‘Possibly. Some slugs have gills, but Mount Kaputar slugs have lungs. On the other hand, I know some slugs with lungs can survive under water for up to twenty-four hours before they drown. You’re hoping it survives?’
‘Of course. Aren’t you?’
Jonathan shrugged. ‘I think the best thing for something that’s separated from its species and ends up in a strange environment is death.’
‘Really?’
‘Loneliness is worse than death, Thanh.’
He stared at her with something in his eyes she couldn’t interpret.
‘On the other hand,’ he said, scratching at his bearded throat thoughtfully, ‘this particular slug might not be lonely, it’s actually a hermaphrodite. And it will find nourishment in the sewers. Reproduce...’ He looked down at his newly scrubbed hands. ‘Poison everything else living down there with rat lungworm and eventually take over the whole of Oslo’s sewer system.’
Thanh could hear Jonathan’s laughter from the office as she walked back to the aquariums. It was a laugh she had heard so seldom that it sounded unfamiliar, strange, yes, almost unpleasant.
Harry stood looking at the painting in front of him. It showed a felled log lying with the yellow end towards him and the rest of it stretching back into a wooded landscape. He read the plaque next to the painting:
‘Why were you asking about this painting in particular?’ asked the boy in the red T-shirt, which denoted him as one of the staff.
‘Well,’ Harry said, glancing at the Japanese couple standing next to them, ‘why do people want to see this painting in particular?’
‘Because of the optical illusion,’ the boy said.
‘OK?’
‘Let’s move a little. Excuse me!’
The couple smilingly made room for them both by stepping to the side.
‘See?’ the boy said. ‘The end of the log appears to be pointing directly at us no matter where we view the picture from.’
‘Mm. So the message is...?’
‘You tell me,’ the boy said. ‘Perhaps that things aren’t always how they look.’
‘Yes,’ Harry said. ‘Or that you need to move and look at things from a different angle in order to see the whole picture. Anyway, thank you.’
‘You’re welcome,’ the boy said, and walked away.
Harry remained looking at the picture. Mostly to rest his eyes on something beautiful after having stood on escalators through a building that even on the inside made Police HQ appear human and warm.
He took out his phone and called Krohn.
While waiting for him to pick up, he grew aware of the pulse in his temple throbbing, as was normal the day after he had been drinking. And it occurred to him that his resting heart rate was around 60. That if he remained standing here looking at art, he could, in other words, expect his heart to beat slightly under four hundred thousand times before Lucille was killed. Considerably fewer if he panicked and raised the alarm in the hope the police could find her... where? In Mexico someplace?
‘Krohn.’
‘Harry here. I need an advance of three hundred thousand.’
‘For what?’
‘Unforeseen expenses.’
‘Can you be more specific?’
‘No.’
The line went quiet.
‘All right. Come by the office.’
As Harry put the phone back in the pocket of the jacket, he noticed something was already in there. He took it out. It was a mask. A half-mask depicting a cat, it looked like, which must have been from a masquerade ball Markus Røed had attended. He felt in the other pocket, and sure enough, there was something in there too. He pulled out a laminated card. It seemed to be a membership card for something called Villa Dante, but instead of
Harry looked at the picture again.
Helene Røed hadn’t forgotten to empty the contents of the pockets. She may even have put the items there.
Cannibal
‘I can only issue you with a warrant if there is probable cause for suspicion.’
‘I know that,’ Sung-min said, quietly cursing section 192 of the Criminal Procedure Act, as he held the phone to his ear and stared at the wall of the windowless office. How had Hole endured working in here all those years? ‘But I think there’s more than a fifty per cent chance of us finding something illegal there. He was sweating, wouldn’t look me in the eye, and then he put a blanket over something he most definitely wanted hidden in the office.’
‘I understand, but your suspicion alone is not enough. The section states there must be concrete evidence.’
‘But—’
‘You also know that as a prosecutor I can only grant you a search warrant if there is a danger in delaying. Is there? And will you be able to explain why it was urgent afterwards?’
Sung-min sighed heavily. ‘No.’
‘Any evidence of other offences which could be used as a pretext?’
‘None.’
‘Does the person concerned have previous convictions?’
‘No.’
‘Have you anything at all?’
