Harry hesitated. Condom powder.
‘The tattoo,’ he said. ‘The killer cut off the Louis Vuitton tattoo Bertine had on her ankle and sewed it back on again.’
‘Like Susanne Andersen’s scalp?’
‘Yep,’ Harry said. ‘But that’s not important. What is important is whether you have some way we can get hold of that kind of thing in the future.’
‘Stuff not in the reports? I’ll have to talk to people then.’
‘Mm. We don’t want to chance that. I wasn’t expecting any suggestions off the top of your head but have a think about it and we’ll talk tomorrow.’
Truls grunted. ‘All right.’
They hung up.
When the boat docked, Harry remained seated, watching the other passengers stream out and go ashore.
‘Not getting off?’ asked a ticket inspector, making a sweep of the empty lounge.
‘Not today,’ Harry said.
‘Same again,’ Harry said, pointing at the glass.
The bartender raised an eyebrow, but took down the Jim Beam bottle and poured.
Harry knocked that one back too. ‘And another.’
‘Rough day?’ the bartender asked.
‘Not yet,’ Harry said, before picking up the glass and walking towards the same table where he had seen the Turbonegro vocalist sitting. Noticed he was already slightly unsteady on his feet. On his way he passed a man sitting with his back to him and smelled a perfume that reminded him of Lucille. He slid into the sofa. It was early in the evening, not many guests yet. Lucille, where was she right now? Instead of drinking more he could go to his room and reread the reports, search for the mistake, the lead. He looked at the glass. The hourglass. Five days plus a few hours until he let someone down again. Yes, that was the story of his life. What the hell, soon he’d have nobody left to let down anyway. He raised the glass.
A man had entered the bar and was looking around. Caught sight of Harry. They exchanged brief nods before the man headed in Harry’s direction, and sat down in the chair on the other side of the low glass table.
‘Evening, Krohn.’
‘Good evening, Harry. How’s it going?’
‘With the investigation? Going well.’
‘Good. Does that mean you have a lead?’
‘No. What brings you here?’
The lawyer looked like he had planned on asking a follow-up question but dropped it. ‘I heard you called Helene Røed today. That the two of you are going to talk.’
‘That’s right.’
‘I just wanted to draw your attention to a couple of things prior to you having that conversation. First of all, her and Markus’s relationship isn’t the best at the moment. There could be several reasons for that. Like—’
‘Markus’s cocaine addiction?’
‘I don’t know anything about that.’
‘Yes, you do.’
‘I was thinking about the fact they’ve drifted apart over time. And that all the public attention Markus has received regarding this case, especially in
‘What are you trying to say?’
‘Helene is under a lot of stress, and I wouldn’t rule out that she might say things which put her husband in a bad light. Both with regard to his person in general and his involvement with Miss Andersen and Miss Bertilsen in particular. Not something that changes the facts of the case, but should the press,
‘So you came to tell me not to leak possible gossip?’
Krohn smiled briefly. ‘I’m just saying that this Terry Våge will use everything he can get his hands on to smear Markus.’
‘Because?’
Krohn shrugged. ‘It’s ancient history. It was in the days Markus was just investing a little here and there for fun. At the time he was also chairman of the board for the free newspaper Våge wrote for. When the Press Complaints Commission found the newspaper had broken the code of practice for the stories Våge had made up, the board sacked him. That had big repercussions on his life and career thereafter, and he’s obviously never forgiven Markus.’
‘Mm. I’ll keep it in mind.’
‘Good.’
Krohn remained sitting.
‘Yes?’ Harry said.
‘I understand if it’s something you don’t want to dredge up, but we do have a secret binding us together.’
‘You’re right,’ Harry said, taking a swig of his drink. ‘I don’t want to dredge it up.’
‘Of course. I just wanted to say that I still believe we did the right thing.’
Harry looked at him.
‘We made sure the world was rid of an evil, evil man,’ Krohn said. ‘He was, admittedly, my client—’
‘And innocent,’ Harry slurred.
‘Of your wife’s murder, perhaps. But he was guilty of ruining the lives of many others. Far too many. Young people. Innocent people.’
Harry studied Krohn. The two of them had seen to it that Svein Finne, a man with multiple convictions for rape, was killed and that Rakel’s murder was pinned on him. Krohn’s motive had been the threats Finne had made against him and his family, while Harry’s had been the desire for who had actually killed Rakel, and their reason for doing it, never coming to light.
‘While Bjørn Holm,’ Johan Krohn said, ‘he had only been a good man. A good friend, a good husband. Isn’t that right?’
