‘Would you mind ringing Gunnar Hagen, Tore? He-’

Jussi snatched at the handcuffs, cutting into Harry’s skin, and Harry tumbled backwards after the two men heading for the custody block.

Once they had locked him in the two-and-a-half by one-and-a-half-metre cell, Jussi went back to Tore to sign the papers while Beavis stood outside the barred door, peering in at Harry. Harry could see he had something on his chest and waited. And at last it came, in a voice shaking with suppressed fury.

‘How does it feel, eh? You being such a bloody hotshot, catching two serial killers, being on TV and all that? And here you are now, looking at bars from the inside, eh?’

‘What are you so angry about, Beavis?’ Harry asked softly and closed his eyes. He could feel the swell in his body as if he had just come ashore after a long voyage.

‘I’m not angry. But as far as punks shooting good policemen are concerned, I’m furious with them.’

‘Three mistakes in one sentence,’ Harry said, lying down on the cell bed. ‘First of all, it’s “is” not “are”, secondly Inspector Waaler was not a good policeman and thirdly I didn’t shoot him. I pulled off his arm. Here, up by the shoulder.’ Harry demonstrated.

Beavis’s mouth opened and shut, but nothing emerged.

Harry closed his eyes again.

13

Office

The next time Harry opened his eyes, he had been lying in the cell for two hours, and Gunnar Hagen was standing outside struggling to open the door with the key.

‘Sorry, Harry, I was in a meeting.’

‘Suited me fine, boss,’ Harry said, stretching on the bed with a yawn. ‘Am I being released?’

‘I spoke to the police lawyer, who said it was OK. Custody is detention, not a punishment. I heard two Kripos men brought you in. What happened?’

‘I’m hoping you can tell me.’

‘I can tell you?’

‘Ever since I landed in Oslo I’ve been followed by Kripos.’

‘Kripos?’

Harry sat up and ran a hand through the brush-like bristles on his head. ‘They tracked me down to Rikshospital. They arrested me on a formality. What’s going on, boss?’

Hagen raised his chin and stroked the skin over his larynx. ‘Hell, I should have anticipated this.’

‘Anticipated what?’

‘That it would leak out that we were trying to run you to earth. That Bellman would try to stop us.’

‘A few main clauses would be nice.’

‘It’s pretty complicated, as I told you. It’s all about cuts and rationalisation in the force. About jurisdiction. The old fight, Crime Squad versus Kripos. Whether there are enough resources for two specialist branches with parallel expertise in a small country. The discussion flared up when Kripos got a new second in command, one Mikael Bellman.’

‘Tell me about him.’

‘Bellman? Police College, brief period of service in Norway before washing up in Europol in The Hague. Came back to Kripos a wonder boy, ready to move upwards and onwards. Nothing but grief from day one when he wanted to employ an ex-colleague from Interpol, a foreigner.’

‘Not Finnish, by any chance, was he?’

Hagen nodded. ‘Jussi Kolkka. Police training in Finland, but has none of the formal qualifications required for police status in Norway. The trade union went ballistic. The solution was, of course, that Kolkka would be temporarily employed on an exchange. Bellman’s next initiative was to make it clear that the rules should be interpreted in such a way that on bigger murder investigations Kripos would decide whether it was their case or the police district’s, not vice versa.’

‘And?’

‘And that is quite unacceptable, goes without saying. We have the country’s largest murder unit here at Police HQ, we decide which cases we take within the Oslo district, what we need help with and where we request Kripos to take control. Kripos was established to offer their know-how to police districts running murder cases, but Bellman has, at the drop of a hat, endowed the department with his emperor status. The Ministry of Justice was drawn into the matter. And they soon saw their chance to do what we have managed to keep a lid on for so long: to centralise murder investigations so that there is one centre of expertise. They don’t give two hoots about our arguments concerning the dangers of standardisation and inbreeding, the importance of local knowledge and the spread of skills, recruitment and-’

‘Thank you, you’re preaching to the converted.’

Hagen held up a hand. ‘Fine, but the Ministry of Justice is working now on an appointment…’

‘And…?’

‘They say they’re going to be pragmatic. It’s all about exploiting scarce resources in the most cost-effective way. If Kripos can show that they achieve their best results by being unencumbered by police districts-’

‘-then all the power goes to Kripos HQ in Bryn,’ Harry said. ‘Big office for Bellman and bye-bye Crime Squad.’

Hagen hunched his shoulders. ‘Something of that nature. When Charlotte Lolles was found dead behind the Datsun and we saw the similarities with the girl murdered in the cellar of the new building, there was a head-on collision. Kripos said that even though the bodies were found in Oslo, a double murder is a matter for Kripos, not Oslo Police District, and started their own independent investigation. They’ve realised that the battle for the ministry’s support will stand or fall on this case.’

‘So it’s just a question of solving the case before Kripos?’

‘As I said, it’s complicated. Kripos refuses to share info with us even though they’ve made no headway. Instead they went to the ministry. The Chief Constable here received a call to say that the ministry would like to see Kripos being allowed to run this case until they’ve made up their mind about how to allocate areas of responsibility in the future.’

Harry shook his head slowly. ‘It’s beginning to sink in. You all got desperate…’

‘I wouldn’t use that word.’

‘Desperate enough to dig up the old serial-killer hunter, Hole. An outsider no longer on the payroll, who could investigate the matter on the q.t. That was why I couldn’t say anything to anyone.’

Hagen sighed. ‘Bellman found out anyway, obviously. And stuck a tail on you.’

‘To see whether you seemed to be complying with the ministry’s request. To catch me in flagrante delicto reading old reports or questioning old witnesses.’

‘Or even more effective: to disqualify you from the game. Bellman knows one single mistake would be enough to have you suspended, one single beer while on duty, one single breach of service rules.’

‘Mm. Or resisting arrest. He’s thinking of taking the case further, the prick.’

‘I’ll talk to him. He’ll drop it when I tell him you don’t want the case anyway. We don’t dump police officers in the shit when there’s no point.’ Hagen glanced at his watch. ‘I’ve got work waiting for me. Let’s get you out.’

They walked out of the custody block, across the car park and stopped at the entrance to Police HQ, a tower of concrete and steel presiding over the park. Beside them, attached to Police HQ by an underground culvert, stood the old grey walls of Botsen, Oslo District Prison. Beneath them, the area of Gronland stretched down to the fjord and harbour. The facades were winter-pale and filthy as though ash had rained down on them. The cranes by the harbour stood like gallows outlined against the sky.

‘Not a pretty sight, eh?’

‘No,’ Harry said, breathing in.

‘But there’s something about this town nonetheless.’

Harry nodded. ‘There is that.’

They stood there for a while, rocking back on their heels, hands in pockets.

‘Chilly,’ Harry said.

‘Not really.’

‘S’pose not, but my thermostat is still set to Hong Kong temperatures.’

‘I see.’

‘You’ve got a cup of coffee waiting for you upstairs, have you?’ Harry motioned to the sixth floor. ‘Or was it work? The Marit Olsen case?’