Lethal Investments

29

‘The racket she heard must have been Sigurd Klavestad falling down the stairs,’ Gunnarstranda said to Frank in the car afterwards.

He nodded without taking his eyes off the road.

‘The murderer must have gone back up,’ the inspector continued. ‘Cleaned off the blood in the bathroom. Gone into the sitting room, burned his outdoor clothes, which were stained with blood, to remove any evidence, put on some of Sigurd’s clothes and left.’

‘So it was the murderer she saw leaving, not Sigurd?’

‘I presume so.’

‘How did the bastard lure the victim on to the stairs?’

‘Sigurd must have been woken up. The telephone was used as a warning with the girl. Presumably the murderer rings and warns them before coming. At any rate, I doubt he stands ding-a-linging the doorbell for hours. It would be too risky. But after phoning he rang the bell. Klavestad opened up, fine, but it’s a job to know what happened afterwards.’

‘The murderer may have hidden on the stairs.’

‘Or he was someone Klavestad had no reason to fear,’ Gunnarstranda suggested.

‘An execution.’

‘Right!’

The police inspector waved his hand in annoyance.

‘But why on the stairs?’

Gunnarstranda stared out of the window, rapt in thought. ‘Suggests nerves. It would have been safer inside the flat.’

Frank couldn’t make that add up. ‘Whoever did this cannot be nervous!’

‘That’s exactly what he was,’ Gunnarstranda objected calmly. ‘Scared shitless. The fact that the murder took place at all suggests the murderer knows he has to be quick. The whole sequence of events reeks of panic.’

Frank said nothing.

‘For the time being,’ Gunnarstranda broke the silence. ‘I’m keen to find out what the peeping tom was doing last night. So, let’s take a drive down there.’