Cockroaches(9)

“If this is about your sister’s rape case, I’m afraid I have to say no, Harry. The case was closed, once and for all, remember?”

“I remember, boss. I remember the report in which it was stated she had Down’s syndrome and that therefore it was not inconceivable that she’d made up the rape to hide the fact that she’d become pregnant by a casual acquaintance. Yes, indeed, I do remember.”

“There was no concrete—”

“She wasn’t hiding anything. Jesus Christ, man, I went to her flat in Sogn and in the bathroom I saw her bra in the laundry basket, drenched with blood. He had threatened to cut off her nipples. She was terrified. She thinks everyone is like she is, and when this guy dressed in a suit bought her a meal and asked if she fancied seeing a film in his hotel room she just thought he was being nice. And even if she had remembered the room number, it would have been hoovered, cleaned and the bed changed more than twenty times since she was raped. There wouldn’t be much concrete evidence.”

“No one remembered any bloodstained sheets—”

“I’ve worked in hotels, Møller. You’d be surprised how many bloodstained sheets you change over a couple of weeks. People bleed all the bloody time.”

Møller vigorously shook his head. “Sorry. You had your chance to prove it, Harry.”

“It wasn’t enough, boss. It wasn’t enough.”

“It’s never enough. But you have to draw a line somewhere. With our resources—”

“Well, give me a free hand. For a month.”

Møller suddenly raised his head with one eye closed. Harry knew he’d been rumbled.

“You cunning bastard. You’ve wanted the job all the time, haven’t you? You just had to do a bit of bartering first.”

Harry stuck out his lower lip and waggled his head from side to side. Møller looked out of the window. Then he sighed.

“OK, Harry. I’ll see what I can do. But if you mess up I’ll have to make a couple of decisions I know some people on the force think I should have made a long time ago. And you know what that means, don’t you?”

“Boot up the arse, boss,” Harry smiled. “What’s the job?”

“I hope your summer suit is dry-cleaned and you can remember where you last put your passport. Your plane goes in twelve hours to a faraway destination.”

“The further the better, PAS.”


Harry was sitting on a chair by the door in the cramped flat in Sogn. His sister was sitting by the window watching the snowflakes in the light from the street lamp below. She sniffed a couple of times. Since she had her back to him Harry couldn’t see whether it was because of a cold or his imminent departure. She had lived in sheltered housing for two years now and was managing well under the circumstances. After the rape and the abortion Harry had taken along some clothes and a toilet bag and moved in, but it wasn’t long before she told him enough was enough. She was a big girl now.

“I’ll be back soon, Sis.”

“When?”

She was sitting so close to the window that condensation formed into a rose whenever she spoke.

Harry sat behind her and placed a hand on her back. He could feel from the gentle tremble that she was about to cry.

“When I’ve caught the baddies I’ll be straight back home.”

“Is it …?”

“No, it’s not him. I’ll catch him afterward. Have you talked to Dad today?”

She shook her head. He sighed.

“If he doesn’t ring I want you to ring him. Can you do that for me, Sis?”

“Pappa never says anything,” she whispered.

“Pappa’s sad because Mamma died, Sis.”

“But it’s so long ago.”

“That’s why it’s time we got him talking again, Sis, and you’ll have to help me. Will you do that? Will you do that, Sis?”

She turned without a word, put her arms around him and buried her head in his neck.

He stroked her hair and could feel his shirt getting wet.


The suitcase was packed. Harry had rung Ståle Aune and told him he was flying to Bangkok on business. He hadn’t had a lot to say and Harry didn’t quite know why he had rung him. Perhaps because it was good to tell someone who might wonder where he was? Harry didn’t think it was a great idea to ring the bar staff at Schrøder’s.

“Take the vitamin B shots I gave you,” Aune said.

“Why’s that?”

“Makes life easier if you want to be sober. New environment, Harry. It could be a good start, you know.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Thinking’s not enough, Harry.”