Home>>read The Redbreast free online

The Redbreast(158)

By:Jo Nesbo


Daniel Gudeson has done, so it’s absolutely

essential that we speak to him,’ Harry said.

‘According to Aune, people suffering from MPDs

are very susceptible to hypnosis, since that’s what

they’re doing to themselves all the time – self-

hypnosis.’

‘Great,’ said Møller, rolling his eyes.‘So what’s

the idea with the search warrant?’

‘As you’ve said yourself, we have no evidence,

no witnesses and we know you can never rely on

the court buying all the psycho-stuff, but if we find

the Märklin rifle, we’re home and dry. We don’t

need any of the rest.’

‘Hm.’ Møller came to a halt on the pavement.

‘Motive?’

Harry probed Møller’s face.

‘My experience is that even confused people

usually have a motive in their madness. And I can’t

see Juul’s.’

‘Not Juul’s, boss,’ Harry said. ‘Daniel

Gudeson’s. Signe Juul’s sort of going over to the

enemy might have given Gudeson the motive for

revenge. What he wrote on the mirror – God is my

judge – may suggest that he views the murders as a

one-man crusade, that his is a just cause, despite

the condemnation of others.’

‘What about the other murders? Bernt Brandhaug

and – if you’re right that it is the same murderer –

Hallgrim Dale?’

‘I have no idea what the motives are, but we

know that Brandhaug was shot with the Märklin

rifle and Dale knew Daniel Gudeson. And

according to the autopsy report Dale was cut up as

if a surgeon had done the job. OK, Juul was

beginning to study medicine and dreamed of

becoming a surgeon. Perhaps Dale had to die

because he had discovered that Juul was acting

like Daniel Gudeson.’

Halvorsen cleared his throat.

‘What?’ Harry asked sourly. He had known

Halvorsen long enough to anticipate that an

objection was on its way. And very probably a

well-founded one.

‘From what you’ve told us about MPDs, it must

have been Even Juul who killed Hallgrim Dale.

Daniel Gudeson wasn’t a surgeon.’

Harry swallowed the last bite of kebab, wiped

his face with the serviette and looked around for a

litter bin.

‘OK,’ he said. ‘I could have said that we should

wait until we have the answers to all our questions

before we do anything. And I am aware that the

Public Prosecutor will consider the evidence

pretty thin. But none of us can ignore the fact that

we have a suspect who might kill again. You’re

frightened of the media circus, boss, if we charge

Even Juul, but imagine the row that would break

out if he committed any more murders. And then it

came out that we had suspected him all along

without doing anything to stop him . . .’

‘Yes, yes, yes, I know all that,’ Møller said. ‘So

you think he’ll kill again?’

‘There are a lot of things in this case I’m unsure

about,’ Harry said. ‘But if there’s one thing I’m

absolutely certain of it’s that he hasn’t completed

his project yet.’

‘And what makes you so sure about that?’

Harry tapped his stomach and pulled a sardonic

grin.

‘There’s someone in here, morsing it up to me,

boss. There’s a reason why he bought the most

expensive and best assassination rifle in the world.

One of the reasons Daniel Gudeson became a

legend was that he was a fantastic marksman. And

something down here is telling me that he’s

decided to take this crusade to its logical

conclusion. It’s going to be the crowning glory,

something to immortalise the legend of Daniel

Gudeson.’

The summer heat vanished for a second as a last

wintry gust swept up Moztfeldtsgate, swirling the

dust and the litter. Møller closed his eyes, pulled





his coat tighter around himself and shuddered.

Bergen, he thought. Bergen.

‘I’ll see what I can manage,’ he said. ‘Make sure

you’re ready.’

90

Police HQ. 16 May 2000.

HARRY AND HALVORSEN WERE READY. SO READY

THAT WHEN Hole’s telephone rang, they both

jumped up. Harry seized the receiver: ‘Hole

speaking!’

‘You don’t need to shout,’ Rakel said. ‘That’s

why the phone was invented. What was it you said

about the seventeenth the other day?’

‘What?’ It took Harry a few seconds to connect.

‘That I’m on duty?’

‘The other thing,’ Rakel said. ‘That you would

move heaven and earth . . .’

‘Do you mean that?’ Harry felt a strange, warm