Two police patrol cars with rotating blue lights stood outside the branch of Den norske Bank. Harry flashed his ID to one of the uniformed officers, ducked under the police tape and went to the entrance where Weber was talking to one of his men from Krimteknisk, the forensics department.
'Good afternoon, Inspector,' Weber said, emphasising the 'afternoon'. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Harry's shiner. 'Missus started beating you?'
Harry couldn't come up with any repartee, so he flipped a cigarette out of the packet instead: 'What have we got here then?'
'Masked man with an AG3.'
'And the bird has flown?'
'Very much flown.'
'Anyone talked to witnesses?'
'Yes, indeed. Li and Li are busy down at HQ.'
'Any details about what happened yet?'
'The robber gave the female branch manager twenty-five seconds to unlock the ATM while he held the gun to the head of one of the women behind the counter.'
'And he made her do the talking?'
'Yup. And when he came into the bank, he used the same English words.'
'This is a hold-up. Nobody move!' a voice behind them said, followed by a short, staccato laugh. 'So nice you were able to come, Hole. Oh dear, slipped in the bath?'
Harry lit his cigarette with one hand while passing the pack to Ivarsson, who shook his head. 'Filthy habit, Hole.'
'You're right.' Harry put the pack of Camel in his inside pocket. 'You should never offer your cigarettes but assume that a gentleman buys his own. Benjamin Franklin.'
'Really?' Ivarsson said, ignoring Weber's grin. 'You're very knowledgeable, Hole. Perhaps you know our bank robber has struck again–just as we said he would?'
'How do you know it was him?'
'As you've probably heard, it's a carbon copy of the Nordea robbery in Bogstadveien.'
'Oh?' Harry said, inhaling deeply. 'Where's the body?'
Ivarsson and Harry eyeballed each other. The reptilian teeth glinted. Weber interposed: 'The branch manager was fast. She emptied the cash machine in twenty-three seconds.'
'No murder victims,' Ivarsson said. 'Disappointed?'
'No,' Harry said, releasing the smoke through his nostrils. A gust of wind dispersed the smoke. But the fog in his head refused to let go.
* * *
Halvorsen looked up from Silvia as the door opened.
'Can you fix me a high-octane espresso pronto?' Harry said, collapsing in his office chair.
'Good morning to you, too,' Halvorsen said. 'You look bloody awful.'
Harry put his face in his hands: 'I can't remember diddly-squat about what happened last night. I have no idea what I was drinking, but I'll never let a drop pass my lips ever again.'
He peeped out between his fingers and saw his colleague with a deep frown of concern etched in his brow.
'Relax, Halvorsen, it was just one of those things. I'm as sober as this desk now.'
'What happened?'
Harry gave a hollow laugh. 'Stomach contents suggest I had dinner with an old friend. I've rung several times to have that confirmed, but she won't answer.'
'She?'
'Yes, she.'
'Not a very clever policeman, then, eh?' Halvorsen said circumspectly.
'You concentrate on the coffee,' Harry growled. 'An old flame, that was all. Quite innocent.'
'How do you know if you can't remember anything?'
Harry rubbed the palm of his hand over his unshaven chin, reflecting on what Aune had said about drugs simply emphasising latent tendencies. He didn't know if he found that reassuring. Isolated details were beginning to emerge. A black dress. Anna had been wearing a black dress. And he was lying on the stairs. And a woman helped him up. With half a face. Like one of Anna's portraits.
'I always have blackouts,' Harry said. 'This is no worse than any of the others.'
'And your eye?'
'Probably bumped into a kitchen cupboard when I came home or some such thing.'
'I don't want to worry you, Harry, but it looks like something more serious than a kitchen cupboard.'
'Well,' Harry said, taking the cup of coffee with both hands. 'Do I look bothered? The times I ended up in a drunken free-for-all, it was with people I didn't like when I was sober, either.'
'Message from Mřller, incidentally. He asked me to tell you it was fine, but didn't say what.'
Harry rolled the espresso round in his mouth before swallowing it. 'You'll find out, Halvorsen, you'll find out.'
* * *
The bank robbery was discussed in detail at the briefing by the investigation team at Police HQ that afternoon. Didrik Gudmundson informed them that three minutes passed from the moment the alarm sounded until the police appeared, but by then the robber had already fled the crime scene. In addition to surrounding and blocking off the closest streets immediately with patrol cars, within the subsequent ten minutes they had set up an outer cordon covering the main traffic arteries: the E18 by Fornebu, Ring 3 by Ullevĺl, Trondheimsveien by Aker hospital, Griniveien above Bćrum and the intersection by Carl Berners plass. 'I wish we could call this an iron cordon, but you know what it's like with staffing nowadays.'