The Leopard(40)

‘Correct,’ Harry smiled. ‘And you’re one of the few people I can trust to keep your mouth shut. And if you’re not a genius, you’re definitely smarter than the average detective.’

‘Three smashed nicotine-stained fingers up your tiny little arsehole.’

‘No one can find out what we’re up to. But I promise you we’re the Blues Brothers here.’

‘On a mission from God?’ she quoted.

‘I’ve written the password on the back of the SIM card inside the dongle.’

‘What makes you think I know how to use the search engines?’

‘It’s like googling. Even I worked that out when I was at POT.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘After all, the engines were created for the police.’

She released a deep sigh.

‘Thank you,’ Harry said.

‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘When can you have something for me, do you reckon?’

‘Fuck you!’ She banged the table with her hand. Harry noticed a nurse glance in their direction. Harry held Katrine’s wild stare. Waited.

‘I don’t know,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t think I should be sitting in the Hobbies Room using illegal search engines in broad daylight, if I can put it like that.’

Harry got up. ‘OK, I’ll contact you in three days.’

‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’

‘What?’

‘To tell me what’s in it for me?’

‘Well,’ Harry said, buttoning up his coat, ‘now I know what you want.’

‘What I want . . .’ The surprise on her face gave way to amazement as the meaning dawned on her, and she shouted after Harry, who was already on his way to the door: ‘You cheeky bastard! And presumptuous with it!’

Harry got into the taxi, said ‘Airport’, removed his mobile phone and saw three missed calls from one of the only two numbers he had in his contacts. Good, that meant they had something.

He called back.

‘Lake Lyseren,’ Kaja said. ‘Rope-making business there. Closed down fifteen years ago. The County Officer responsible for Ytre Enebakk can show us the place this afternoon. He had a couple of persistant criminals in the area, but small beer: break-ins and car theft. Plus one who had done time for beating up his wife. He’s sent us a list of men, though, and I’m going to run a check with Criminal Records right now.’

‘Good. Pick me up from Gardemoen on the way to Lyseren.’

‘It’s not on the way.’

‘You’re right. Pick me up anyway.’





19


The White Bride


DESPITE THE SLOW SPEED, BJØRN HOLM’S VOLVO AMAZON was rolling and pitching on the narrow road that snaked between Østfold’s meadows and fields.

Harry was asleep on the back seat.

‘So no sex offenders around Lake Lyseren,’ Bjørn said.

‘None that have been caught,’ Kaja corrected. ‘Didn’t you see the survey in VG? One in twenty say they have committed what might be termed sexual abuse.’

‘Do people really answer that sort of questionnaire honestly? If I’d pushed a girl too far I think my brain would’ve goddam rationalised it away afterwards.’

‘Is that what you did?’

‘Me?’ Bjørn swung out and overtook a tractor. ‘Nope. I’m one of the nineteen. Ytre Enebakk. Christ, what’s the name of that comic who hails from these parts? The bumpkin with the cracked glasses and moped. What’s his face from Ytre Enebakk. Hilarious parody.’

Kaja shrugged. Bjørn looked into the mirror, but found himself looking down Harry’s open mouth.

The County Officer for Ytre Enebakk was standing by the treatment plant on the Vøyentangen peninisula waiting for them as arranged. They parked, he introduced himself as Skai – the Norwegian name for the synthetic leather that Bjørn Holm seemed to hold in such high regard – and they accompanied him to a jetty where a dozen boats bobbed up and down in the calm waters.

‘Early to have boats in the lake, isn’t it?’ Kaja said.

‘There hasn’t been any ice this year, won’t be either,’ the officer said. ‘First time since I was born.’

They stepped into a broad, flat-bottomed boat, Bjørn with greater caution than the others.

‘It’s green here,’ Kaja said as the officer pushed off from the jetty with a pole.

‘Yes,’ he said, peering down into the water and pulling the cord to start the engine. ‘The ropery is over there, on the deep side. There’s a path, but the terrain is so steep that it’s best to go by boat.’ He flicked the handle on the side of the engine forwards. A bird of indeterminate species took off from a tree inside the bare forest and shrieked a warning.