The Redbreast(139)
She sounded out of breath. Or terrified.
‘That’s me.’
‘This is Signe Juul. You have to help me,
Inspector Hole. He’s going to kill me.’
Harry could hear barking in the background.
‘Who’s going to kill you, fru Juul?’
‘He’s on his way here now. I know it’s him. He .
. . he . . .’
‘Try to stay calm, fru Juul. What are you talking
about?’
‘He’s distorted his voice, but this time I
recognised it. He knew that I had stroked Olaf
Lindvig’s hair at the field hospital. That was when
I knew. My God, what shall I do?’
‘Are you alone?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’m alone. I’m totally, totally
alone. Do you understand?’
The barking in the background had become
frenzied now.
‘Can’t you run over to your neighbour’s and wait
for us there, fru Juul? Who —’
‘He’ll find me! He finds me everywhere.’
She was hysterical. Harry placed his hand over
the receiver and asked Linda to call the central
switchboard to tell them to send the closest patrol
car available to fru Juul in Irisveien in Berg. Then
he talked to Signe Juul and hoped she wouldn’t
notice his own agitation.
‘If you don’t go out, then at least lock every door,
fru Juul. Who —’
‘You don’t understand,’ she said. ‘He . . . he . . .’
Beep. The engaged signal. The line was broken.
‘Fuck! Sorry, Linda. Tell them the car is urgent.
And they have to be careful. There may be an
armed intruder.’
Harry rang directory enquiries, got Juul’s number
and dialled it. Still engaged. Harry threw the phone
over to Linda.
‘If Meirik asks after me, tell him I’m on my way
to Even Juul’s house.’
78
Irisveien. 11 May 2000.
WHEN HARRY SWUNG INTO IRISVEIEN HE
IMMEDIATELY SAW the police car outside Juul’s
house. The quiet street with the timber houses, the
puddles of melted ice, the blue light slowly
turning, two inquisitive children on bicycles – it
was like a repetition of the scene outside Sverre
Olsen’s house. Harry prayed the similarities would
stop there.
He parked, got out of the Escort and walked
slowly towards the house. As he closed the door
behind him he heard someone come out on to the
stairs.
‘Weber,’ Harry said in surprise. ‘Our paths cross
again.’
‘Indeed they do.’
‘I didn’t know you were on patrol duty too.’
‘You know bloody well I’m not. But Brandhaug
lives nearby and we had only just got into the car
when the message came through on the radio.’
‘What’s going on?’
‘Your guess is as good as mine. There’s no one at
home. But the door was open.’
‘Have you had a look around?’
‘From cellar to loft.’
‘Strange. The dog isn’t here, either, as far as I can
see.’
‘Dogs and people, all gone. But it looks as if
someone has been in the cellar because the
window in the door there is smashed.’
‘Right,’ Harry said, looking across Irisveien. He
caught sight of a tennis court between the houses.
‘She may have gone to one of the neighbours,’
Harry said. ‘I asked her to.’
Weber followed Harry into the hallway where a
young police officer was standing looking at the
mirror above the telephone table.
‘Well, Moen, can you see any signs of intelligent
life?’ Weber asked sarcastically.
Moen turned and gave Harry a brief nod.
‘Well,’ Moen said. ‘I don’t know if it’s
intelligent or merely weird.’ He pointed to the
mirror. The other two came closer. ‘Well, I’ll be
blowed,’ Weber said.
The large red letters appeared to have been
written with lipstick.
GOD IS MY JUDGE.
Harry’s mouth felt like the inside of orange peel.
The glass in the front door rattled as it was torn
open.
‘What are you doing here?’ asked the silhouette
standing in front of them with his back to the light.
‘And where’s Burre?’
It was Even Juul.
Harry sat at the kitchen table with a clearly very
worried Even Juul. Moen did the rounds of the
neighbours, searching for Signe Juul and asking if
anyone had seen anything. Weber had pressing
things to do on the Brandhaug case and had to go
off in the patrol car, but Harry promised Moen a
lift.
‘She usually told me when she was going out,’
Even Juul said. ‘Tells me, I mean.’
‘Is that her writing on the mirror in the hall?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t think so, anyway.’