The Redbreast

56

Jens Bjelkes Gate. 16 March 2000.

'Hi, this is Ellen and Helge's answerphone. Please leave a message.'

'I went for a walk to Ryktet today. It's a bit like Schroder's. At least they don't give you a funny look when you order a Pils for breakfast. I sat down at a table with an old man and after a struggle managed to get some sort of conversation off the ground. I asked him what he had against Even Juul. He gave me a long, searching look; it was obvious he didn't recognise me from the previous time I had been there. But after buying him a beer I got the whole story. The old boy had fought at the Eastern Front-I had already guessed that-and he knew Juul's wife, Signe, from when she was a nurse there. She had volunteered because she was engaged to one of the soldiers in the Norge regiment. Juul clapped eyes on her when she was found guilty of treason in 1945. She was given two years, but Juul's father, who had a high position in the Socialist Party, arranged for her to be released after only a few months. When I asked the old boy why that bothered him so much, he mumbled that Juul wasn't the saint he appeared to be. That was precisely the word he used-"saint". He said that Juul was like all the other historians-he wrote myths about Norway during the war in the way the victors wanted them presented. The man couldn't remember the name of her first fiance, only that he had been a kind of hero to the others in the regiment.

'Afterwards I went to work. Kurt Meirik dropped by to see me. He didn't say anything. I called Bjarne Moller, and he informed me that there were thirty-four names on the list I had requested. Are men with no hair more prone to violence, I wonder? Anyway, Moller has put an officer on the case to ring round and check the alibis to get the number down. I can see from the preliminary report that Tom Waaler drove you home and that when he dropped you off at 22.15 you were in a calm frame of mind. He also testified that you had talked about trivialities. Nevertheless, when you left me a message, at 22.16 according to Telenor-in other words as soon as you had got in the door-you were obviously pretty excited that you were on the track of something. I think that's odd. Bjarne Moller didn't think so. Perhaps it's just me.

'Get in touch with me soon, Ellen.'