The key rattles inside.
And Thorleif realises that he is smiling for the first time in several days.
Chapter 53
Henning is sitting on his battered Stressless armchair, balancing his laptop on his thighs and resting his legs on a footstool in front of him. He has cleaned the cuts on the soles of his feet and applied a sterile bandage. He can feel that the healing process has already started.
The last few hours seem a blur to him. All he can remember clearly is his telephone conversation with Iver. Then nothing until he found himself coming to in the stairwell. And it’s not the first time that his body has short-circuited like this. What on earth is wrong with me? he wonders.
It’s almost 6.30 p.m., so he turns on the television. The commercial break is followed by the logo for TV2 News. He turns up the volume as he sees Tore Pulli’s tall figure in the same doorway where he himself met him only a few days ago. A breathless female voice announces that convicted killer Tore Pulli collapsed and died in Oslo Prison today. The picture disappears while the theme music is turned up a few notches before it fades away. The next headline story is introduced. Henning doesn’t listen to it but sees images of a concertinaed train with smoke rising from it. The final headline story is given five seconds to tantalise the viewer before the camera cuts to the studio where news anchor Mah-Rukh Ali welcomes the viewers to tonight’s programme. Henning turns the sound up even further.
Former enforcer Tore Pulli collapsed and died in Oslo Prison earlier today. Pulli was being interviewed by TV2 when he died.
Ali stares into the camera. The feature begins, but there are no pictures from inside the prison. Instead, they cut right to a green screen with a photograph of prison spokesman Knut Olav Nordbo next to a telephone. He makes a nervous attempt at telling the people of Norway what has happened, but for the time being he can’t release any information about the circumstances.
They cut to an outside broadcast from the entrance to the prison where a reporter is ready and waiting, clutching a microphone close to his face. He reiterates the facts of the case, before addressing Prison Governor Borre Kolberg. He can’t shed any light on what has happened either. Then back to Mah-Rukh Ali in the studio, who explains that viewers can see the final pictures of Tore Pulli on the nine o’clock news later that evening. In addition, on TV2’s website they can read an interview with TV2 journalist Guri Palme, who was about to interview Tore Pulli when he died.
Henning turns down the sound, flips open the laptop and connects to the Internet. The home page of 123news downloads itself. The breaking-news logo has gone and has been replaced with a standard headline accompanied by the media’s favourite photo of Pulli: the mug shot of him that cold October evening almost two years ago where his eyes are wide, his mouth open and his face displaying a gawping expression.
Henning experiences a sinking feeling, not just at Pulli’s death but also as he recalls the disappointment and incredulity in Iver Gundersen’s voice right before he hung up on him. Looking at all the stories Iver has written makes Henning feel even worse. Under the lead story there is a plethora of links, all with relevant and recent titles. Henning clicks on the lead story which still has no headline other than the obvious one that Pulli is dead.
The first thing that strikes him as he scrolls down the article is that Iver has done a great job. He has tried to dramatise today’s events, has written it in the present tense and has even produced a timeline. He concludes by reminding the readers what Pulli had been convicted of, complete with fact frames. The main text has been broken up with a large picture of Veronica Nansen, but she has yet to respond to 123news ’s requests for a reaction.
Henning sees that the news desk has pasted in TV2’s interview with Guri Palme. ‘The Shock of My Life’ is the headline. Neat, he thinks, producing an internet exclusive so promptly and then referring to the story during a live broadcast. ‘Synergies’ is the trendy word for it in TV circles. But he doesn’t click on it because he already knows what it’s going to say.
Iver has also spoken to Pulli’s solicitor, Frode Olsvik, who explained that he visited his client only a few hours before the interview and that there was nothing to suggest that he was unwell. Henning sighs, thinks about Pulli and hankers after a cigarette for the first time in ages. But he only needs to visualise his mother slumped over the kitchen table with the oxygen tank humming next to her and the urge goes away. What a life, he thinks. What a death.
At least Pulli’s was quick.
Chapter 54
It’s not until he is inside the cabin that it occurs to Thorleif that the property might be fitted with a burglar alarm. However, the power is switched off, and he can’t see any devices on the walls that indicate a connection to a security company.
It takes him a while to locate the circuit-breaker in a fuse box on an external wall. Fortunately, the water is already connected so he doesn’t need to search for a stopcock amongst the heather, bushes and stones that make up the rugged Ustaoset terrain.
On his way back inside he helps himself to a tin of lamb casserole which he heats up even though he isn’t hungry. The meat, potatoes and carrots turn out to be juicy and tasty, and gradually he feels his strength return, but his conscience continues to trouble him. He can’t bear the thought of what Elisabeth must be going through at home where she is probably pacing up and down the floor‚ absent-mindedly answering the children’s questions. That the man with the ponytail and his accomplices might be watching her at this very moment doesn’t improve Thorleif’s mood.
When he has finished eating, he notices that the light in the sky is starting to lose its intensity. The shop is probably shut now, but it doesn’t matter now that he has had a meal. He won’t need anything else until tomorrow so he spends some time making himself at home. The cabin is fitted with a composting toilet, and there are instructions on the bathroom wall which he reads before using it. Afterwards he showers in lukewarm water and dries himself with a towel he finds in one of the bathroom cupboards. Soon he starts to feel better.
There are plenty of books and other types of reading material in the cabin. He also finds a map of the area which might come in useful. In the tool shed he noticed both fishing equipment and several boxes of hooks. If I’m to stay here for a while, Thorleif thinks, perhaps I should try to catch a trout or two.
There is a television in the cabin, but he decides not to switch it on. The glare from a television screen could be easily seen from outside, even from afar. Initially he considers not switching on any lights at all in order not to alert the neighbours — should any have arrived during the evening — but it won’t be viable long term. I can’t just lock myself in, he thinks. I have to find out what is going on — if anything is, what the police are doing, what the media is saying. How will I be able to do that?
The hotel he passed on the main road will definitely have internet access, and, given the time of year, the guest computers are unlikely to be in great demand. But can he really run the risk of going there?
Thorleif thinks about the man who forced him to kill Pulli and asks himself if it’s true that he knows nothing about him. He must have said or done something which Thorleif can use to his advantage. They spent several hours together. There has to be something he can do without compromising his family or himself. Think, Thorleif, he says to himself. You have to think.