Silence.
“Herr Haugen. . did your wife teach sign language to Karl so that they could communicate in secret?”
Gunnar Haugen’s eyes dimmed.
Sohlberg’s throat tightened as he realized how out of touch this man was to the reality of his home life where his wife led a separate parallel existence.
“Herr Hagen! Look at me. Did your wife secretly and silently signal your son instructions in sign language for him to leave the school that Friday June fourth?”
Sohlberg looked straight into Gunnar Haugen’s eyes. But the engineer had shut down. His tightly closed eyes told Sohlberg and the world one message: “Leave me alone!” Sohlberg could literally see and feel that the man was withdrawing to some distant place where no one could intrude.
“Herr Haugen. . you and your wife both told investigators that your son suffered from seizures and yet his doctor says that is not true and has never been true. So tell me. . whose idea was it to create the fake illness about seizures?”
Silence.
“Whose idea was it to use a non-existent illness to confuse the teacher and the school about which Friday Karl would not be at school but on a doctor’s visit?”
Silence.
“Constable Wangelin. . please arrest Herr Haugen if he does not answer my questions.”
The tinkling sound of Wangelin’s handcuffs brought Gunnar Haugen back into the room.
“What?. . What do you want to know?”
“Why did you sign that vague letter to the school telling them that your son would miss school on Friday because of a doctor’s appointment and yet you did not date the letter. . nor did you specify exactly which Friday he would be gone from school.”
“Well. . that’s just the way it was written. I can’t change the past.”
“But you Herr Haugen are a senior high-level manager at a huge multinational corporation. . and you are going to a major business school. . surely a sharp up-and-coming executive like you doesn’t write such vague communications. . or is this what you do at Nokia. . or learn at business school?”
“My wife typed the letter. I just signed it.”
Sohlberg wanted to smile. The father had finally opened the door that offered him a way to implicate or blame Agnes Haugen in the disappearance of his son.
“Herr Haugen. . it’s incredible that you of all people signed such a vague note. . a piece of nonsensical verbiage that resulted in so much confusion. . thanks to that misleading note of yours the school was not able to react fast enough to your son’s disappearance. Thanks to your note the search for your son was delayed by more than six hours. How do you think that will look before a court considering your conviction and sentence?”
Silence.
“You also made verbal statements to the teacher that made her think that your son Karl was visiting the doctor on Friday June four instead of Friday June eleven. Then you switched your dates and statements and told the school and our investigators that you had always told the teacher that Karl would be at the doctor on the next Friday. . June eleven.”
“I never spoke to the teacher before Friday June four. My wife handled all school matters for Karl.”
Sohlberg stared at Gunnar Haugen. Sohlberg was elated that the father had taken another step to implicate or blame Agnes Haugen in a felony crime. But now the time had arrived to change topics before Haugen could carefully think about Sohlberg’s questions and even more important Haugen’s own answers.
“Herr Haugen. . children repeat whatever they hear their parents say at home. They are little tape recordings. Wouldn’t you agree Herr Haugen?”
“I don’t know.”
“You son repeated many interesting things at school about you and your wife. Did you know that?”
“He could’ve been repeating things he heard at his mother’s home up in Namsos.”
“So you do admit that children repeat what they hear at home.”
“You’re talking about a hypothetical. . that Karl supposedly repeated what he might have heard at my house. So I offered you an alternative that’s reasonable. Anyway. . this is all theory.”
“Actually it’s not Herr Haugen. Your son yelled ‘I hate you. I hate you.’ Now. . where would he have heard that?”
“I. . I don’t know.”
“But you do know Herr Haugen. . you know but you just won’t tell me the truth. . that’s part of your family’s many secrets ain’t it?. . Never tell. . just keep quiet and pretend to be happy. . right?”
Silence. Sohlberg worried because he could again see and feel Gunnar Haugen literally withdrawing from the room in mind and soul if not body. Sohlberg moved quickly to offer another door to Gunnar Haugen. This door offered Gunnar Haugen an excuse for kidnaping or harming his son. Sohlberg shrugged and said:
“Herr Haugen. . I know how people live with deep horrible secrets. . then one day they just can’t go on and they go crazy and explode. You see. . I know one of your secrets. . ”
Silence.
“Your wife. I know all about her.”
Haugen’s eyes narrowed and then closed shut.
“Ja. . I know all about her many many lies to trap you in a loveless marriage.”
Silence.
“I know about her lying to you about being born to a wealthy family.”
Silence.
“I know about her playing on your sympathy for those who are adopted like you.”
Silence.
“I know about her playing on your feelings about being a single father who needed a care-giver for his son. . and who better than an elementary school teacher?”
Silence.
“I know about her pretending to want a career in education only to turn down a good job offer teaching at a school because she instead preferred your offer of marriage. . which meant she no longer had to work for a living. I also know that she lied to you about not being materialistic when she has a long track record of using men to get material possessions.”
“I love my wife and she loves me.”
Sohlberg wondered if the statement was part of Gunnar Haugen’s natural instinct to deny the reality of his loveless marriage. Was Gunnar Haugen’s profession of love meant to protect Agnes Haugen? Or was it maybe meant to protect Gunnar Haugen by making his marriage appear to be that of a loving couple?
“Herr Haugen. . what kind of woman tells lies about not being able to have children and then magically cranks out a baby that will keep you paying child support for a long long time if you get a divorce.”
Silence.
“I know about your wife pretending to like being a stay-at-home wife when. . in fact. . she’s likes to party around with other men.”
Silence.
“I know about the many men she has had sex with while you were here at Nokia working hard.”
“I. . I love my wife and she loves me,” said a robot-like Gunnar Haugen.
“I know for a fact that your wife sent x-rated e-mails and nude pictures to one of your best high school friends who showed up to help search for your son.”
Silence.
“I also know that she sent text messages to one of her men friends and offered to pay him half of your life insurance proceeds if he’d erase you out of the picture.”
“She jokes around a lot.”
“Why are you protecting this woman?” shouted Sohlberg who grew increasingly furious at Gunnar Haugen’s refusal to cast suspicion on his wife. “Is she blackmailing you?”
“She loves me.”
“She can’t blackmail you any more because we just arrested your brother for molesting a teenage girl. . he told us about your grandfather molesting him and you at the barn in his farm near Hov.”
Sohlberg expected more silence and withdrawal. Instead he got an angry reaction from Gunnar Haugen who yelled:
“That never. . never happened to me!”
“Why would your brother lie?” said Sohlberg who was amazed at how this man could live with so many painful secrets. “Why would a pedophile like your grandfather only molest your younger brother and leave you alone?”