Now I really was staring at her with horrified fascination. It was easy to understand what her brother had meant when he said that she was a competitive person.
‘So what you are actually saying is that Leonard could have a very strong financial motive for wanting to kill his father now – before time played to your advantage?’
Her smile was brief and unexpectedly wide. It made me think of a young female lion who has an antelope in her sight.
‘As you yourself said, given the peculiar sequence of events, it is a conclusion that I would not dismiss. But it is hard to know. Leonard is, no matter how reliable, rather unpredictable in his own way. He is one of the weakest strong people I know – or if you prefer, one of the strongest weak people. Leonard is strongest in the places where he feels secure and is known, be it the running track or the library. However, he becomes very weak when he is forced into places where he does not feel secure, and my guess is that he is a very lonely man. So if I were you, I would hold all options open.’
I was reminded of what Magdalena Schelderup had said about her brother having understood other people exceptionally well, but having only ever acted in self-interest. It would appear that his daughter resembled him in this respect too. She was by now positively chatty, and carried on after a brief pause.
‘So, thanks to my half-brothers’ inadequacies, I became, over the years, my father’s favourite child, even though he actually preferred sons to daughters. I recall that on a couple of occasions when I was young, he was asked about the position of women in our time, and he cited a former Danish prime minister who had said that he for his part still liked women best in a horizontal position. But the experience of having me and my half-brothers seemed to change that somewhat. In the past year he has said to me a couple of times that despite my thin arms, I was the one of his children who had the greatest ability and strength.’
‘And what about your mother?’
Maria Irene smiled again.
‘I have something from them both. My mother is one of the strongest and most clear-sighted people I know, but she often reacts emotionally, all the same. So if I were you, I would keep all options open there too.’
Unlike her older brother, Maria Irene seemed to be unexpectedly at ease in an interview situation. I noticed that her tone was very familiar, and that I wasn’t opposed to it. She held my eye, and was keen to carry on.
‘You must understand that my father was a conservative man in many ways, but he was also a very complex character. One group of people in society that he could not stand, a group that Fredrik came to symbolize more and more, was those who had been given every opportunity in life but had taken none. Father was not a generous man. He gave small amounts to charity only when it would obviously improve his reputation. But he did have a certain respect, I might even venture to say love, for people of strong will who had worked their way up to become something despite a more difficult start in life. And I think it was that, as well as pure physical desire of course, that prompted him to start an extramarital relationship with my mother.’
Maria Irene Schelderup took a deep breath. Then she continued with determination.
‘And I suppose that that was the very reason why he betrayed her nearly twenty years later with another, even younger woman. History repeated itself in a way that must have been deeply unpleasant for my mother.’
I was staring at her intensely – and noticed that she liked it.
‘Did your father have a new lover in his later years?’
She was obviously relishing the situation and permitted herself to smile before continuing.
‘Oh, so you hadn’t heard yet… I thought it was something that we all knew, but never talked about. Mother must know, though we have never discussed it. It is perhaps less certain that my half-brothers or aunt know, as they do not live here. But I would have thought that they knew too. My father’s history of relationships with his secretaries is well known, after all, and then last year he announced that she was going to be given her own room here on the ground floor.’
Finally I got the picture.
‘So you maintain that, despite the forty-year age difference, your father and his secretary Synnøve Jensen were having a sexual relationship. Is that something you know or just think?’
She flashed a self-assured smile before carrying on.
‘Something I know. My bedroom is directly above hers. The walls are quite thin, and my father was physically strong and active, despite getting on in years. His secretary was also surprisingly vocal in bed, when you consider how meek she is otherwise.’
We sat in silence for a few seconds. I studied the young Maria Irene Schelderup’s face for any sign of emotion. I expected some anger towards her father for his obvious betrayal of her mother. But I could detect nothing, not even when she carried on talking, not in her face, her voice or her body language.
‘So, the situation with the secretary is also an unknown now. If she has been left a substantial sum in his will, then it is possible that he promised it to her and so she also has a possible motive.’
I had to agree with her, but swiftly added: ‘In other words, soon your conclusion will be that everyone has a motive – except you, who only maybe has one?’
She smiled her predator smile again.
‘Your words. I suppose what I am saying in as many words is that everyone around that table has a possible motive. There was some old stuff between my father and his sister Magdalena, and the Wendelboes, and even Mr Herlofsen. Something to do with the war that was never mentioned, which I therefore know nothing about. You will have to ask those who were there about that. Depending on the content of the will, I may also have a motive, in which case I still maintain that I did not avail myself of the opportunity.’
I noted this down and said that I had no more questions for her, for the moment. She immediately stood up. In contrast to her older half-brothers, her hand was still as dry and firm when she left the room as when she had come in. With an arch smile, she said that it had been a very interesting conversation, and that I was welcome to contact her at any time, should I have any more questions.
She looked me in the eye as she said this – and it felt to me as though she saw straight through my uniform and me.
I hurried to close the door behind her, and then called in the secretary, Synnøve Jensen, as my next witness.
IX
Synnøve Jensen was slightly younger than I had first guessed. She told me that she was twenty-nine, and now that I saw her at closer quarters in a better light, it seemed possible. Her skin was young, although her eyes were serious. Her body was slim, and not without grace, but her movements were unsure. She stood gingerly by the door and did not approach the table until I had asked her twice.
I started with some tentative routine questions about how Magdalon Schelderup was as a boss. She replied earnestly and responsibly that he could at times be very demanding, but that he was also inspiring and nice as long as one did what was required. She had seen the job as a great opportunity and had thrown herself into it. After waiting a while to see how things went, he had declared himself satisfied with her work, and given her a pay rise as well as presents on her birthday and festive holidays. His death was completely unexpected and she had no idea who might have killed him. The idea had never entered her head and his death was a great personal loss to her. She did not want to say anything negative about either his family or the other employees on the day that he died.
Synnøve Jensen told me that she herself had grown up on a smallholding in Sørum and that she still lived in the small house that her parents had left to her. She had neither a driving licence nor a car, and took the bus to and from work every day. It was Magdalon Schelderup who had suggested that, during a very busy period at work, she should have her own bedroom here. She had accepted this, but always stayed at home at weekends and generally also during the week. Synnøve Jensen was single, had no brothers or sisters, and in fact had no close relatives at all following the death of her parents some years ago. After completing school and a secretarial course, she had for several years had various short-term office jobs. It was a great relief to her to have found a position that offered not only a regular and secure income, but also an employer and work that she liked.