Aune smiled. Whether his tears were of pain or he was touched was impossible to say. Harry looked at his friend while the thoughts raced through his mind. Or rather: as though he was racing through his mind searching for a thought. He knew he was missing something and needed to ferret it out. And all he knew and was aware of was that it was urgent.
‘Jibran,’ he said slowly.
Perhaps hearing something in his tone, the others turned to him as though he was going to say something important.
‘What do intestinal juices smell like?’
‘Intestinal juices? I don’t know. Judging by the breath of people with acid reflux, it would perhaps smell rather like rotten eggs.’
‘Mm. So not like musk, then?’
Jibran shook his head. ‘Not in humans, I know that.’
‘What do you mean, not in humans?’
‘I’ve opened the stomachs of cats with a distinct odour of musk. It comes from the anal glands. Various animals use musk to mark their territory or to attract partners in the mating season. In ancient Islamic tradition they said that the smell of musk was the smell of paradise. Or of death, depending on how you look at it.’
Harry stared at him. But it was Lucille’s voice he heard in his head.
The skimming, suspicion and disclosure about the shipment being diluted. That was the sequence of events they had automatically accepted. But someone, the author, had changed the order around. Harry understood that now, that they had been fooled, and that perhaps he had — literally — sniffed out the author.
‘Truls, can we have a word outside?’
The other three watched Harry and Truls as they stepped out into the corridor.
Harry turned to him.
‘Truls, I know you’ve told me it wasn’t you who skimmed the cocaine. I also know you have every reason in the world to lie about it. I don’t give a shit what you’ve done, and I think you trust me. So that’s why I’m going to ask you one more time. Was it you or someone you know of? Take five seconds to think about it before you answer.’
Truls had lowered his forehead like a surly bull. But nodded. Said nothing. Drew five deep breaths. Opened his mouth. Closed it again as if he had thought of something. Then he spoke.
‘You know why Bellman didn’t shut down our group?’
Harry shook his head.
‘Because I went to his house and told him that if he did, I’d make it known he killed a drug dealer from a motorcycle club in Alnabru, whose body I hid by pouring cement on it in the terrace of that new house of his in Høyenhall. All you’ve got to do is dig it up if you don’t believe me.’
Harry looked at Truls for a long time. ‘Why are you telling me this?’
Truls snorted, his forehead still reddish. ‘Because it should prove that I trust you, shouldn’t it? I’ve just given you enough ammo to put me away for years. Why would I admit to that and not admit to skimming some cocaine that would put me behind bars for a couple of years at most?’
Harry nodded. ‘I understand.’
‘Good.’
Harry rubbed the back of his neck. ‘What about the two others with you when the dope was collected?’
‘Impossible,’ Truls said. ‘I was the one who carried the dope all the way to the car from Customs at the airport, and from the car into Seizures.’
‘Good,’ Harry said. ‘I already said I think it was one of the customs officers or someone in Seizures who skimmed. What do you think?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘No, but what do you
Truls shrugged. ‘I know the people who handled it in Seizures and none of them are dirty. I think they just got the weight wrong.’
‘And I think you’re right. Because there’s a third possibility that I — idiot that I am — hadn’t considered. Go on back inside, I’ll join you in a second.’
Harry tried to call Katrine but got no answer.
‘Well?’ Øystein said when Harry came back in and sat down by the bed again. ‘Something the three of us couldn’t hear after all we’ve been through together?’
Jibran smiled.
‘We’ve been fooled by the sequence,’ Harry said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘When the cocaine seizure arrived at Krimteknisk, no one had skimmed it. It’s like Truls said, they were just a little inaccurate when they weighed it, so that was a small anomaly. The skimming took place
The others stared at him in disbelief.
