a grave matter for him, but his wife had persuaded him to talk as this concerned the investigation of such a serious case. He took a blood sample from Sofia, but it showed nothing abnormal until – he had had a gut instinct – he asked for the sample to be checked for the hormone HCG. The level leaves little doubt, he says.'

  Beate bit her lower lip.

  'Interesting gut instinct,' Harry said. 'But I have no idea what the hormone HCG is.'

  'Sofia has had a recent pregnancy, Harry.'

  Harry tried to whistle, but his mouth was too dry. 'You'd better drop by and have a chat.'

  'Yes, because we became such great friends last time,' Beate said drily.

  'You don't need to be friends. You want to know if she was raped.'

  'Raped?'

  'Gut instinct.'

  She sighed. 'OK, but there's no hurry any longer, is there?'

  'What do you mean?'

  'After what happened last night.'

  'What happened last night?'

  Beate gaped at him. 'Don't you know?'

  Harry shook his head.

  'I left at least four messages on your phone.'

  'I lost my phone yesterday. Come on, tell me.'

  He saw Beate swallow.

  'Oh shit,' he said. 'Don't say it's what I think it is.'

  'They shot Stankic last night. He died on the spot.'

  Harry closed his eyes and heard Beate's voice in the distance. 'Stankic made a sudden movement and, according to the report, warnings were shouted.'

  Report, Harry thought. Already.

  'I'm afraid the only weapon they found was a piece of glass in the jacket pocket. There was blood on it, which the pathologist has promised will have been checked by this morning. He must have hidden the gun until it was required again. It would have been material evidence if he had been caught with it. He didn't have any papers on him, either.'

  'Did you find anything else?' Harry's question came as if from a machine because his mind was elsewhere. To be precise, in St Stephen's Cathedral. I swear by the Son of God.

  'There was some junkie gear left in one corner. Syringe, spoon and so on. More interesting was the dog hanging from the ceiling. A black Metzner, the harbour watchman told me. Chunks had been cut off it.'

  'Glad to hear that,' Harry mumbled.

  'What!'

  'Nothing.'

  'That explains, as you suggested, the bits of meat in the vomit in Goteborggata.'

  'Anybody else take part in the action apart from Delta?'

  'Not according to the report.'

  'Who wrote the report?'

  'The officer in charge of the raid, of course. Sivert Falkeid.'

  'Of course.'

  'It's all over now anyway.'

  'No, it isn't!'

  'You don't need to shout, Harry.'

  'It's not over. Where there's a prince, there's a king.'

  'What's up with you?' Beate's cheeks were flushed. 'A contract killer is dead and you behave as if he were… a pal.'

  Halvorsen, Harry thought. She was about to say Halvorsen. He closed his eyes and saw the red flickering light inside his eyelids. Like candles, he thought. Like candles in a church. He had been a boy when his mother was buried. In Andalsnes with a view of the mountains, that was what she had asked for on her sickbed. And they had all stood there; his father, Sis and himself listening to the priest talking about a person he had never known. Because his father had not been able to do it. And perhaps Harry had known even then that without her they were no longer a family. Grandfather, from whom Harry had inherited his height, had leaned down with a strong smell of alcohol and said that was how it should be. Parents should die first. Harry gulped.

  'I found Stankic's boss,' he said. 'And she confirmed that the murder had been set up by Robert Karlsen.'

  Beate gaped at him.

  'But it doesn't stop there,' Harry said. 'Robert was only a go-between. There is someone hiding behind him.'

  'Who?'

  'Don't know. All I know is that someone can afford to pay two hundred thousand dollars for a murder.'

  'And Stankic's boss told you all this just like that?'

  Harry shook his head. 'We made a deal.'

  'What kind of deal?'

  'You don't want to know.'

  Beate blinked twice in quick succession. Then she nodded. Harry watched an elderly woman stumping along on crutches and wondered whether Stankic's mother and Fred followed Norwegian newspapers on the Net. Whether they already knew Stankic was dead.

  'Halvorsen's parents are eating in the canteen. I'm going down to them now. Will you join me? Harry?'

  'What? Sorry. I ate on the plane.'

  'They would appreciate it. They say he talked about you with affection. Like a big brother.'

  Harry shook his head. 'Later maybe.'

  When she had gone Harry went back to Halvorsen's room. He sat beside the bed, perched on the edge of the chair and looked down at the pale face on the pillow. In his bag he had an unopened bottle of Jim Beam from duty-free.

  'Us against the rest of the world,' he whispered.

  Harry snapped his fingers above Halvorsen's forehead. His middle finger hit Halvorsen hard between the eyes, but his eyelids didn't stir.

  'Yashin,' Harry whispered, hearing his voice thicken. His jacket banged against the bed. Harry felt inside. There was something in the lining. The missing mobile phone.

  He was gone by the time Beate and the parents returned.

  Jon was lying on the sofa with his head in Thea's lap. She was watching an old film on TV and as he stared up at the ceiling J
on could hear Bette Davis's distinctive voice cut through his thoughts: he knew this ceiling better than his own. And if he stared hard enough he would, in the end, see something familiar, something different from the smashed face they had shown him in the cold basement at Rikshospitalet. He had shaken his head when they asked whether this was the man he had seen in the doorway of his flat and who later attacked the policeman with a knife.

  'But that doesn't mean it isn't him,' Jon had answered, and they had nodded, taken notes and led him out.

  'Are you sure the police won't let you sleep in your own flat?' Thea asked. 'There'll be so much gossip if you stay here tonight.'

  'It's a murder scene,' Jon said. 'It's sealed until they've finished the investigation.'

  'Sealed,' she said. 'It sounds like a letter.'

  Bette Davis ran towards the younger woman and the violins upped the volume and the drama.

  'What are you thinking about?' Thea asked.

  Jon didn't answer. He didn't answer that he was thinking about the moment he had lied to her when he said it was all over. It wouldn't be over until he had done what he had to do. And what he had to do was take the bull by the horns, block the enemy, be a courageous little soldier. Because now he knew. He had been standing so close to Halvorsen when he played back the message from Mads Gilstrup that he had heard the confession.

  The doorbell rang. She stood up as though it was a welcome interruption. It was Rikard.

  'Am I disturbing?' he asked.

  'No,' Jon said. 'I was on my way out.'

  Jon put on his outdoor clothing in the threefold silence. After closing the door behind him he stood for a few seconds listening to the voices inside. They were whispering. Why were they whispering? Rikard sounded angry.

  He caught the tram to town and took the Holmenkollen line from there. At the weekend with snow on the fields the train would usually have been full of cross-country skiers, but it must have been too cold for most today. He got off at the last station and observed Oslo nestling a long way below.

  Mads and Ragnhild's home was situated on a hill. Jon had never been there before. The gate was quite narrow and so was the drive curving round a clump of trees which hid most of the house from the road. The house itself was low and built in such a way that you didn't notice how big it was until you were inside and walking around. At least that was what Ragnhild had said.

  Jon rang and after a few seconds he heard a voice from a speaker he could not see. 'Well, I never. Jon Karlsen.'

  Jon looked at the camera over the door.

  'I'm in the living room.' Mads Gilstrup's voice sounded slurred and he was chuckling. 'I assume you know the way.'

  The door opened automatically and Jon Karlsen stepped into a hall the size of his flat.

  'Hello?'

  He received a short, harsh echo by way of an answer.

  He began to walk down a corridor he assumed would culminate in a living room. Unframed canvases covered in vivid oil colours hung on the walls. And there was a particular smell that got stronger the further he advanced. He passed a kitchen with a cooking island and a dining table surrounded by a dozen chairs. The sink was full of plates, glasses and empty bottles of booze. There was a sickly smell of stale food and beer. Jon continued. Clothes lay strewn along the corridor. He peered through the door to a bathroom. There was a stench of vomit.

  He rounded a corner and was presented with the kind of panorama of Oslo and the fjord that he had seen when he and his father had gone for walks in Nordmarka.

  A screen had been set up in the middle of the room and images from what was evidently an amateur video of a wedding rolled silently across the white canvas. The father led the bride up the aisle as she nodded and smiled to guests on both sides. The gentle hum of the projector fan was all that could be heard. In front of the screen he saw the rear of a black, high-backed armchair and two empty – and one half empty – bottles on the floor beside it.

  Jon announced himself with a loud cough and went closer.

  The chair swivelled round slowly.

  And Jon came to an abrupt halt.

  A man he half recognised as Mads Gilstrup was sitting in the chair. He was wearing a clean, white shirt and black trousers, but he was unshaven and his face was bloated, his eyes blanched with a chalky grey film over them. In his lap was a double-barrelled rifle with intricate carvings of animals on the burgundy gunstock. The way he sat it was pointing at Jon.

  'Do you hunt, Karlsen?' Gilstrup asked gently in a hoarse, alcoholdrenched voice.

  Jon shook his head, unable to take his eyes off the rifle. 'In our family we hunt everything,' Gilstrup said. 'No game too small, none too big. I think you could say that is our family motto. My father has shot everything on four legs. Every winter he travels to a country where there are animals he has not yet shot. Last year it was Paraguay where there was said to be a rare forest puma. I am no great shakes myself. Not according to Father. He says I don't have the necessary cold-bloodedness. He used to say that the only animal I was capable of catching was her.' Gilstrup flicked his head towards the screen. 'Although I suspect he thought she was the one who caught me.'

  Gilstrup placed the rifle on the coffee table beside him and opened his palm. 'Take a seat. We're due to sign a contract with your boss David Eckhoff this week. Transferring the properties in Jacob Aalls gate, first of all. Father will thank you for recommending the sale.'

  'Nothing to thank me for, I'm afraid,' Jon said, taking a seat on the black sofa. The leather was soft and ice-cold. 'A wholly professional assessment.'

  'Oh yes? Do tell me.'

  Jon swallowed. 'The benefits of having money tied up in property versus the ways it could benefit the other work we do.'

  'However, other sellers might have floated the properties on the open market?'

  'We would have liked to do that, too. But you drove a hard bargain and made it pretty clear that if you were making an offer for the whole property package you would not permit an auction.'

  'Nevertheless, it was your recommendation that swung the balance.'

  'I considered it a good offer.'

  Mads Gilstrup smiled. 'Did you hell. You could have got double.'

  Jon shrugged. 'We might have got a bit more if we'd split up the package, but this way we save ourselves the long, arduous process of selling the properties. And the board of management has stressed that it trusts you with regard to rent. After all, there are a number of residents we have to consider. We wouldn't like to know what more unscrupulous purchasers would have done with them.'

  'The clause freezing rents and allowing present tenants to stay runs for eighteen months.'

  'Trust is more important than clauses.'

  Gilstrup leaned forward in his chair. 'That's fucking right, Karlsen. Do you know I knew about you and Ragnhild all the time? You see, she always had these rosy cheeks after she'd been screwed, Ragnhild did. And she had them whenever your name was mentioned in the office. Did you read the Bible to her while you were shagging? Because you know what? I think she would have liked that…' Mads Gilstrup slumped back in his chair with a brief snort of laughter and ran a hand over the rifle on the table. 'I've got two cartridges in this gun, Karlsen. Have you ever seen what cartridges like these can do? You don't even need to aim very well, just pull the trigger and – bang – you'd be blasted up against that wall. Fascinating, isn't it?'

  'I've come here to tell you I don't want you as my enemy.'

  'Enemy?' Mads Gilstrup laughed. 'You lot will always be my enemies. Do you remember the summer you bought Ostgard and I was invited by the commander himself, Eckhoff? You were sorry for me. I was the poor boy you'd deprived of childhood memories. You're sensitive about things like that. My God, how I hated you all!' Gilstrup laughed. 'I stood watching you playing and enjoying yourselves as though the place belonged to you. Especially your brother, Robert. He had a way with the girls, he did. Tickled them and took them into the barn and…' Gilstrup shifted his foot and hit the bottle, which
toppled over with a clunk. Brown alcohol gurgled out onto the parquet floor. 'You didn't see me. None of you saw me. It was as though I didn't exist. You were absorbed in each other. So I thought, well, OK, then I must be invisible. I'll show you what invisible people can do.'

  'Is that why you did it?'

  'Me?' Mads laughed. 'But I'm innocent, Jon Karlsen, aren't I? We, the privileged, always are. Surely you must know that. We always have a clear conscience because we can afford to buy it from others. From those who are employed to serve us, to do the dirty work. That's the law of nature.'

  Jon nodded. 'Why did you ring the policeman and confess?'

  Gilstrup shrugged. 'I thought of ringing the other one, Harry Hole, in fact. But the duffer didn't have a business card, so I rang the one whose number I did have. Halvorsen something or other. I don't remember because I was drunk.'

  'Have you told anyone else?' Jon asked.

  Gilstrup shook his head, picked up the bottle off the floor and took a swig.

  'My father.'

  'Father?' Jon said. 'Ah, yes, of course.'

  'Of course?' Mads chortled. 'Do you love your father, Jon Karlsen?'

  'Yes. Very much.'

  'And do you not agree that love for a father is a curse?' Jon did not answer and Mads went on. 'Father was here right after I phoned the policeman, and when I told him, do you know what he did? He fetched his ski pole and hit me. And he can still hit hard, the bastard. Hatred gives you strength, you know. He said that if I mentioned a word of this to anyone, if I dragged the family's name into the dirt, he would kill me. Those were his exact words. And do you know what?' Mads's eyes filled with tears and a sob caught his voice. 'I still love him. And I think that's what makes him hate me with such passion. The fact that I, his only son, am so weak that I can't even return his hatred.'

  The room echoed as he banged the bottle down hard on the floor.

  Jon folded his hands. 'Listen to me. The policeman who heard your confession is in a coma. If you promise me you will never come after me or mine, I promise I will never reveal what I know about you.'

  Mads Gilstrup did not appear to be listening to Jon. Instead his gaze had turned to the screen where the happy couple were standing with their backs to them. 'Look, now she's saying yes. I play that precise bit again and again because I can't understand it. She swore, didn't she? She…' He shook his head. 'I thought it might make her love me again. If I managed to carry out this… crime, then she would see me as I am. A criminal must be brave. Strong. A man, isn't that right? Not…' he snorted through his nose and spat out the words: 'the son of one.'