The Leopard

PART FOUR
36
Helicopter

Mikael Bellman arrived at the lake in a helicopter. The rotor blades whisked the mist into candyfloss as he dashed, bent double, from the passenger seat across the field to the ropery. Kolkka and Beavis followed at a half-run. From the opposite direction came four men carrying a stretcher. Bellman stopped them and lifted the blanket. The stretcher-bearers averted their faces as Bellman leaned over and studiously examined the naked, white bloated body.

‘Thank you,’ he said and let them continue towards the helicopter.

Bellman stopped at the top of the slope and looked down on the people standing between the building and the water. Among the divers divesting themselves of their equipment and dry suits he could see Beate Lonn and Kaja Solness. Further away was Harry Hole, talking to a man Bellman guessed was Skai, the local County Officer.

The POB signalled to Beavis and Kolkka that they should wait, and with lithe, nimble steps, he glided down the slope.

‘Hello, Skai,’ Bellman said, brushing twigs off his long coat. ‘Mikael Bellman, Kripos, we’ve spoken on the phone.’

‘Correct,’ Skai said. ‘The night his people found some rope here.’ He jerked his thumb back towards Harry.

‘And now it seems he’s here again,’ Bellman said. ‘The question is, of course, what he’s doing at my crime scene.’

‘Well,’ Harry said, clearing his throat, ‘firstly, this is hardly a crime scene. Secondly, I’m looking for a missing person. And it does seem as if we’ve found what we were looking for. How’s the triple murder going? Found anything? You got our information about the Havass cabin, did you?’

The County Officer acknowledged a glance from Bellman and absented himself in discreet haste.

Bellman surveyed the lake while running a forefinger along his lower lip as if to rub in some ointment. ‘Alright, Hole, you are aware, are you, that you have just ensured that both you and your superior officer, Gunnar Hagen, have not only lost your jobs but will also be charged with dereliction of duty?’

‘Mm, because we do the job we’ve been entrusted with?’

‘I think the Minister of Justice will be demanding a pretty detailed explanation as to why you initiated a search for a missing person right outside the ropery which supplied the rope that was used to kill Marit Olsen. I gave you Crime Squad people a chance. You won’t get another. Game over, Hole.’

‘Then we’ll have to give the Minister of Justice a pretty detailed explanation, Bellman. Naturally, it will include information about how we found out where the rope came from, how we got onto the trail of Elias Skog and the Havass cabin, how we found out that there was a fourth victim called Adele Vetlesen and how we found her here today. A job Kripos, with all its manpower and resources, failed to carry out over two months. Eh, Bellman?’

Bellman didn’t answer.

‘Frightened it might affect the Minister of Justice’s decision on who is best suited to investigate murders in this country, are you?’

‘Don’t overplay your hand, Hole. I’ll crush you just like that.’ Bellman flicked his fingers.

‘OK,’ Harry said. ‘Neither of us has a winning hand, so what if I pass over the kitty?’

‘What the hell do you mean?’

‘You get everything. Everything we have. We don’t take credit for anything.’

Bellman looked askance at Harry. ‘And why should you help us?’

‘Simple,’ Harry said, plucking the last smoke from the pack. ‘I get paid for helping to catch the killer. That’s my job.’

Bellman grimaced and his head and shoulders moved as if he were laughing, but not a sound issued forth. ‘Come on, Hole, what do you want?’

Harry lit his cigarette. ‘I don’t want Gunnar Hagen, Kaja Solness or Bjorn Holm to take the rap for this. Your prospects in the force won’t be affected.’

Bellman squeezed his full lower lip between thumb and first finger. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

‘And I want to be part of this. I want access to all the material you have and to resources for the investigation.’

‘That’s enough!’ Bellman said, raising a hand. ‘Are you hard of hearing, Hole? I told you to stay away from this case.’

‘We can catch this killer, Bellman. Right now that should be more bloody important than who’s in charge afterwards, shouldn’t it?’

‘Don’t you…!’ Bellman shouted, but held back when he saw a couple of heads turn in their direction. He took a step closer to Harry and lowered his voice. ‘Don’t you talk to me as if I were an idiot, Hole.’

The wind blew the smoke from Harry’s cigarette into Bellman’s face, but he didn’t blink. Harry shrugged.

‘Do you know what, Bellman? I don’t think this has much to do with power or politics. You’re a little boy who wants to be the hero who saves the day. Simple as that. And you’re scared I’ll ruin the epic. But there’s an easy way of resolving this. What about unzipping and seeing who can piss as far as the divers’ dinghy?’

When Mikael Bellman laughed this time, it was for real, with volume and everything. ‘You should read the warning signs, Harry.’

His right hand shot out, so quickly that Harry didn’t manage to react, struck the cigarette between his lips and knocked it away. It hit the water with a hiss.

‘Smoking kills. Have a good day.’

Harry heard the helicopter take off as he watched his last cigarette floating in the water. The grey, wet paper, the black, dead tip.

Night had started to fall as the diving team’s boat dropped Harry, Kaja and Beate ashore by the car park. There was sudden movement amid the trees followed by camera flashes. Harry instinctively held up an arm, and he heard Roger Gjendem’s voice from out of the darkness.

‘Harry Hole, there are rumours flying around that you’ve found a young woman’s body. What’s her name and how sure are you that this is connected with the other murders?’

‘No comment,’ Harry said, ploughing his way through, half blinded. ‘For the moment this is a missing persons case, and the only thing we can say is that a woman has been found who might be the missing person. As far as the murder cases I assume you’re referring to are concerned, talk to Kripos.’

‘Woman’s name?’

‘She has to be identified first and relatives informed.’

‘But you’re not ruling out-’

‘As usual, I’m not ruling out anything, Gjendem. Press conference to follow.’

Harry got into the car; Kaja had already started the engine and Beate Lonn was sitting on the back seat. They trundled onto the main road to the flashes of cameras behind them.

‘Now,’ Beate Lonn said, leaning forward between the seats, ‘I still haven’t been given an explanation as to how your search for Adele Vetlesen led here.’

‘Deductive logic, pure and simple,’ Harry said.

‘Goes without saying,’ Beate sighed.

‘In fact, I’m embarrassed I didn’t twig before,’ Harry said. ‘I went round wondering why the killer had made the effort to go all the way out to a disused ropery just for a piece of rope. Especially since that rope – unlike what he could have bought in a shop – could be traced back here. The answer was, of course, obvious. Nevertheless, it was only when I sat looking into a deep African lake that I realised. He didn’t come here for the rope. He must have used the rope for something here – because it happened to be lying around – and then taken it home where he later used it to kill Marit Olsen. The reason he came here was that he already had a body he needed to dispose of. Adele Vetlesen. The local man, Skai, spelt it out for us the first time we came here. This is the deep end of the lake. The killer filled her trousers with rocks, tied up the waist and legs with rope, then dropped her overboard.’

‘How do you know she was dead before she came here? He might have drowned her.’

‘There was a large cut around her neck. It’s my bet the post-mortem will show that there wasn’t any water in her lungs.’

‘And that ketanome is in her bloodstream, the same as with Charlotte and Borgny,’ Beate said.

‘I’m told ketanome is a fast-working anaesthetic,’ Harry said. ‘Strange I’d never heard of it before.’

‘Not so strange,’ Beate said. ‘It’s an old cheapo version of ketalar, which is used to anaesthetise patients with the advantage that they can still breathe by themselves,’ Beate said. ‘Ketanome was banned in the EU and Norway in the nineties because of side effects, so now you generally see it in underdeveloped countries. Kripos considered it a major clue for a while, but got nowhere with it.’

As they dropped Beate off at Krimteknisk in Bryn forty minutes later, Harry asked Kaja to hang on and got out of the car.

‘There was one thing I wanted to ask you,’ Harry said.

‘Oh yes?’ Beate said, shivering and rubbing her hands together.

‘What were you doing at a potential crime scene? Why wasn’t Bjorn there?’

‘Because Bellman assigned Bjorn to special duties.’

‘And what does that mean? Cleaning the latrines?’

‘No. Coordination of Krimteknisk and strategic planning.’

‘What?’ Harry raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s a bloody promotion.’

Beate shrugged. ‘Bjorn’s good. It wasn’t before time. Anything else?’

‘No.’

‘Bye.’

‘Bye. Oh, by the way, just a moment. I asked you to tell Bellman where we’d found the rope. When did you pass the message on?’

‘You rang me at night, remember, so I waited until the following morning. Why’s that?’

‘No reason,’ Harry said. ‘No reason.’

When he got back into the car, Kaja quickly slipped her phone into her pocket.

‘News of the body’s already on the Aftenposten website,’ she said.

‘Oh yes?’

‘They say there’s a big pic of you with your full name and that you’re referred to as “heading the investigation”. And of course they’re linking this case with the other murders.’

‘So, that’s what they’re doing. Mm. Are you hungry?’

‘Quite.’

‘Have you got any plans? If not I’ll treat you to a meal.’

‘Great. Where?’

‘Ekeberg restaurant.’

‘Ooh. Exclusive. Any particular reason you chose that one?’

‘Well, it came to mind when a pal of mine was recounting an old story.’

‘Tell me.’

‘There’s nothing to tell, it’s just the usual adolescence thi-’

‘Adolescence! Come on!’

Harry chuckled. And as they approached the city centre and it started snowing at the top of Ekeberg Ridge, Harry told her about Killer Queen, the darling of Ekeberg restaurant, once the most attractive functionalist building in Oslo. Which today – post renovation – it is again.

‘But in the eighties it was so run-down that people had actually given up on the place. It had become a boozy dance restaurant where you went to tables and asked for the pleasure, trying not to knock over the glasses. And then shuffled round the floor propping each other up.’

‘I see.’

‘Oystein, Tresko and I used to go to the top of the German bunkers on Nordstrand beach, drink beer and wait for puberty to pass. When we were seventeen we ventured over to the restaurant, lied about our ages and went in. You didn’t have to lie much – the place needed all the cash it could get. The dance band stank, but at least they played “Nights in White Satin”. And they had a star attraction who guested almost every night. We called her Killer Queen. A female man-o’-war, she was.’

‘A man-o’-war?’ Kaja laughed. ‘Set your cap at?’

‘Yup,’ Harry said. ‘Bore down on you like a galleon in full rig, mean, sexy and dead scary. Equipped like a fairground. Curves on her like a roller coaster.’

Kaja laughed even louder. ‘The local fun-fair, no less?’

‘In a way,’ Harry said. ‘But she went to Ekeberg restaurant pri marily to be seen and adored, I think. And for the free drinks from faded dance-floor kings, of course. No one ever saw Killer Queen go home with any of them. Perhaps that was what fascinated us. A woman who’d had to go down a league or two for admirers, but in a way still had style.’

‘And then what?’

‘Oystein and Tresko said they would each buy me a whiskey if I dared ask her to dance.’

They crossed the tramlines and drove up the steep hill to the restaurant.

‘And?’ Kaja said.

‘I dared.’

‘And then?’

‘We danced. Until she said she was sick of having her feet trodden on and it would be better if we went for a walk. She left first. It was August, hot, and, as you can see, there’s only forest round here. Thick foliage and loads of paths to hidden places. I was drunk, but still so excited that I knew she would be able to hear the tremor in my voice if I said anything. So I kept my trap shut. And that was fine, she did all the talking. And the rest, too. Afterwards she asked me if I wanted to go home with her.’

Kaja sniggered. ‘Oooh. And what happened there?’

‘We can talk about that during the meal. We’re here.’

They came to a halt in the car park, got out and walked up the steps to the restaurant. The head waiter welcomed them at the entrance to the dining area and asked for the name. Harry answered that they hadn’t reserved a table.

The waiter could barely restrain himself from rolling his eyes.

‘Full for the next two months,’ Harry snorted as they left, after buying cigarettes at the bar. ‘I think I liked the place better when water was leaking into the restaurant and rats squealed at you from behind the toilets. At least we could get in.’

‘Let’s have a smoke,’ Kaja suggested.

They walked over to the low brick wall from where the forest sloped downwards into Oslo. The clouds in the west were tinged with orange and red, and the queues of traffic on the motorway glittered like phosphorescence against the blackness of the town. It seemed to be lying there in wait, keeping watch, Harry thought. A camouflaged beast of prey. He tapped out two cigarettes, lit them and passed one to Kaja.

‘The rest of the story,’ Kaja said, inhaling.

‘Where were we?’

‘Killer Queen took you home.’

‘No, she asked if I wanted to go. And I politely declined.’

‘Declined? You’re lying. Why?’

‘Oystein and Tresko asked me that when I got back. I told them I couldn’t just leave when I had two pals and free whiskey waiting for me.’

Kaja laughed and blew smoke over the view.

‘But of course that was a lie,’ Harry said. ‘Loyalty had nothing to do with it. Friendship means nothing to a man if he has a tempting enough offer. Nothing. The truth is that I didn’t dare. Killer Queen was simply in the scariest league of all for me.’

They sat silent for a while. Listening to the hum of the town and watching the smoke curl upwards.

‘You’re thinking,’ Kaja said.

‘Mm. I’m thinking about Bellman. How well informed he is. He not only knew I was coming to Norway, he even knew which flight I was on.’

‘Perhaps he has contacts at Police HQ.’

‘Mm. And at Lake Lyseren today Skai said that Bellman had rung him about the rope the same evening that we’d been at the ropery.’

‘Really?’

‘But Beate says she didn’t tell Bellman about the rope until the morning after we’d been there.’ Harry followed the glow of tobacco on its flight over the slope. ‘And Bjorn has been promoted to coordinator for forensics and strategic planning.’

Kaja stared at him in surprise. ‘That’s not possible, Harry.’

He didn’t answer.

‘Bjorn Holm! Would he have kept Bellman informed about what we were doing? You two have worked together for so long, you’re… friends!’

Harry shrugged. ‘As I said, I think…’ He dropped his cigarette onto the ground and crushed it with a swivel of his heel. ‘… friendship means nothing to a man if he has a tempting enough offer. Do you dare join me for today’s special at Schroder’s?’

I dream all the time now. It was summer and I loved her. I was so young and thought that if you wanted something enough it was yours to have.

Adele, you had her smile, her hair and her faithless heart. And now Aftenposten says they have found you. I hope you were as foul on the outside as you were on the inside.

It also says they’ve put Inspector Harry Hole on the case. He was the one who caught the Snowman. Perhaps there’s hope, perhaps the police can save lives after all?

I’ve printed out a photo of Adele from the Verdens Gang website and pinned it on the wall, next to the torn page from the Havass cabin guest book. Including mine, there are only three more names now.