‘How do you do, Ms Hochner.’
‘I’m Andreas Hochner’s sister.’
‘I see.’
Even on the bad line he could hear she was
nervous. Nevertheless, she went straight to the
point.
‘You had an agreement with my brother, Mr Hole.
And you haven’t kept your part of the deal.’
She spoke with a strange accent, the same as
Andreas Hochner’s. Automatically, Harry tried to
visualise her, a habit he had adopted early on as a
detective.
‘Well, Ms Hochner, I can’t do anything for your
brother before I have verified the information he
gave us. For the time being, we have not found
anything to corroborate what he said.’
‘But why should he lie, Mr Hole? A man in his
predicament?’
‘That is precisely why, Ms Hochner. If he doesn’t
know anything he could be desperate enough to
pretend that he does.’
There was a pause on the crackly line from
...where? Johannesburg? Constance Hochner was
speaking again. ‘Andreas warned me that you
might say something like that. That’s why I’m
calling you, to tell you I have more information
from my brother that you may be interested in.’
‘Oh, yes?’
‘But you cannot have the information unless your
government does something about my brother’s
case first.’
‘We’ll do what we can.’
‘I’ll contact you again when there is evidence that
you’re helping us.’
‘As you know, Ms Hochner, it doesn’t work like
that. First of all, we have to see the results of the
information we receive. Then we can help him.’
‘My brother must have guarantees. The legal
proceedings against him start in two weeks.’
Her voice failed her somewhere in the middle,
and Harry knew she was close to tears.
‘The only thing I can give you is my word that I’ll
do as much as I can.’
‘I don’t know you. You don’t understand. They
intend to sentence Andreas to death. They —’
‘Nevertheless, that is all I can offer you.’
She began to cry. Harry waited. After a while she
was quiet.
‘Do you have children, Ms Hochner?’
‘Yes,’ she sniffled. ‘And you know what your
brother has been accused of ?’
‘Obviously.’
‘Then you’ll also know that he will need all the
absolution he can get. As he can help us, via you,
to stop a killer, he will have done some good. And
you will have too, Ms Hochner.’
She was breathing heavily over the telephone.
Harry thought she was going to cry again.
‘Do you promise to do as much as you can, Mr
Hole? My brother hasn’t done all the things they
are accusing him of.’
‘I promise.’
Harry heard his own voice. Calm and steady.
While crushing the receiver.
‘OK,’ Constance Hochner said softly. ‘Andreas
says that the person who took delivery of the
weapon and paid for it at the harbour that night is
not the same as the person who ordered it. The man
who ordered it was a fairly regular customer, a
youngish man. He spoke good English with a
Scandinavian accent. And he insisted that Andreas
used the code name ‘the Prince’ with him. Andreas
said you should start by focusing on groups of guys
fixated with guns.’
‘Is that everything?’
‘Andreas has never seen him, but he says that he
would recognise his voice immediately if you sent
him a tape.’
‘Excellent,’ Harry said, hoping she wouldn’t hear
how disappointed he was. He instinctively
straightened his shoulders as if to steel himself
before serving up the lie.
‘If I discover anything, I’ll start pulling the strings
here.’
The words smarted like caustic soda in his mouth.
‘Thank you, Mr Hole.’
‘Nothing to thank me for, Ms Hochner.’
He repeated the last phrase a couple of times to
himself after putting down the receiver.
‘That’s too much,’ Ellen said on hearing the story
about the Hochner family.
‘See if your brain can forget it’s in love for a
while and let it perform some of its tricks,’ Harry
said. ‘Now at least you’ve got your cues.’
‘Illegal importation of arms, regular customer, the
Prince, arms freaks. That’s only four.’
‘That’s all I have.’
‘Why do I agree to this?’
‘Because you love me. Now I have to be off.’
‘Wait. Tell me about the woman you —’
‘Hope your intuition is better with solving crime,
Ellen. Take care.’
Harry rang the Drammen number directory