The Redbreast(157)
‘I’m only trying to tell the truth. Even knew that
what he was writing was, if not lies, then a
distortion of the truth. We talked about it once. He
defended himself by saying that it served the
purpose of bringing the people together. The only
thing he couldn’t bring himself to put in the desired
heroic light was the King’s escape to freedom. He
wasn’t the only Resistance man who felt deserted
in 1940, but I’ve never met anyone so one-sidedly
condemnatory as Even, not even among soldiers on
the front. Remember that all his life he had been
abandoned by people he loved and trusted. I think
he hated every single one of them who left for
London with the whole of his heart. Really.’
They sat down on a bench and looked down over
Fagerborg church, the roofs in Pilestredet which
led down towards the town and the blue Oslo fjord
twinkling far away.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Fauke said. ‘So beautiful that it
can sometimes seem worth dying for.’
Harry tried to take it all in, to make it fit. But
there was one minor detail missing.
‘Even began to study medicine in Germany before
the war. Do you know where in Germany?’
‘No,’ Fauke said.
‘Do you know if he had any specialisation in
mind?’
‘Yes, he told me that he dreamed of following in
the footsteps of his famous foster father and his
father.’
‘And they were?’
‘You don’t know about the Juul consultants? They
were surgeons.’
89
Grønlandsleiret. 16 May 2000.
BJARNE MØLLER, HALVORSEN AND HARRY WERE
WALKING side by side down Motzfeldts gate. They
were in deepest Little Karachi and the smells, the
clothes and the people around them reminded them
as little of Norway as the kebabs they were
chewing on reminded them of Norwegian grilled
sausages. A boy, dressed up for the festivities in a
Pakistani style, but with a 17 May ribbon on his
gilt jacket lapels, came skipping down the
pavement towards them. He had a strange, snubbed
nose and was holding a Norwegian flag in his
hand. Harry had read in the papers that Muslim
parents were arranging a 17 May party for children
today so that they could concentrate on Eid
tomorrow.
‘Hurrah!’
The boy flashed them a white smile as he sped
past.
‘Even Juul is not just anyone,’ Møller was saying.
‘He’s perhaps our greatest authority on war
history. If this is right, there’ll be a hell of a fuss in
the newspapers. It doesn’t bear thinking about, if
we’re mistaken. If you are mistaken, Harry.’
‘All I’m asking for is permission to bring him in
for questioning, with a psychologist present. And a
search warrant for his house.’
‘And all I’m asking for is at least one piece of
evidence or a witness,’ Møller said, gesticulating.
‘Juul is well-known, and no one has seen him
anywhere near the crime scenes. Not once. What
about the telephone call Brandhaug’s wife
received from your local hostelry, for example?’
‘I showed the photo of Even Juul to the woman
working at Schrøder’s,’ Halvorsen said.
‘Maja,’ Harry prompted.
‘She couldn’t remember seeing him,’ Halvorsen
said.
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying,’ Møller groaned,
wiping the sauce from his mouth.
‘Yes, but I showed the photo to a couple of them
sitting there,’ Halvorsen said, casting a quick
glance at Harry. ‘There was an old guy in a coat
who nodded and said we should arrest that one.’
‘Coat,’ Harry repeated. ‘That’s the Mohican,
Konrad Åsnes, wartime seaman. He’s quite a
character, but not a reliable witness any more, I’m
afraid. Anyway, Juul has told us that he was at the
Kaffebrenneri across the road. There are no pay
phones over there. So if he was going to ring it
would be natural to go over to Schrøder’s.’
Møller pulled a face and looked sceptically at his
kebab. He had only tagged along, somewhat
unwillingly, to try the burek kebab which Harry
had talked up as ‘Turkey meets Bosnia meets
Pakistan meets Grønlandsleiret’.
‘And do you really believe all that split-
personality stuff, Harry?’
‘I think it sounds just as incredible as you do,
boss, but Aune reckons it’s a possibility. And he’s
willing to help us.’
‘And so you think Aune can hypnotise Juul and
can coax out this Daniel Gudeson inside him and
get a confession?’
‘It’s not definite that Even Juul has any idea what