Phantom(55)

Two minutes later we had agreed a time and place for this meeting.

‘The press writes enough about politicians’ private lives as it is,’ the old boy said. ‘Let’s talk about a business proposal instead, fru Skøyen. A good proposal may, unlike blackmail, afford advantages to both parties. Agreed?’

She frowned. The old boy beamed. ‘By business proposal I don’t mean of course that money is involved. Even though this farm probably doesn’t run itself. That would be corruption. What I’m offering you is a purely political transaction. Covert, I’ll grant you that, but this is something practised every day at City Hall. And it is in the people’s best interests, isn’t it?’

Skøyen nodded again, on her guard.

‘This deal will have to stay between you and us, fru Skøyen. It will primarily benefit the town, although if you have political ambition, I can see a possible advantage for you personally. Given that is the case, it will of course make the path to a leading chair at City Hall much shorter. Never mind a role in national politics.’

Her coffee cup had stopped halfway to her mouth.

‘I haven’t even considered asking you to do something unethical, fru Skøyen. I just want to illustrate where we have common interests and then leave it to you to do what I think is right.’

‘I do what you think is right?’

‘The City Council is in a tough spot. Even before last month’s unfortunate developments, the steering committee’s aim was to get Oslo off the list of Europe’s worst towns for heroin use. You were to reduce drugs turnover, addiction among young people and not least the number of overdoses. Right now nothing seems more unlikely. Isn’t that right, fru Skøyen?’

She didn’t answer.

‘What’s needed is a hero, or a heroine, to tidy the mess from the bottom upwards.’

She nodded slowly.

‘What she has to do is to clear up the gangs and the cartels.’

Isabelle snorted. ‘Thanks, but that’s been tried in every town in Europe. New gangs spring up again like weeds. Where there’s demand there will always be new suppliers.’

‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘Just like weeds. I see you have a field of strawberries, fru Skøyen. Do you use a mulch?’

‘Yes, strawberry clover.’

‘I can offer you a mulch,’ the old boy said. ‘Strawberry clover wearing Arsenal shirts.’

She looked at him. I could see her greedy brain working at maximum revs. The old boy looked pleased.

‘Mulch, my dear Gusto,’ he said, taking a swig of coffee, ‘is a weed you plant and allow to grow unhindered to prevent other weeds from appearing. Because strawberry clover is a lesser evil than the alternatives. Do you understand?’

‘I think so,’ I said. ‘Where weeds will grow anyhow it’s a good idea to plant a weed that doesn’t destroy the strawberries.’

‘Exactly. And in this little analogy the City Council’s vision of a cleaner Oslo is the strawberries, and all the gangs selling dangerous heroin and creating anarchy on the streets are the weeds. While we and violin are the mulch.’

‘And so?’

‘And so you first have to do the weeding. And then you can leave the strawberry clover in peace.’

‘And what is it that is actually so much better for the strawberries?’ she asked.

‘We don’t shoot anyone. We operate discreetly. We sell a drug that does not end in overdoses. With a monopoly in the strawberry field we can raise the prices so high that there are fewer and fewer young people recruited. Without our total profit going down, it has to be admitted. Fewer users and fewer sellers. Junkies will no longer fill the parks and our city-centre streets. In brief, Oslo will be a delight to behold for tourists, politicians and voters.’

‘I’m not on the Social Services Committee.’

‘Not yet, fru Skøyen. But then weeding is not for committees. For that they have a secretary. To make all the small, daily decisions which in their entirety constitute the real action taken. Naturally you follow the council’s adopted policies, but you are the person who has daily contact with the police, who discusses their activities and ventures in Kvadraturen for example. You will of course have to define your role a bit more, but you seem to have a certain talent for that. A little interview about drug policies in Oslo here, a statement about drug overdoses there. So that when success is a fact the press and your party colleagues will know who is the brain behind –’ he put on his Komodo dragon grin – ‘the market’s proud winner of this year’s biggest strawberries.’