Nemesis(136)

Aune nodded. 'I am aware of this phenomenon.'





'When I showed her these pictures she recognised the people.'





'Oh?' Aune raised an eyebrow. 'Tell me more.'





Harry pointed. 'The one on the left is Arne Albu, the one in the middle is me and the last is Alf Gunnerud.'





Aune squinted, straightened his glasses and tried looking at the pictures from a variety of distances. 'Interesting,' he mumbled. 'Extremely interesting. I can only see the shapes of heads.'





'I only wanted to know if you, as an expert witness, can vouchsafe that this kind of recognition is possible. It would help us to make further links between Gunnerud and Anna.'





Aune waved his hand. 'If what you say about frřken Lřnn is true, she could have recognised a face with minimal information.'





Outside again, Aune said that he would be keen to meet this Beate Lřnn professionally. 'She is a detective, I take it?'





'In the Robberies Unit. I worked with her on the Expeditor case.'





'Oh, yes. How's it going?'





'Well, there are not many leads. They had been expecting him to strike again soon, but nothing has happened. Odd, actually.'





In Bogstadveien, Harry noticed the first snowflakes swirling in the wind.





* * *





'Winter!' Ali shouted across the street to Harry, pointing up at the sky. He said something in Urdu to his brother, who immediately took over the job of carrying the fruit crates back inside the shop. Then Ali padded across the road to Harry. 'Isn't it wonderful it's over?' He smiled.





'Yes, it is,' Harry said.





'Autumn's bloody awful. Finally, a bit of snow.'





'Oh, yes. I thought you meant the case.'





'Of the laptop in your storeroom? Is it over?'





'Hasn't anyone told you? They've found the man who put it there.'





'Aha. That must be why my wife was told I didn't need to go to the police station for questioning today after all. What was it about, anyway?'





'To cut a long story short, a guy was trying to make out I was involved in a serious crime. Invite me to a meal one day and I'll give you all the details.'





'I've already invited you, Harry!'





'You didn't say when.'





Ali rolled his eyes. 'Why do you have to have a date and a time before you dare to drop by? Knock on the door and I'll open up. We've always got food.'





'Thanks, Ali. I'll knock loud and clear.' Harry opened the door.





'Did you find out who the lady was? Was she an assistant?'





'What do you mean?'





'The mysterious lady I saw in front of the cellar door that day. I told Tom somebody-or-other about it.'





Harry stood with his hand on the door handle. 'Exactly what did you say to him, Ali?'





'He asked if I had seen anything unusual in or around the cellar and then I remembered I'd seen the back of a lady I didn't recognise by the cellar door as I came in the building. I remembered because I was going to ask who she was, but then I heard the lock click so I assumed if she had a key, she had to be OK.'





'When was this and what did she look like?'





Ali opened his palms in apology. 'I was busy and only glimpsed her back. Three weeks ago? Five weeks? Blonde hair? Dark hair? No idea.'





'But you're sure it was a woman?'





'I must have thought it was a woman, anyway.'





'Alf Gunnerud was medium height, narrow-shouldered with dark, shoulder-length hair. Is that what made you think it was a woman?'





Ali pondered. 'Yes, it might have been. And it could also have been fru Melkersen's daughter visiting. For instance.'





'Bye, Ali.'





Harry decided to take a quick shower before changing and going to see Rakel and Oleg, who had invited him to pancakes and Tetris. On their return from Moscow, Rakel had brought back an attractive chess set with carved pieces and a board made of wood and mother-of-pearl. Unfortunately, Rakel hadn't liked the Namco G-Con 45 gun Harry had bought for Oleg and had immediately confiscated it. She had explained that she had told Oleg many times that he was not to play with firearms until he was twelve, at least. Harry and Oleg had both rather shamefacedly accepted this without any discussion. But they knew Rakel would take advantage of the opportunity to go jogging while Harry looked after Oleg. And Oleg had whispered to Harry that he knew where she had hidden the Namco G-Con 45 gun.





The burning-hot jets of water drove the cold out of his body as he tried to forget what Ali had said. There would always be room for doubts in any case, however cut and dried it seemed. And Harry was a born doubter. At some point, though, you had to have some faith, if life was to have any shape or make sense.





He dried himself down, shaved and put on a clean shirt. Checked himself over in the mirror and grinned. Oleg had said he had yellow teeth, and Rakel had laughed a bit too loudly. In the mirror he saw the printout of the first e-mail from S2MN pinned to the opposite wall. Tomorrow he would take it down and put up the photograph of Sis and himself. Tomorrow. He studied the e-mail in the mirror. Strange he hadn't realised the evening he had been standing in front of the mirror and felt something was missing. Harry and his little sister. Must have been because when you see something so often you tend to develop a blindness to it. Blind to it. He scrutinised the e-mail in the mirror. Then he ordered a taxi, put on his shoes and waited. Looked at his watch. The taxi must have arrived by now. Should get going. He realised he had picked up the receiver again and was dialling a number.