Death By Water (42 page)

T
HE TIME WAS
6.42 when Viken called. Roar Horvath picked up the remote and muted the sound on the TV.

– A body was found in the fjord by Aker Brygge this morning, said the detective chief inspector with no preamble.

– Saw that on the net, Roar replied. – Relevant for us?

– Jim Harris. Skewered through the throat with a sharp object. Probably a screwdriver. The carotid artery completely severed. Dead before he was dumped in the water.

Roar was on his feet, standing in the middle of the room. – When?

– Last night. Masses of blood on the quayside, right next to Tjuvholmen. Must have happened there.

– Witnesses?

– Four or five seagulls. None of them willing to say anything.

Roar glanced at the TV screen, a repeat of a La Liga match. – The guy had a drug debt.

– This isn’t drug related, Viken asserted, and Roar too had immediately seen that it didn’t fit the pattern.

The detective chief inspector’s voice took on an unpleasant undertone as he continued: – Plåterud has been kind enough to let us have a résumé each time she’s had a conversation with Liss Bjerke. It’s time we resumed control of the interviewing of central witnesses. What’s your opinion?

– Oh absolutely, Roar coughed. Jennifer had called him not more than half an hour ago, she was coming out to see him later that evening. – It isn’t Plåterud’s job to carry out interviews, he agreed, and cleared his throat again. – I’ll get in touch with her.

– Get in touch with who?

– Liss Bjerke.

– I’ve done that ages ago. Have you checked her out against the PNC database?

– No, Roar had to confess. Liss Bjerke had been in Amsterdam when her sister went missing, and it was hard to see how she could be involved. All the same, he should have checked her against the list of offenders. It was a question of the reliability of an important witness.

– I thought not, Viken observed. – The girl has eight cases outstanding against her.

– Christ.

– Assaulting the police in the course of illegal demonstrations. Hauled in a number of times.

Roar thought about it and swallowed. – Then we’ve got a very good excuse for bringing her in.

Viken said: – We’ll keep it in reserve in case we need it. It looks as though I’m going to be able to get her to come in more or less voluntarily. She demands to speak to a female investigator.

– Are we going to let ourselves be dictated to by a stroppy girl?

Viken snorted at the other end. – This is all about one thing.

– Of course, Roar noted. – Results.

He turned off the TV and made his way out into the hallway, took his shoes out of the box room.

– I’ve got your memo about Pål Øvreby here in front of me, Viken continued.

Roar had done a thorough job on it. The day after he had interviewed the psychologist who shared the waiting room with Mailin Bjerke, he had called back and asked a series of control questions. The guy insisted that he had not seen hide nor hair of Mailin on Thursday 11 December. On one point, however, he did change his statement. On thinking about it, he recalled that he had stopped as he passed her car parked on Welhavens Street. He bent down to see if Mailin was inside, apparently because there was something he wanted to ask her. What it was he had long since forgotten. Roar had wanted to know if there was a parking ticket in the window, but the psychologist was unable to help him there.

– Any new information? he asked now.

– I received a letter this afternoon, the detective chief inspector grunted. – I’ve put a copy on your desk. You’d better take a look at it next time you’re down here.

– Is it about Øvreby?

– You might say that. A tip-off that the guy is involved big-time in a social security scam. Anonymous sender.

Roar got his other shoe on.

– Apparently something that’s been going on a long time, Viken added. – The letter concludes as follows:
Mailin Bjerke knew what was taking place in the office next door.

Ro
AR SWUNG INTO
the Oslo police station garage at 7.15. As he turned off the engine, his phone rang.

– Awake already? said Jennifer, obviously trying to sound surprised. – And here’s me ringing to wake you up.

– Been up for hours, he shot back at her. – Showered, eaten, done some work. Even though I had female company until well past midnight. Just couldn’t get her to leave.

– Oh that’s too bad. And she probably forgot to pull the blanket over you before she left.

He could see her smiling, the face breaking up into tiny wrinkles.

– By the way, I’ve just been talking to Viken, she said. – I told him about a test finding that’s come in that might interest you too.

She always sounded like a proud little girl when she had something important to relate.

– Are you calling to tease me, or are you actually going to tell me what it is?

She laughed. – I’m sure you’ll hear it from the man himself, she said. – But then I felt like talking to you. Two birds with one stone. It’s about the hairs we found on Mailin Bjerke. We sent them to a specialist lab in Austria.

Seconds ticked by in silence.

– Would you please get to the point, Jenny? I’ve got a ton of documents to get through before the morning briefing.

– The good news is that they’ve managed to get some DNA from them, even though the roots are missing.

– Not bad. You’ll be sending us a profile?

– And then there’s the bad news. All we’ve got is mitochondrial DNA.

– Meaning what?

– If we’re lucky, we might find a DNA type that occurs in a relatively small minority of the population.

A female member of the team hurried past Roar’s car and waved to him.

Jennifer said: – Anything new about Mailin Bjerke’s father?

– You mean the stepfather?

– The biological father. The one neither of them has seen for the past twenty years.

– We’re still trying to get hold of him in Canada, Roar confided. – For a number of reasons. Why do you ask?

– Ragnhild Bjerke came to my office yesterday.

– She did? Why didn’t you tell us before?

Jennifer hesitated. – It was a sort of medical consultation. I’m not really sure how much I can reveal. There’s something about this father, but …

There was a knock on the car window. Viken was standing outside. Roar jumped, broke the connection and tossed the phone on to the passenger seat. He wound down the window.

– Meeting’s put back until ten, the detective chief inspector informed him, and then peered quizzically at him.

A few ancient images suddenly flashed through Roar’s mind: his father bursting in through the bedroom door, shouting at him to get out of bed. Standing there naked, with Sara cowering under the duvet. Ordered straight into the shower, while she was sent home.

He didn’t take in everything Viken said, something about him being on his way to Aker Brygge to take a look at the crime scene there with someone from the forensics unit.

– We’ve had some provisional results from those hair samples, Viken went on.

– So I heard.

The detective chief inspector’s eyebrows wriggled into each other. – You heard already? From whom?

Roar could have beaten his head against the steering wheel. Or started the engine and driven off. He controlled himself and managed to reply. – Called Flatland. On a completely unrelated matter as it happens.

He picked up his mobile and shoulder bag and opened the car door. – At best we’re talking about a fairly uncommon type of DNA.

He climbed out of the car, stood a good half a head taller than Viken.

– Have you seen
VG
? The detective chief inspector pulled a newspaper from his inside pocket, spread it open on the roof of the car.

Roar read:
Berger to reveal killer tonight on
Taboo
?
– Well I fucking never.

– My sentiments exactly, said Viken. – Since my interview with him yesterday evening, our friend has used his time well.

He pointed to something underlined with a pen:
Berger has been interviewed three times because he had an appointment with Mailin Bjerke on the evening she went missing. He is not especially impressed by the efforts of the police in the case. ‘The gang of detectives they’ve got working on this case makes the police station look like a sheltered workplace. They’re obsessed with trivialities and fail to pick up on the most obvious connections.’ ‘Are you saying that you have information that is important to the case?’ Berger laughs heartily. ‘If I did then naturally I wouldn’t let
VG
have it. I’ve got my own audience to think about.’ Berger refuses to say anything definite about his inside knowledge of the case, but he drops a heavy hint that he will be revealing what he knows in this evening’s edition of
Taboo
on Channel Six. The subject of which is? Precisely – death.

Roar shook his head. – Surely we can’t sit around waiting for a TV show. He’s playing with us.

Viken shoved the newspaper back into his coat pocket. – The guy is due on TV in a few hours’ time. Doesn’t he have an audience of seven hundred thousand? Nine hundred thousand? If we bring him in yet again without having anything new, what do you think that’ll do to his viewing figures?

It wasn’t necessary for Roar to answer. – What did you get out of the interview yesterday?

– Berger claims he walked from Welhavens Street up to the studio at Nydalen.

– In that case it should be easy to find witnesses. The man is not exactly invisible.

– He says he went by the footpath along Aker river and took plenty of time. Apparently he had received a piece of news earlier that day he needed to think about.

– And that was?

– Nothing that’s any of our business, according to him.

A
BOUT HALFWAY THROUGH
the therapy session, the door was slung wide open. Pål stood there glaring furiously at her. His eyes were red rimmed, his face grimy and unshaven. He looked as though he hadn’t slept for several days.

– Need to talk to you.

Torunn smiled apologetically at the young girl sitting in the chair opposite her. To Pål she said: – I’ll be finished in half an hour. Roughly. I’ll come up to your office.

– I need to talk to you
now.

She could hear that he was exerting himself not to shout. – So sorry, she said to the patient as she stood up. – I’ll be right back.

Out in the waiting room, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along. She tried to free herself.

– Don’t you touch me, she said as coolly as she could.

He let go of her and led the way into the common room. She closed the door behind them, knew she would have to counter his anger with an anger of her own that was even greater.

– What do you mean by barging in when I’m sitting there with a patient? I’ve had enough of this crap of yours.

He took a step towards her. – Are you trying to destroy me? he hissed.

– I couldn’t be bothered to waste my time. You’re doing fine by yourself.

– Have you snitched on me so that you’ll get custody of Oda?

She’d been thinking about what to say when this came up. But his anger was unexpectedly strong.

– No idea what you’re talking about, she said dismissively. – What do you mean by
snitched
?

He looked her over, scowling. Somewhere in his eyes she saw a hint of doubt.

– Are you trying to say you don’t know anything about it? he growled.

– Know anything about what? Would you please tell me what on earth you’re talking about.

He straightened up, looked towards the door. – I’ve been talking to the police all morning.

– Interviewed?

She could hear how persuasive her surprise sounded.

– If you’re lying to me … he began, but then had to start again. – If I find out it was you who went to the police …

She could see that he was serious. She had known him for eight years. They had lived together for four of them. She had long ago realised how weak he was, and let him know that she knew. But he was in a corner now. He was about to lose everything, and she saw a new side of him. She didn’t doubt that he could turn dangerous if the pressure got any higher.

– Sit down, she said decisively. He slumped into a chair. – Just give me a couple of minutes to finish with this patient.

After getting rid of the young girl by saying something serious had happened, Torunn remained standing at the window. During every second that had passed since receiving the letter from Pål’s solicitor, she had felt this intense hate towards him. He had made good his threat and started a process aimed at getting custody of Oda. She had understood that he was preparing to go the whole way, have her suitability as a parent evaluated by an expert, and use all Oda’s small accidents against her. Dig up dirt that wasn’t there. It was stupid of him. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to win the war he had started. And she was tactically a great deal smarter than he was.

When she returned to the common room, he was still sitting there, motionless and staring at the table. She had considered rebuking him for having interrupted a session with a patient but saw now that it wasn’t necessary. She sat down on the other side of the table and leaned towards him.

– If you want my help, first you have to tell me.

He glanced up at her. The look in his eyes was very different now. Reminded her of something that had been there during the early days, and for a second she felt pity for him. It surprised her, because the hatred was still there, boiling inside her.

– Someone has reported me for social security fraud, he said, and from the meekness in his voice she could tell he had already completely abandoned any notion that she was involved.

– I told you that this business with the social security statements is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done, she said to him, more comforting than accusing.