Gunnarstrandalooked up from the report with a grim expression on his face. 'She can bestupid even if she's educated.'
Frølichtook aim again. But the dart missed and disappeared behind the box files. Heswore.
'You'reeducated,' Gunnarstranda said caustically.
'Eh?'
'Butyou don't seem that bright at this particular moment.' Gunnarstranda waved thepapers in a fit of impatience.
Frølichgot up from the armchair, drew a long breath and sighed. He crossed the room,sat at his own desk and pulled out the sliding keyboard on the shelf. He said,'We know that either Merethe Fossum or Eidesen is lying. That much is obvious.'
Gunnarstrandanodded. He said, 'You and I put the squeeze on Eidesen that first night. Hemade up an unlikely banal story that left him without an alibi. If my memory iscorrect he claimed he went home expecting to find Katrine in his bed, but shewasn't there. Am I right?'
Frølichmoved the mouse and found the file on the computer screen. He read, 'He said hecame home between half past two and three.'
'AndKatrine may still have been alive at that time,' Gunnarstranda said.
Frølichread: 'Eidesen said he rang Katrine but didn't get an answer.' Gunnarstrandanodded. 'And he went to bed. So he doesn't have an alibi…'
Frølichswung round on his chair. 'Whereas Merethe Fossum maintains she and Eidesenwent back to her place and were in the same bed until late the next morning.'
'Butwhy would Ole Eidesen lie his way out of a cast-iron alibi?'
'Well,to give a more appealing image of himself. After all, he was the dead girl'sboyfriend, and it sounds a lot better if he was asleep in bed waiting for herwhile she was being killed. Better than saying he was in bed with anotherwoman.'
'Butif that's the case, he must have known we would see through a lie like that.'
'Ofcourse,' Frølich persisted. 'But he was her boyfriend. He had no motivefor bumping her off. And he has an alibi, but to avoid reproaches from others -remember Katrine was a popular girl – he waits before producing his alibi,Merethe Fossum. What will all her friends say to him letting Katrine go outinto the night on her own, exposing her to all sorts of sexual offenders andpredatory creatures, and bedding Merethe while Katrine was being murdered!'
Gunnarstranda:'If Katrine's adventure with Henning Kramer made Eidesen jealous, he has amotive. Let's assume he was jealous. There are men who are suspicious of theirgirlfriends twenty-four hours a day. Let's assume he spied on her when she leftthe party and he saw her walking down the road, saw her getting into a rival'scar… My goodness, there are many such murders committed every year in thiscountry.'
'Butwhy would Fossum lie?' Frølich asked. 'Everyone has confirmed that threepeople went to Smuget. Everyone has confirmed that those two stayed together.It's very unlikely that she would cover up for Eidesen by lying. She hasnothing to gain. We have to suppose that Fossum is telling the truth and thatEidesen has an alibi. If Eidesen had found out Katrine got together with Kramerthat night, all he did by way of retaliation was to sleep with Merethe. That ismore likely than running off to kill Katrine.'
Gunnarstrandalistened with a thoughtful groove in his brow.
Frølichcontinued: 'Gerhardsen is the only person without anyone to hide behind.Suppose Gerhardsen had been turned on by Katrine that night. According to GeorgBeck, he was standing on the veranda, touching her up. So we have thisfantastic coincidence that two cars leave the party at more or less the sametime. They drive down to the city centre. The taxi stops outside Smuget. Kramerparks the Audi in Cort Adelers gate and the two of them walk down to AkerBrygge. Here they queue at a takeaway and buy food; she dances with adown-and-out. Time passes.
Forthe sake of argument let's suppose that Gerhardsen never joined Ole and Merethe.After all, he was the gooseberry. Let's say he left them in Aker Brygge wherethere is no shortage of women. Then he saw Katrine and Kramer. His company carwas in the garage close by. We know he took the car, but he might have donethat a long time before. He could have taken the car and followed them, andstruck when Kramer dropped off Katrine, before driving back home. He could havemanaged that in the time. Kramer said he dropped off Katrine between half pasttwo and three o'clock. That gives Gerhardsen time to rape, strangle and dumpher and still get home by four.'
Theysat looking at each other. Frølich was excited by his speculation.Gunnarstranda was silent.
'Whatdon't you like about this theory?' the younger policeman enquired.
Gunnarstrandagot out of the chair and began to pace to and fro in the room. 'Nothingreally,' he said, grabbing the last dart from the low coffee table. 'But I'mthinking about Henning Kramer. I like his statement less and less. We don'tknow, as far as self- control goes, whether he has a low threshold.'Gunnarstranda leaned towards the window, thinking, while his right handfidgeted with the green dart.
'Andif he's lying,' he mumbled, 'he's doing that to hide something, and what elsecould he have to hide other than…?'
'…her murder?' Frølich concluded. They sat without speaking. Gunnarstrandafiddled with the dart. Frølich coughed. 'But can we afford not toexamine Gerhardsen's company car?' he asked at length. 'If Katrine was in thecar, we are bound to find substantiating evidence.'
Gunnarstrandanodded. 'We can't afford not to,' he mumbled.
Thetelephone rang. Gunnarstranda strode over to his desk and grabbed it. Frølichstood up and began to search for the dart that had disappeared behind the fileson the shelf. He gave up and instead turned towards Gunnarstranda who wasnodding and grunting on the telephone: 'Yes… yes… yes… right… well, well…'
Hecradled the telephone.
Theystared at each other. 'What jewellery did Katrine own again?' Gunnarstrandaasked.
'Apartfrom the piercing?' Frølich frowned. 'There would have been quite a bitof gold. Rings, a gold bracelet and most likely a gold chain, a bracelet madeof ivory… all we know for sure is that she was wearing some earrings thatnight, two gold cannabis leaves. A present from Eidesen – but we have just hisword for that.' He grinned and looked up with a questioning expression.
Gunnarstrandawas weighing the green dart in his hand. 'Duck,' he said and took aim.
Frølichkicked and rolled his chair back, out of the line of fire; Gunnarstranda threw.Bullseye. 'That was Yttergjerde,' he said with a smug grin. 'Yttergjerde and acouple of other policeman broke into Raymond Skau's flat. No one has seen hidenor hair of Skau, but in his flat they found some lady's jewellery among whichwas a pair of gold cannabis leaves designed as earrings.'
'RaymondSkau?'
Gunnarstrandanodded.
'He'sgot Katrine Bratterud's jewellery?'
'Timewill tell,' Gunnarstranda said. 'Only Eidesen can give a satisfactory answer tothe question of whether it is her jewellery.' He stood up. 'So now I have anexcuse to get him back here. You continue the field work in the meantime – inparticular, check out anything connected with Henning Kramer.'
Chapter Twenty-Five
OleEidesen sauntered down the corridor with his hands buried deep in his trouserpockets. He was wearing a white tracksuit top with a colourful design on thefront, some kind of aquarium with either sperm cells or tadpoles swimmingaround. The white tracksuit bottoms had a grass stain on one knee and seemedtoo big: they smothered his white trainers. Gunnarstranda's white porcelainteeth sparkled at the sight; he held the door wide open for the close- cropped,monk-like visitor who had to bend at the knees to shake hands – it was almostlike a courteous bow. Eidesen stopped the second he was inside. The cuts on hisface were still red and angry, and his eyes were drawn to Gunnarstranda's desk.The paper had been tidied away, but the table space between the computer andthe electric typewriter was littered with small objects.