Death In Oslo

XIII

‘There’s nothing to discuss,’ Johanne said.

‘But-’‘Stop. I warned you, Adam. I told you last night and I was sure that you understood how serious I was, but then you apparently didn’t care. And that’s not why I’m calling.’

‘You can’t just leave and take the-’

‘Adam, don’t force me to raise my voice. That will frighten Ragnhild.’

It was a lie and he knew it. He couldn’t hear anything that sounded like babbling in the background, and his daughter was never quiet unless she was asleep.

‘Have you honestly left me? For real? Have you lost your mind?’

‘Perhaps a bit.’

He thought he heard the hint of a smile, and breathed easier.

‘I’m so disappointed,’ Johanne said calmly. ‘And absolutely furious with you. But we can talk about that later. Right now, I want you to listen…’

‘I have a right to know where Ragnhild is.’

‘She’s with me and she’s fine. I cross my heart and promise that I’ll phone again later today to talk everything through. And my word is worth slightly more than yours, as we both know. But just listen to me.’

Adam clenched his jaw. He balled his fist and raised it to hit something, but all he could find was the wall. A uniformed police cadet spun round about three metres further down the corridor. Adam lowered his fist, shrugged and forced a smile.

‘Is what Wencke Bencke said on the TV true?’ Johanne asked.

‘No,’ Adam groaned. ‘Not her again. Please!’

‘Just listen to me!’

‘OK.’

‘You’re grinding your teeth.’

‘What do you want?’

‘Is it true that the security cameras show no one going in or out of the President’s room? From the time that she went to bed until they discovered that she was missing?’

‘I can’t answer that.’

‘Adam!’

‘I’m bound by confidentiality, you know that.’

‘Have you gone through the films to see what happened afterwards?’

‘I haven’t gone through anything. I’m Warren’s liaison on this case, not an investigator.’

‘Are you listening to me?’

‘Yes, but I don’t have anything to do with-’

‘When is a crime scene most chaotic, Adam?’

He bit his thumbnail. Her voice was different now. The wronged, unreasonable tone had almost disappeared. Now he heard the real Johanne, the one that never ceased to fascinate him with her Socratic way of making him see things differently, from another angle from the one he was so used to after thirty years in the force.

‘When the crime is discovered,’ he said curtly.

‘And?’

‘In the period immediately after,’ he said, uncertainly. ‘Before the area is cordoned off and all the tasks are allocated. When everything is just… chaos.’ He swallowed.

‘Exactly,’ Johanne replied in a quiet voice.

‘Shit,’ said Adam.

‘The President may not have disappeared during the night. She may have been taken later. Just after seven o’clock, when everybody already thought she was gone.’

‘But… she wasn’t there! The room was empty and there was a note from the kidnappers…’

‘Wencke Bencke knew about that too. Now the whole of Norway knows about it. What do you think the function of that note was?’

‘To tell-’

‘A message like that fools the brain into drawing conclusions,’ Johanne interrupted him. She was talking faster now. ‘It makes us believe that something has already happened. My guess is that the Secret Service guys looked very quickly around the room when they read it. It’s a big suite, Adam. They probably checked the bathroom, and maybe they opened a couple of cupboards. But the note… well, the purpose of that was to get them out of there. As quickly as possible. And if things are chaotic at an ordinary crime scene, I can only imagine what it was like at the Hotel Opera yesterday morning. With two national authorities and…’

They were both silent.

At last he could hear Ragnhild. Someone was talking to her and she was laughing. He couldn’t make out the words and it was difficult to determine the gender of the voice. It sounded coarse and husky, but didn’t necessarily sound like a man.

‘Adam?’

‘I’m still here.’

‘You have to get them to watch the tapes from the hour after the alarm was raised. I think it would probably be about fifteen or twenty minutes later.’

He didn’t answer.

‘Did you hear me?’

‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Where are you?’

‘I’ll phone you again this evening. I promise.’

Then she hung up.

Adam stood stock still for a few seconds, staring at the phone. Even his hunger wasn’t bothering him any more; he didn’t feel anything.