– Me too, she managed to say.
She pulled herself together, indicated his hand.
– Cut yourself, Arve?
He turned it over, saw what she was pointing to, on the outside of his wrist.
– Damn, I thought I’d wiped it all off. Had to clean a fuel injector in the car. He winked at her. – Not to worry, I’ll survive.
He looked paler than usual, drawn around the eyes.
– Sleep well? she asked solicitously.
– I wouldn’t say that. Feel as though my phone’s been ringing all night.
– Anything important?
He rubbed his bristly chin. The beard was much darker than the hair, she noticed.
– Among other things, several calls from a certain Axel Glenne.
Nina was curious.
– What did he want?
– Hard to say. He was babbling on about this medical student, something about letters someone had sent her. I think he’s playing a game with us. I had to convince him we were on our way with everything we had. I’ll tell you the rest at the morning briefing.
Don’t go yet, she thought, and it seemed to help, because he took a step closer.
– What are you up to, by the way? I never thought of you as an early bird.
He glanced at her screen.
– Åsnes county? I never heard any more about your trip up there.
She crossed one leg over the other. Again she was wearing the tight-fitting blouse. She noticed how his gaze passed over her breasts.
– Amazing number of trees, she sighed. – You’ve probably got no idea what a nightmare it is for a girl from Bergen to get lost in a place like that. You from the depths of the deep dark forest up there.
He smiled at her turn of phrase. Maybe he was thinking about sitting on her desk, close enough for her to touch his thigh through the trousers.
– Two expeditions in two weeks, she said brightly as she cleared away some papers. – Viken got lost and drove us up some dark little cul-de-sac. We came to a barrier and couldn’t turn round. Imagine it: alone with Viken in a deserted forest. Pretty scary, I can tell you. Felt like Little Red Riding Hood on her way to Grandmama. And the first trip was even worse. I ended up at some place called Reinvollen …
– Reinkollen.
– Yeah, that was it. Residential home for extraterrestrials suffering from mysterious illnesses.
He didn’t respond and it make her feel nervous. She began describing the trip in detail, talking about the old ladies who worked there, and that wizened creature in the wheelchair, an Egyptian mummy of indeterminate age. She told the story well, she noticed, and Arve smiled a couple of times in the course of her narrative.
– At one point I nearly jumped out of my skin. An enormous mongoloid giant suddenly appeared in the doorway. He stood in the middle of the floor and beat himself on the chest and bellowed: Oswald catch bear, Oswald catch bear. She imitated his performance. – But the old ladies didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. They sat down on the sofa with him and petted him and he quietened down after that.
Arve Norbakk nodded.
– They’re very good with him.
She pushed her chair back.
– Do you know …? Have you been there?
He looked at her for a long time. The expression in his eyes changed; they seemed to harden, and then open again. He leaned against the desk and smiled.
– Oswald is my brother, he said.
62
NINA STRUGGLED TO stay focused. She scrolled down through the report from the visit to Reinkollen, and then, again, the interview with Miriam Gaizauskaite. Arve had gone to his office, and no one else had arrived in the meantime. As she tried to read through the documents, she kept hearing herself making fun of Oswald. She bit her lip. She hadn’t felt so stupid for a long time. She’d apologised several times. Arve tried to laugh it off. Assured her that he didn’t take it personally. Enjoyed a good story. Things a lot worse than that got said and done. That it was ignorance, not malice. Are you sure you’re not mad at me? she’d asked repeatedly. Before he left, he stroked her hair. To reassure her, perhaps. Or for some other reason.
Before she could make up her mind about that, the phone rang. It was reception.
– I’ve got someone on the line who wants to talk to you. Says he’s a Catholic priest at a church here in Oslo.
Miriam, thought Nina. Without further ado she asked for him to be put through. The man introduced himself as Father Raymond Ugelstad, a Dominican friar.
– This is about Miriam, she said at once.
– Yes, said the priest. – She mentioned your name when she was here the other day. I believe you’ve spoken to her.
The voice was light and nasal. She imagined a stout elderly man, a monk in a brown habit.
– I’m ringing because I’m worried. Quite frankly, I think something might have happened to her …
Two minutes later, Nina knocked on Arve Norbakk’s door. It was a relief to get the chance to talk to him about what the priest had said. It would ease the embarrassment of their last conversation, might even remove it completely.
– I’ve just had a phone call. About Miriam.
She explained.
– We’d better check it out immediately, Arve responded. – I just tried to call her but she didn’t answer.
The door to Miriam Gaizauskaite’s flat was ajar. There was a bunch of flowers hanging on the door handle. Nina opened the little card that was tied to it with gold thread. When this is over … she read. She showed it to Arve, who had to lean against her to read the handwriting.
– I don’t like this, she murmured as she pushed the door open with the toe of her shoe. – Miriam?
Arve was standing right behind her.
– We ought to call for backup before we go in, Nina.
– We don’t have time for that. She had no objection to showing him that she could be decisive. – Backup in case of what? You think there’s a giant bear in there?
He laughed. – I can see you’re not the nervous type.
Nina peered into the living room. It looked pretty much as it had done the last time she was there. A few Pepsi bottles on the table, a pile of books. The alcove was empty, the bed made but the duvet rumpled.
– Miriam? she said again as she headed towards the kitchen.
Not there either. Washing-up was piled on the worktop. A plate on the table. Beside it an opened envelope and some photographs. She picked one of them up. It was Miriam. It had been cut in half, she noted as she turned it over. And the fourth will be … she read on the back.
Viken drummed on the tabletop. He was freshly shaved and his aftershave smelled different from the one he usually used. The neatly ironed white shirt was buttoned up well past the declivity in his neck. Nina knew that Finckenhagen and Jarle Frøen were being carpeted by the Chief Constable now that the charges against Glenne had been dropped. They were the ones who had to take the rap. More than anything the chief disliked it when people tried to shove the responsibility down through the ranks. And as soon as he was done with Finckenhagen, she had called Viken in and given him a carpeting of her own, which was a lot softer to stand on and didn’t seem to have made any particular impression on him. Viken was if anything even more obstinate, and what Nina and Arve had just told him about the finds at Miriam’s flat seemed to leave him more convinced than ever that he had been right. He put Nina in mind of a dog that never lets go once it has sunk its teeth into something.
– This is no time for being wise after the event, he said in a voice that seemed to leave the matter open to doubt. – I assure you that Finckenhagen knows exactly what I think. I asked for a man to be left on guard outside Miriam’s flat. I asked that a minimum of resources be left available to keep an eye on Glenne after we let him go. My words fell on deaf ears.
He glared, but Nina saw a glint of satisfaction in the grey eyes.
– You were supposed to be keeping an eye on her, he said, a
ddressing himself to Arve Norbakk.
The sergeant was leaning in the doorway.
– I called her last night. Everything seemed to be in order. I asked her to keep my number handy and to get in touch instantly if something happened.
Viken raised a hand.
– You did what you could, Arve. I’m glad somebody knows what we’re trying to do here.
Norbakk’s response to being praised was inscrutable.
– And another thing, he said. – I had Glenne on the phone to me twice last night.
Viken raised his eyebrows.
– What did he want?
– He called the station the first time at about eleven, asked to speak to me personally. When I rang back, he told me what shits we were. I made the mistake of calling without blocking my number, and a few hours later he was there again, muttering away about Miriam. Still having a go at us. He didn’t sound completely sober. Or maybe he was on something else. He called another couple of times, but I passed up the chance to hear any more of his crap.
– Perfectly understandable, was Viken’s response. – Nina, I’m putting you in charge of the search for Miriam. Are all our reports on her up to date?
Arve Norbakk cast a glance in her direction.
– Just a couple of things I have to add, he said quickly. – I’ll do it straight away. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll get a printout from her mobile phone. And Glenne’s.
– Good. Jebsen, you find out when that bunch of flowers was sent, and by whom. I have my suspicions. Where’s Sigge?
– He called in, said Nina. – He’s at home, one of his kids is sick. Unless it was both of them. He’s going to try to get in later.
Viken’s bushy eyebrows reared up and faced each other like two hairy snakes about to copulate.
– What’s the matter with that bloke? he growled. – Hasn’t he got a wife?
The flowers had been sent from Flower Power in Majorstua on Wednesday evening at 6.40. Nina spoke to the florist on the phone. He thought he could remember the man who had made the purchase, a bouquet of nine long-stemmed roses. The description was vague, but it fitted Glenne.
Nina entered the information and thought about it. The delivery man had been there Wednesday evening. When no one answered, he had hung the flowers on the door. They were still there on Friday morning. But according to Arve, Miriam had been home when he called her yesterday evening. So why hadn’t she taken them inside?
Again she looked at what Arve had written about Miriam. There was something she hadn’t quite understood, and she knew it had to do with this report. Something Arve had said. She still couldn’t think what it was … She noticed that he hadn’t added the information about the engagement. She sat there, staring at the screen. Miriam had mentioned that the man she had been engaged to was someone she met in her first year in Norway. In other words, when she was attending the folk high school in Nordfjord. It would be possible to check the list of former pupils, but it was by no means certain that the fiancé had gone to the same school as her. It would be easier to ask someone who actually knew her.
During her interview Miriam had named two other students as her closest friends. Nina had made a note of their names. She looked them up in her notebook. Thought she should let Arve have them. Didn’t want him thinking she was taking over his job. That she thought he wasn’t doing it well enough. On the other hand, he had undertaken to check a mass of mobile phone calls and would have enough to be getting on with. He would thank her for it. Then she could remind her of their agreement. To have a drink together. Or two.
She was about to call directory enquiries when Viken burst in.
– Now we’ve got him, he trumpeted.
Nina had never seen him looking so elated.
– The photos you and Arve found in Miriam’s flat. They were covered in big juicy fingerprints. Want to guess whose?
It wasn’t hard to guess, but she didn’t want to spoil his surprise.
– Glenne, Viken said as calmly as he could. – Dr Axel Glenne.
Nina had the feeling of climbing aboard a merry-go-round that was already in full swing.
– He might be the one who sent them to her, she offered tentatively.
Viken drummed away on the door frame.
– I called Frøen. Nina, even he realises what this means.
Across his face were written the words: What did I tell you? All the more important, then, for her to tell him what she had found out.
– Miriam had a lengthy relationship after she arrived in Norway. She was engaged. I’m just trying to find out who the man was.
Viken gestured to her.
– That’ll have to wait. I need you for something else. We don’t have much bloody time. We’re going after Glenne now, with everything we’ve got.
63
OSWALD HAD BEEN restless all morning. He paced back and forth in the room making deep growling noises, and paid no attention to Signy Bruseter when she spoke to him. He hadn’t eaten, and she hadn’t been able to wash him. According to the night shift he’d been the same all night, wandering around restlessly, not getting a minute’s sleep. And of course, it affected Tora too. She sat there in her chair and never stopped whimpering. Several times Signy had been on the point of calling Mette Martin and warning her, but she decided to hang on until Åse Berit showed up. Åse Berit always managed to calm Oswald down, no matter how upset he was.
At a quarter past eleven, Signy heard the front door open and gave a sigh of relief. It wasn’t Åse Berit Nytorpet who came into the room, however, but a much older woman. A tiny, skinny little thing with permed silver hair and thick glasses.
– I heard things were a bit upside down here today so I came in earlier, she said.
Signy stared at her in surprise.
– Isn’t Åse Berit coming?
– Åse Berit’s off sick.
The old woman held out a withered, scrawny hand.
– I’m Ingeborg, she said. Ingeborg Damhaug. I used to work here before, worked here for years.
Signy smiled bravely. Åse Berit was so big and buxom you could take shelter behind her when Oswald was upset. But what use would this little bag of bones be?
– What’s the matter with Åse Berit?
The old woman sighed.
– It’s all just got too much for her. The police have been up there and turned their farm inside out. Even taken up the floor. Åse Berit’s nerves couldn’t stand it.
Signy looked down at her feet.
– Apparently there’s someone sneaking around the village telling tales on folk, Ingeborg sniffed with contempt. – Now, Oswald, what’s all this, walking up and down and not eating anything?
– Oswald catch bear.
– Right you are, cooed Ingebord. – I’m sure you can, but now you just come and sit down.
She put an arm around the giant resident and led him over to the dining table.
– Ingeborg catch bear, Oswald shouted, and the old woman burst out laughing.
– Yes, that’ll be the day, she chortled, wiping away the tears, and it looked as though Oswald was joining in her laughter.
She put milk on the table and Oswald drank it down in one gulp. She refilled the glass and buttered some bread, and he ate with a hearty appetite.
– Oswald and I are old chums, hummed Ingeborg. – Isn’t that right, Oswald?
– Oswald drive bus, he rumbled, his mouth full of bread and liver pâté.
After his meal, she took him by the hand and led him into his room.
– Now you just have a nice little lie-down, Oswald, you’ve been up and about all night.
– I’ve known Oswald since he was seven or eight years old, Ingeborg explained later as they sat at the table. – Oh, it breaks my heart to think about him, that lad.
Signy sipped at her coffee.
– Åse Berit told me his father used to lock him up in the cellar when he was a little boy. Surely that can’t be true?
Ingebor
g shook her head and stared in front of her. Tora had fallen asleep in her chair, her head hanging down at an angle, drooling at the mouth. Ingeborg got up and wiped her face, placed a pillow under the bony chin.
– It’s true all right, she said. – I was working in child care at the time. It was a terrible business.
– But the father must have been a complete madman. Didn’t anyone say anything?
Ingeborg shot Signy a bleak look.
– That’s the thing that bothers me most of all, that we didn’t act sooner. We got several messages saying things were going to pieces up at old Norbakk’s, but it wasn’t until a member of the family rang and said we’d better get ourselves up there as fast as possible …
She bit at the pale strip of her underlip.
– It’s over twenty years ago now, but I’ll tell you this, Signy, it’s a sight I will never forget. Never.
– What happened?
Ingeborg sat for a while with her eyes closed. To Signy her eyelids seemed as sheer as tissue paper. It was as though the old woman were looking straight through them at her.
– We went to the cabin, up in the forest, she said at length, the eyes expressionless when she opened them again. – And what a mess when we got up there. Bottles everywhere, filthy clothes and unwashed dishes, a broken window so it was freezing cold inside. First off we couldn’t find the boys anywhere. Not until we went down into the cellar. They were locked inside, both of them. And there was Arve with his arms around Oswald, trying to keep him warm.
– Arve? wondered Signy.
Ingeborg took out a handkerchief and blew into it.
– Oswald’s older brother. They’d been sitting down there for days. The father had given them a bottle of water and tossed them a few crusts of bread before he took off.
– So then you did something?
– Oh yes. Young Arve was fostered with some people down in Lillestrøm. Oswald was taken into institutional care, and now he’s never had it so good. But we waited too long before doing anything … Well, the father was sentenced for child neglect. Served a few months. When he got out, he lived like an animal up in that cabin. Drank himself to death in the end.
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