The Redbreast(100)
he?’
‘I’ve just been running messages between you and
the old codger. You’re the one who —’
‘Especially when the soldier has a three-year rap
hanging over him, made conditional on a
technicality.’
Sverre could hear himself swallow.
‘How do you know that?’ he started.
‘Don’t you bother about that. I only want you to
realise that you have as much to lose because of
this as the rest of the brotherhood.’
Sverre didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
‘Look on the bright side, Olsen. This is war. And
there’s no place for cowards and traitors.
Furthermore, the brotherhood rewards its soldiers.
On top of the ten thousand you’ll get forty more
when the job’s done.’
Sverre mulled it over. Mulled over what clothes
he should wear.
‘Where?’ he asked.
‘Schous plass in twenty minutes. Bring whatever
you need with you.’
‘Don’t you drink?’ Rakel asked.
Harry looked around him. Their last dance had
been so tight it might have caused eyebrows to
rise. Now they had withdrawn to a table at the
back of the canteen.
‘I’ve given it up,’ Harry said.
She nodded.
‘It’s a long story,’ he added.
‘I’ve got plenty of time.’
‘This evening I only feel like hearing funny
stories,’ he smiled. ‘Let’s talk about you instead.
Have you had the kind of childhood you can talk
about?’
Harry had half expected her to laugh, but he
received only a tired smile.
‘My mother died when I was fifteen. Apart from
that, I can talk about the rest.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘There’s nothing to be sorry about. She was an
exceptional woman, but funny stories were on the
agenda this evening . . .’
‘Have you any brothers or sisters?’
‘No, there’s only me and Father.’
‘So you had to take care of him on your own?’
She eyed him with surprise.
‘I know what it’s like,’ he said. ‘I’ve also lost my
mother. My dad sat in a chair staring at the wall for
years. I had to feed him, literally.’
‘My father ran a large building-supplies chain he
had started from scratch, and I believed it was his
whole life. But when Mother died he lost all
interest overnight. He sold it before it went to
pieces. And he pushed everyone he knew away
from him. Including me. He became a bitter, lonely
old man.’
She spread out her hand.
‘I had my own life to live. I had met a man in
Moscow, and father felt betrayed because I wanted
to marry a Russian. When I brought Oleg back to
Norway, the relationship between me and my
father became very problematical.’
Harry stood up and came back with a margarita
for her and a Coke for himself.
‘Shame we never met on the law course, Harry.’
‘I was a muppet at the time,’ Harry said. ‘I was
aggressive towards everyone who didn’t like the
same records or films as I did. No one liked me.
Not even I did.’
‘Now I don’t believe that.’
‘I pinched it from a film. The guy who said it was
chatting up Mia Farrow. In the film, that is. I’ve
never tried it out in real life.’
‘Well,’ she said, cautiously tasting the
margarita.‘I think that was a good start. But are you
sure you didn’t pinch the bit about pinching it too?’
They laughed and discussed good and bad films,
good and bad gigs they had been to, and after a
while Harry was aware that he would have to
amend his first impressions of her. For instance,
she had travelled round the world on her own
when she was twenty, at an age when all Harry had
to show, in terms of adult experiences, was a
failed Inter-Railing trip and a growing alcohol
problem.
She checked her watch.
‘Eleven. I have someone waiting for me.’
Harry felt his heart sink. ‘Me too,’ he said, getting
up.
‘Oh?’
‘Just a monster I keep under the bed. Let me drive
you home.’
She smiled. ‘That’s not necessary.’
‘It’s practically on the way.’
‘You also live in Holmenkollen?’
‘Close by. Or quite close by. Bislett.’
She laughed.
‘On the other side of the city then. I know what
you’re after.’
Harry smiled sheepishly. She put a hand on his
arm. ‘You need someone to push the car, don’t
you?’
‘Looks like he’s gone, Helge,’ Ellen said.
She stood by the window with her coat on,
peeping out between the curtains. The street below