The Last Fix [En liten gyllen ring no]

Thefigure reminded him of one of the boys you find in the back row of theclassroom, the type with ambitious parents and no spine. He seemed to begenerating an image of himself from those times – rocking the chair, wearingdesigner clothing and puffing himself up with arrogance.

Frølichclosed the door behind him and crept back to room 211 to write up his notes.Gerhardsen could wait a bit longer.

Tenminutes later there was a ring from reception.

'Hi,Frankie. There's a man standing here, name of Bjørn Gerhardsen. He wassupposed to appear in front of room 211 at half past three.'

'Askhim to take a seat outside 211 and wait,' Frølich said without mincinghis words and went on with the report.

Thenext time he looked up it was ten minutes to four. Gerhardsen was a patientman. Five minutes later there was a knock at the door.

Frølichswung round in his chair and watched the door. The handle went down slowly.

Thepoliceman pretended to glance up from his papers as the door opened.

'Hello,I'm Bjørn Gerhardsen,' the man in the doorway said, unsure of himself.

Frølichlooked up at the clock on the wall. Then, with raised eyebrows, he looked atGerhardsen.

'I'vebeen waiting since half past three,' the man said.

'Isee,' said Frølich, getting up. 'I thought you would never come. Well,take a seat,' he said, pointing to an armchair beside his desk. 'Frank Frølich,'he went on, proffering his hand.

Gerhardsensat down. He was business-like, but at the same time casually dressed in a darksuit jacket and lighter slacks, chinos, an expensive brand.

Beneaththe jacket he was wearing a garish yellow shirt and a tie that created anatural transition to the colour of the jacket.

'I'msure you understand why we would like to talk to you.'

'Yes,indeed.' Gerhardsen cleared his throat. 'Do you mean… you've been waiting forme since half past three?'

Frølichglanced up from his papers, indifferent to his question. 'You are married toAnnabeth s?'

'Yes.'

'Andon the Saturday Katrine Bratterud disappeared you had both invited a great manyguests to a party. Could you start by telling me your experience of thisparty?'

Gerhardsenfixed him with a glassy look indicating that he was not used to being insultedin this way. The look also said that he was not sure whether he would toleratethe insult. In the end he made a decision, closed his eyes and swallowed hard.Then he cleared his throat and said: 'There isn't much to tell. It was asuccessful party, easy-going, nice atmosphere. I think that was true for mostpeople, at any rate.'

Frølichnodded. 'What sort of party was it? What was the occasion?'

'Justa private party. Annabeth and I invited good friends over for some food andwine.'

'Butmost of the guests had some kind of connection with the Vinterhagen centre,isn't that correct?'

'Yes,it is. In that sense I suppose it marked summer – it was a kind of summerparty.'

'Butnot everyone was invited?'

'No,I guess it was the inner core. All that side of things was Annabeth's domain.'

'AndKatrine Bratterud.'

'Yes,as you know, she had completed the programme at the rehab centre. She was dueto be formally discharged, if that is the term they use. In fact, I don't knowmuch about the details of these procedures.'

'You'rethe chairman there?'

'Yes,but not a therapist. I trained as an economist and economics is my professionalfield.'

'Isee. You're the CEO of a financial institute?'

'Geo-InvestA/S.'

'Katrinewas not a close friend?'

'Yes,she was, a good friend. That was one of the reasons she was invited. She hadbeen a part of Annabeth's working day for years. And… ' He opened his palms.'What is there to say? She was attractive, she… had style, was talented… wasintelligent… and had the best references from the travel agency where sheworked.'

Frølichnodded to himself and scratched his beard. 'We can come back to that,' hemumbled and asked, 'Did you notice anything in particular about Katrine thatevening?'

'Shewas ill.'

Frølichlooked up.

'Yes,she felt sick and threw up, I believe… there was a bit of a hubbub around thisIncident. My guess is it happened at around eleven. At any rate, it was a whileafter we had left the table. We always stay at the dinner table for a longtime… I didn't see what happened, but I understand that Annabeth spoke to her…'

Gerhardsenstopped as the door behind him opened. He turned in his chair. Police InspectorGunnarstranda came in and stood in front of the mirror on the wall arranginghis comb-over. 'Bjørn Gerhardsen,' Frølich said to Gunnarstrandaand to the man: 'Police Inspector Gunnarstranda.'

Thetwo of them shook hands. Gunnarstranda sat on the edge of the desk.

Gerhardsenasked: 'Should I continue?'

Asthe other two made no attempt to answer, he said: 'Annabeth had been talking toher when someone came from behind. Anyway one or two bot- des of wine weresmashed. As I said I didn't see anything but Annabeth was covered in…'

'Youdon't know who it was?'

'Pardon.'

'Theperson who collided with your wife, you don't know who it was?'

'No.'

Frølichmotioned for him to go on.

'Well,there was a lot of mess, and then Katrine must have fainted, I suppose. Herboyfriend was there and helped her into the bathroom. Then I heard she had leftafter the incident because she didn't feel well.'

Gunnarstrandawas fidgeting with a packet of chewing gum. The packet wouldn't open. With anirritated yank he broke the packet in two and put two pieces of gum in hismouth. He leaned over, rested his chin on one hand and listened with interest.His chin rotated like a sheep's lower jaw.

Frølichto Gerhardsen: 'But you didn't see this happen?'

'No.'

'Wherewere you?'

'Iwas round about, somewhere or other. I was the host after all.' 'Did you noticeKatrine leave? When did that happen? How did it happen?'

'No.That is – I did register that she was quarrelling with her boyfriend.'

'Quarrelling?'

'Yes,that was after the wine incident, or the fainting or whatever I should call it.I passed them in the hallway. Needed… well, I needed… a pee. They were having arow.'

'Arow?'

'Yes,or so it seemed, but they went quiet as I passed them, and then I heard themstart up again as I closed the door. But I have no idea what they were rowingabout.'

'Didyou talk to Katrine at any point during this party?'

'Alittle. We sat together at table, or opposite each other, so we talked or to bemore precise, we made conversation.'

'Howlong did the party last?'

'Untilabout four o'clock in the morning. That was when the last guests left.'

'Canyou remember who the last ones were?'

'Therewere quite a few in fact. Some were being picked up. There was a lot of fusswith taxis and so on. Some had to wait for taxis. But there were some who wentbefore, earlier in the evening, though I certainly didn't notice who wentwhen.'

Frølichconferred with his notes. 'How can you know that when you weren't there?' heasked breezily.

Gerhardsengave him a hard look. 'I was there in fact,' he answered.

'Wehave heard that you left the party soon after coffee was served, with a certainGeorg Beck and a number of others.'

'Yes,indeed, that is correct. But I was back before four.'

'Bytaxi?'

'No,I drove one of the company cars.'

Thetwo policemen exchanged glances. Gerhardsen noticed and coughed. 'We have twocars belonging to Geo-Invest, a van and a smaller saloon – a Daihatsu. SinceI'm the CEO I can use the cars on the odd occasion. That night I took one todrive home – so that I didn't have to queue for a taxi.'

Hecoughed and continued as the two detectives still made no move to interrupt.'We have offices in Munkedamsveien. These two cars are in the garage and Icouldn't bear the thought of waiting for several hours in the taxi queue, so Iunlocked the garage and drove the saloon car home.'