‘I don’t think you even know how ridiculous this is,’ Gunnarstranda answered. ‘But since you’re here anyway, you can drive me to Oslo.’
‘What was in the safety-deposit box?’
‘Money.’
‘So Inge Narvesen will be happy?’
‘Presume so. The box was issued immediately after his safe was stolen. And Zupac is an authorized keyholder.’
‘So Narvesen will probably be able to claim the money. Could be complicated, though, digging up an old case, from 1998, and charging another man.’
‘Two.’
‘Two?’
‘Ballo may have stayed away, but he’s not innocent.’
Frølich drove off. They took the E18.
Gunnarstranda added: ‘But Rognstad will get off this time.’
They didn’t speak, until Frølich could no longer stand it. He said: ‘Why should he go free?’
‘What are you going to charge him with? You didn’t see your attacker, did you?’
‘But he had the key to the safety-deposit box. He obviously stole it from me.’
‘If you report him for assault.’
‘I will.’
‘As far as I’m concerned, go ahead. But do that and you’re off the case. Any evidence that has passed through your hands will be totally worthless in a case against Jim Rognstad.’
Frølich drove in silence.
‘Besides, Rognstad can always say he borrowed the key from Vidar Ballo and he has no idea where Ballo got it from. And we can’t check that story out because Ballo is nowhere to be found.’
‘You’re a real optimist, you are.’
‘Wrong’ Frølich, I’m a realist. Rognstad’s going to the safety-deposit box to collect the money changes nothing. Jonny Faremo and Vidar Ballo have had free access to the box for six years. The only thing Rognstad needs to say is that he got the surprise of his life when he saw the money in the box and he doesn’t know where it came from. It could have been put there by Jonny Faremo, who is dead, of course, and so cannot answer any questions. See? All that has happened today is that probably Narvesen’s money has turned up again. We haven’t got enough on Rognstad to make any charge stick.’
After another silence Frølich said:
‘Couldn’t you use the torched chalet, Elisabeth’s murder?’
Gunnarstranda shrugged. ‘We’ll have to wait and see. The local Fagernes police have got photos of Ballo, Faremo, Rognstad and even Merethe Sandmo. So we’ll see what they can uncover.’ Gunnarstranda looked over at his colleague and said: ‘There’s one thing we haven’t discussed, Frølich.’
‘What’s on your mind?’
‘Could your lady friend have set fire to the chalet?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Elisabeth, set fire to herself? The idea is absurd.’
‘Let me put it a different way. Could she have killed herself?’
‘Why would she kill herself?’
‘That sort of thing happens.’
‘But no one chooses to burn themselves willingly.’
‘Suicidal types might, Frølich. They’re not as lucky as Ophelia. They don’t all have a romantic millpond in the moonlight to hand when misfortune beckons.’
‘Listen to me. Elisabeth did not take her own life. You cannot make me believe that she set fire to herself.’
‘But she might have taken sleeping tablets and fallen asleep with the candle lit.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘The fire in the chalet was probably started by a candle, a candle in a bottle.’
Frølich said nothing.
‘The local police and the fire investigators are agreed on that,’ Gunnarstranda added. ‘And it’s not so unlikely that she was depressed after the death of her brother, is it? She didn’t have any other family. Just imagine, she’s on the run from some roughnecks, then her brother dies, her protector, the anchor in her life. Many would become emotional for much less.’
Frølich deliberated before speaking. ‘I tend to the view that the candle was helped on its way, by someone who first of all dealt with Elisabeth – by Rognstad, for example. There was a fire because someone wanted to conceal a murder.’
‘Naturally that is a possibility, but it is no more than a hypothesis.’
‘Hypothesis?’
‘Kripos find human remains subsequent to a chalet fire. The cause of the fire seems to be a candle which has toppled over. So the sequence of events is: someone reading in bed falls asleep, the candle is lit and she dies of carbon monoxide poisoning before the fire really takes hold.’
‘Do you believe that?’
‘I don’t believe anything. I’m just telling you the theory Kripos have come up with.’
Frølich took a deep breath. They had arrived in Spydeberg. He indicated right and stopped at the petrol station. ‘I’ll show you something,’ he said finally and pulled out Reidun Vestli’s suicide letter from his inside pocket.
Gunnarstranda finished reading the letter, then took off his glasses and chewed the ends. ‘Why didn’t you show me this before?’ he asked gently.
‘It came a couple of days ago. The crux is…’
‘It came? To your post box?’
‘I hadn’t opened it for days. The crux is what you can read between the lines. These terrible people etc etc. Reidun Vestli didn’t find any romantic millpond. She took recourse to a bottle of pills because…’
‘I can read too,’ Gunnarstranda interrupted. ‘But all this just sounds like a radio play.’ He put his glasses back on his nose and read aloud: ‘I don’t know whether Elisabeth will be able to stand up to these terrible people. I hope she can, but I have no illusions. Nor did I have any illusions when they came here. Elisabeth warned me about them – these terrible people…’ He lowered his glasses. ‘I’ve never read such dross.’
Frølich didn’t know what to answer.
Gunnarstranda said: ‘If this lady was beaten up so badly she told her attackers where Elisabeth was, and then, on top of that, sent a letter through the post to a policeman, why on earth would she not say who was responsible so that they would be punished?’
‘Don’t know,’ Frølich said lamely. ‘But I would assume out of loyalty to Elisabeth.’
‘Loyalty? Elisabeth Faremo was dead when Vestli wrote this.’
‘I have no cause to doubt the authenticity of the letter. The opening sentences, about the salutation. That’s like listening to her speak. Reidun Vestli killed herself, and no one, not even you, can make me believe anything different. It’s true there isn’t much information of any value in the letter, but, in my opinion, it is genuine. Now you’ve got Rognstad. I’m sure he’s partly responsible for Reidun Vestli’s death.’
‘Reidun Vestli is no longer able to testify against Rognstad. But – if you’re right about the letter and it is genuine – why send it to you?’
‘I thought it may have been something as basic as a need to communicate to someone the cause…’
‘What cause?’
‘What caused her to take her life.’
‘So your version of events is that someone – possibly Vidar Ballo and/or Jim Rognstad searching for Elisabeth Faremo – beat the information out of Reidun Vestli and this someone made their way to the chalet, killed Elisabeth Faremo and set fire to the chalet? This had such a dreadful effect on Reidun Vestli that she took a load of pills and died?’
‘Yes. I think Vidar Ballo and Jim Rognstad beat up Reidun Vestli to find out where Elisabeth was. I think they succeeded. I think the fire was intended to cover up Elisabeth’s murder.’
‘But why did they kill Elisabeth Faremo?’
‘They wanted the key to the safety-deposit box, but she’d left it in my flat.’
‘So they bumped off Jonny Faremo, gave Reidun Vestli a pasting and saw off Elisabeth Faremo to get their paws on the briefcase with the money?’
‘Yes.’
‘The two of them? Rognstad and Ballo?’
‘Yes.’
‘There are two things that bother me, Frølich,’ drawled Gunnarstranda. He opened the car door and put one foot on the ground. Then he got out, buttoned up his coat and lit a cigarette before leaning into the car to say: ‘First of all, if these two are such bosom buddies, as you claim, why did only one of them steal the key from you and why did only one of them turn up to take the bloody money?’