Burned

Chapter 65

If there is a God, then he has just pressed the pause button. Henning’s jaw drops. Anette enters and looks at them all in turn.

‘Sorry, Juul,’ she says. ‘My curiosity got the better of me.’

He looks at her without blinking.

‘W-who are you?’ Ingvild says.

‘I’m the woman your husband had sex with.’

She says it straight out, no embarrassment, no anger, presents it as a purely factual matter. And Henning knows he isn’t the only one who is dumbstruck.

‘But — ’ Ingvild’s voice is devoid of strength.

‘I can see why Stefan thought it was Henriette. I mean, look at me, I’m not a patch on her. Her script, too, made it obvious, I would have thought.’

Anette looks at Yngve. He stares at the ground, shamefaced. A tear rolls down his cheek. His hair, what little he has, is bathed in sweat.

‘And Henriette was a huge flirt, everyone knew that. She could charm the birds off the trees, if she put her mind to it.’

They all look at Yngve, who sighs and shakes his head.

‘It wasn’t very easy, for any of us, in the time after… after what happened to Ingvild. It hadn’t been that good before, and afterwards, well, it was completely impossible to live together as man and wife. Every time I came near you, you would move away, you almost shuddered when I, your husband, came near you.’

Yngve looks at her.

‘Physical contact was an unknown concept. And then I met Henriette

…’

He shakes his head again.

‘She was beautiful, full of life, clever, and yes, she flirted and I won’t deny that she stirred feelings in me, which I thought were long dead. But I didn’t want to destroy the trust between us. After all, I was her tutor, her supervisor, and I couldn’t — ’

Foldvik looks at them in turn. His eyes stop at Anette. Henning can see that Foldvik is consumed by remorse.

Anette takes another step inside. She, too, is soaked to the skin. Henning wonders what made her come back. He can understand her being curious, but why drop such a bombshell?

Of course. To put things into perspective. If Ingvild had killed her husband for having had an affair with Henriette, the truth — when it came out later — would have destroyed Ingvild completely. How can you live with the knowledge that your own son killed the wrong woman and you killed your husband because he recklessly drove your son mad?

Ingvild looks like she has a puncture. Her shoulders sag, her back is hunched, her eyes are swollen. Henning looks at Anette. She is much smarter than he had assumed.

‘I’m sorry, Ingvild,’ Anette continues. ‘I never meant for this to happen. It just did. I had been working on an idea for a long time, I had written quite a good storyline, too, which I wanted Yngve to take a look at. I knew that he had helped Henriette secure an option with Spot the Difference Productions, and thought he might be able to help me as well. Alcohol was involved, I won’t deny it, but we chatted in his office, and — ’

‘Anette, don’t — ’

Yngve closes his eyes. Anette holds up her hands.

‘No, I won’t go on. I just want to apologise. For the harm I’ve caused you. If I had known what it would lead to, then — ’

She is about to complete the sentence, but breaks off. She, too, is crying now. She steps towards Ingvild, bends down and places her hand on her back. At that moment, Ingvild’s arm shoots out. Henning doesn’t see it until it is too late, but Ingvild has got her mobile out and presses it against Anette’s neck. Zzzzzzt. She gives Anette a shock which floors her. Henning is about to jump on Ingvild to prevent her from releasing more hatred, from taking it out on Anette, who lies unconscious on the grass, face down. But Ingvild holds out her hands as she gets up. She says nothing, she just looks straight ahead with that faraway expression and lets the mobile drop. It lands right next to Anette.

‘You can call the police now,’ Ingvild says to him, quietly. The look in her eyes is dull, vacant. Henning stares at her for a long time before he takes his mobile out of his wet jacket pocket, wipes the display and sees that he has a signal.

Then he calls Bjarne Brogeland.