The Leopard(91)

‘Does the we mean what I think it does?’

‘Yes.’

Harry sighed. ‘You realise the risks of joining me in this? Even if I’m right about Leike, there’s no guarantee that this arrest and a successful prosecution of the case are enough to tip the balance of power in Hagen’s favour. And then you’ll be in the doghouse.’

‘What about you?’ She leaned across the desk. Her tiny piranha teeth glistened. ‘Why do you think it’s worth the risk?’

‘I’m a washed-up cop with little to lose, Kaja. For me, it’s this or nothing. I can’t do Narc or Sexual Offences, and Kripos will never make me an offer. But for you personally this is probably a poor decision.’

‘My decisions usually are,’ she said, serious now.

‘Good,’ Harry said, standing up. ‘I’ll go and get the solicitor. Don’t run away.’

‘I’ll be here, Harry.’

Harry pivoted straight into the face of a man who had clearly been standing in the doorway for some time.

‘Sorry,’ the man said with a broad smile. ‘I’d just like to borrow the lady for a while.’

He nodded towards Kaja, laughter dancing in his eyes.

‘Be my guest,’ Harry said, giving the man his abbreviated form of a smile, and strode off down the corridor.

‘Aslak Krongli,’ Kaja said. ‘What brings a country boy to the big bad city?’

‘The usual, I suppose,’ said the officer from Ustaoset.

‘Excitement, neon lights and the buzz of the crowd?’

Aslak smiled. ‘Work. And a woman. Can I buy you a cup of coffee?’

‘Not right now,’ Kaja said. ‘Things are happening, so I have to hold the fort. But I’d be happy to buy you a cup in the canteen. It’s on the top floor. If you go ahead, that’ll give me time to make a phone call.’

He gave her a thumbs up and was gone.

Kaja closed her eyes and drew in a long, quivering breath.

The police solicitor’s office was on the sixth floor, so Harry didn’t have far to walk. The solicitor, a young woman who had obviously been taken on since Harry last visited the office, peered over her glasses as he stepped in.

‘Need a blue chit,’ Harry said.

‘And you would be?’

‘Harry Hole, Inspector.’

He presented his ID card even though he could see from her somewhat frenetic reaction that she had heard of him. He could just imagine what, and decided not to go there. For her part, she noted down his name on the search and arrest warrant and scrutinised his card with exaggerated squints, as though the spelling were extremely complicated.

‘Two crosses?’ she asked.

‘Fine,’ Harry said.

She put a cross against ‘arrest’ and ‘search’ and leaned back in her chair in a way that Harry bet was a copy of the you’ve-got-thirty-seconds-to-persuade-me pose she had seen more seasoned solicitors adopt.

Harry knew from experience that the first argument was the weighty one – that was when solicitors made up their minds – so he started with the call Leike made to Elias Skog two days before the murder. This despite Leike’s assertions when talking to Harry that he didn’t know Skog and hadn’t spoken to him at the cabin. Argument number two was the assault conviction which Leike admitted was attempted murder, and Harry could already see that the blue chit was in the bag. So he spiced up proceedings with the coincidences of the Congo and Lake Lyseren, without entering into too much detail.

She removed her glasses.

‘Basically, I’m sympathetic,’ she said. ‘However, I need to give the matter a little more thought.’

Harry cursed inwardly. A more experienced solicitor would have given him the warrant there and then, but she was so green she didn’t dare without consulting one of the others. There should have been an ‘in training’ sign on her door, so that he could have gone to one of the others. Now it was too late.

‘It’s urgent,’ Harry said.

‘Why’s that?’

She had him there. Harry made an airy gesture with his hand, the kind that is supposed to say everything, but says nothing.

‘I’ll make a decision straight after lunch . . .’ She pointedly peered down at the form. ‘… Hole. I’ll put the blue chit in your pigeon hole, if it gets clearance.’

Harry clenched his teeth to make sure he didn’t say anything hasty. Because he knew she was behaving in a proper manner. Naturally, she was overcompensating for the fact that she was young, inexperienced and a woman in a male-dominated world. But she showed a determination to be respected; from the outset she demonstrated that the steamroller technique would not work on her. Well done. He felt like grabbing her glasses and smashing them.