The Redeemer(36)

'Working by instinct, are we, Inspector?'

All three turned round to the voice behind them. It was Gunnar Hagen. He was wearing a green military jacket and a black woollen cap. The smile was visible only at the corners of his mouth.

'We try anything that works, boss,' Harry said. 'What brings you here?'

'Isn't this where it happens?'

'In a way.'

'Bjarne Møller preferred the office, I gather. For myself, I am of the persuasion that a leader should be in the field. Was more than one shot fired? Halvorsen?'

Halvorsen flinched. 'Not according to the witnesses we've spoken to.'

Hagen stretched the fingers of his gloves. 'Description?'

'A man.' Halvorsen's eyes flitted between the POB and Harry. 'That's all we know so far. People were watching the band and the whole thing happened very quickly.'

Hagen sniffed. 'In a crowd like this someone must have got a good look at the gunman.'

'You would think so,' Halvorsen said. 'But we don't know for certain where the man was standing.'

'I see.' Again the tiny smile.

'He was standing in front of the victim,' Harry said. 'Distance of two metres, maximum.'

'Oh?' Hagen and the other two turned to Harry.

'Our gunman knew that if you want to kill someone with a smallcalibre weapon, you shoot him in the head,' Harry said. 'Since he fired only one shot, he was sure of the result. Ergo, he must have been standing so close that he could see the hole in the forehead so he knew he couldn't have failed. If you examine his clothes, you should be able to find a fine gunshot residue which will prove what I am saying. Maximum two metres.'

'One and a half,' Beate said. 'Most guns eject the shell casing to the right, but not very far. This was found trampled into the snow one metre and forty-six centimetres from the body. And the dead man had singed woollen threads on his coat sleeve.'

Harry studied Beate. It was not primarily her innate ability to distinguish faces he appreciated, but her intelligence, zeal and the idiotic notion they shared: that the job they did was important.

Hagen stamped his feet in the snow. 'Well done, Lønn. But who on earth would shoot a Salvation Army officer?'

'He wasn't an officer,' Halvorsen said. 'Just a normal soldier. Officers are permanent; soldiers are volunteers or work on contracts.' He flipped open his notepad. 'Robert Karlsen. Twenty-nine years old. Single, no children.'

'Not without enemies, it seems,' Hagen said. 'Or what do you say, Lønn?'

Beate didn't look at Hagen, but at Harry, as she answered: 'It might not have been directed at the individual.'

'Oh?' Hagen smiled. 'Who else could it have been directed at?'

'The Salvation Army perhaps.'

'What makes you think that?'

Beate shrugged.

'Controversial views,' Halvorsen said. 'Homosexuality. Women priests. Abortion. Perhaps some fanatic or other . . .'

'The theory has been noted,' Hagen said. 'Show me the body.'

Both Beate and Halvorsen sent Harry a quizzical look. Harry nodded towards Beate.

'Jeez,' Halvorsen said when Hagen and Beate had gone. 'Is the POB intending to take over the investigation?'

Harry, his eye on the cordon where the media photographers were lighting up the winter darkness with their flashes, rubbed his chin, deep in thought. 'Pro,' he said.

'What?'

'Beate said the perp was a pro. So let's start there. What's the first thing a pro does after a killing?'

'Makes his escape?'

'Not necessarily. But at any rate he gets rid of anything that can link him to the shooting.'

'The weapon.'

'Right. I want all repositories, containers, bins and backyards in a five-block radius of Egertorget checked. Now. Request uniformed backup, if necessary.'

'OK.'

'And get all the video cassettes from surveillance cameras in shops in the area from the time before 19.00 to well after.'

'I'll get Skarre to do that.'

'And one more thing. Dagbladet also has a hand in organising the street concerts, and they write articles about them. Check whether their photographer has taken any pictures of the spectators.'

'Of course. I hadn't thought of that.'

'Send the photos to Beate for her to have a look. And I want all the detectives assembled in the meeting room in the red zone at ten tomorrow. Will you contact them?'

'Yes.'

'Where are Li and Li?'

'They're questioning witnesses at the station. A couple of girls were standing next to him when he fired.'

'OK. Ask Ola to make a list of family and friends of the victim. That's where we'll start to see if there are any obvious motives.'

'I thought you said this was the work of a pro?'

'We have to keep several balls in the air at once, Halvorsen. And start looking wherever it seems promising. Family and friends are easy to find as a rule. Eight out of ten murders are committed—'

'—by someone who knows the victim,' Halvorsen sighed.

They were interrupted by someone calling Harry Hole. They turned in time to see the press bearing down on them through the snow.