“Dag?. . Who?” said a devastated Gunnar Haugen.
“He’s the old man who lives where Orreveien becomes a dead end. . he saw your wife park your pickup truck there for half an hour at nine in the morning right after the science fair and later that afternoon. . from about twelve thirty to one forty-five.”
“Isn’t the dead end at Orreveien near the school?” asked Gunnar Haugen’s lawyer.
“Yes,” said Sohlberg. “That’s where Agnes murdered and hid Karl. . less than a quarter mile from the school.”
“She’s a sneaky one,” observed Thorsen. “She hid everything so well.”
“Ja,” said Sohlberg. “That’s typical of the most brilliant criminals. . they operate right under our noses. That’s what makes them so hard to identify and catch.”
“That woman,” said Gunnar Haugen in a weak pitiful voice. “She destroyed me!”
“That might be Herr Haugen,” said Sohlberg with his eyes solemn and mournful. “Just don’t forget. . a man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
Gunnar Haugen nodded. But he didn’t seem to really understand what Sohlberg was telling him. Haugen was a broken man. The lawyer asked more questions.
Sohlberg took a few steps back and left the room. He looked forward to spending the evening with Fru Sohlberg. He was grateful that he had a loving home to go to that evening because Sohlberg knew that no amount of money or success could buy a happy marriage or a loyal spouse.
“I’m done. . finished,” said Sohlberg to his wife on the cell phone as soon as he left the ground floor lobby of 12 Hammersborggata.
He walked out into the street with a spring to his step. The burden of the little boy’s sad life and death lifted temporarily off his shoulders. Of course the burden would return from time to time and weigh Sohlberg down. The dead always came back to him. He remembered all of the homicide victims whose cases he had worked on. Even if strangers to Sohlberg the dead and gone visited him in the labyrinths of his mind.
“Solve the case?”
“Yes. It’s time to go home and leave Norway.”
EPILOGUE: HOMEWARD BOUND
Karl Haugen heard barking. A puppy ran up to him. He played and kissed the dog which licked his cheeks. Karl felt much more happy than he had in a long long time. He suddenly realized that his father and mother wanted him to stay where he was playing with the dog.
A man and a woman who seemed kind and familiar came up to him and said:
“Karl. . are you ready to go back home?”
He looked at the endless beautiful fields of incredible sun-drenched flowers and he laughed when his puppy ran off to play in the distance. He finally had the puppy that he had wanted for so long.
Karl ran after the puppy and finally entered the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind of God.