When they reached the far side of the room, Jon let them into a small office filled with filing cabinets. Only after they had closed and locked the door behind them did they dare speak.
'Whew,' whispered Jon. 'That was certainly effective.'
'In reality he should be thanking us,' said Katherina, smiling. 'He'll never forget what he read here tonight. And hopefully he'll get to bed earlier.'
'I could have used you when I was studying for exams,' said Jon, giving her a wink. 'But he's a good guy, that Anders. So just keep it up.'
Katherina nodded.
Jon began looking through the filing cabinets and studying documents. His scanning of files, summaries, excerpts from reports and rulings in the Remer case got mixed up with Anders Hellstrшm's case, but Katherina muted Jon's reading so she could keep focusing the other lawyer's attention.
There were many filing drawers in the room but Jon seemed to know where to find what they were looking for. He swiftly moved from one cabinet to another, plucking documents from folders.
Maybe he was getting a bit too eager, because suddenly he slammed shut one of the metal drawers with a loud bang.
They both froze, and Katherina noticed that Hellstrшm also stopped reading. She pictured him staring at the door of the room where they were hiding. Holding her breath and closing her eyes, she concentrated exclusively on what was happening inside the main office.
For a couple of seconds she received nothing, but then texts began turning up, words that could be notices on a bulletin board or product names. They appeared in brief flashes, and she tried as best she could to pique his interest in everything he was reading unconsciously. She noticed that he hesitated but also that the little flashes kept changing, new words and sentences showed up, which meant he was either shifting his glance or he was on the move.
Katherina caught Jon's attention and pointed anxiously at the door. Jon nodded and cautiously stepped towards it to switch off the light. The next second the door handle rattled and the door shook. After a moment of silence, they could hear the lawyer mutter to himself outside the door and then move away.
Only when Katherina began receiving images from Hellstrшm reading yet another summary from a general meeting did she whisper to Jon that he could continue his search. The light came on again, and Jon histrionically ran his palm over his forehead.
'That was close,' he whispered, giving her a quick kiss before he went back to looking through the filing cabinets.
After half an hour Katherina noticed that the lawyer outside their door was so tired even she couldn't hold his attention any longer. If she pressed him any harder, he might faint, and he wouldn't wake up until the next day with the worst headache of his life.
'He's almost worn out,' she whispered to Jon.
He nodded and tossed a few more pages onto the stack of documents he'd collected on the desk.
'Are we just going to take them with us?' asked Katherina softly.
'They'll never notice anything's missing,' Jon whispered back. 'This case is so massive that a couple of pages here or there isn't going to make any difference.'
Katherina estimated there were more than five hundred pages in the pile Jon had gathered.
'Besides, he deserves it. I think we have what we need. Let's get out of here.'
Katherina made sure the exhausted lawyer kept his attention fixed on his papers as they left the office and sneaked back through the main room along the wall. Anders Hellstrшm's eyes were staring with obvious strain at the documents, and Katherina and Jon could see that his hands were trembling ever so slightly.
After they had passed him they picked up their pace, moving as fast as they dared across the last section of the office to the door. Jon locked up as Katherina released her hold on the lawyer's attention. She saw his body crumple in his chair, but then with a jolt he straightened up and looked around. He rubbed his eyes, stood up and stretched, at the same time yawning so loudly they could hear it outside the door.
'Sleep tight,' said Jon.
The next morning they arrived at Libri di Luca just as Iversen was unlocking the door.
'How'd it go?' he asked.
'Fine,' replied Jon. 'I think we have what we need.' He held up the plastic bag containing all the documents.
'I don't want to know how you got those,' said Iversen, shaking his head. 'We can sit in the basement. Pau fixed all the lights yesterday.'
They went inside and headed down to the basement. In the library Jon and Iversen divided up the pile of papers. Jon took the ones dealing with Remer's extensive corporate structure while Iversen went through the press clippings and background information dealing with the man himself.
Katherina felt useless as she roamed around among the bookshelves while the others worked. She was receiving their perusal of the documents, but it was mostly lists of companies and personnel, so she quickly lost interest. Instead, like so often before, she used the time to admire the countless books in the library. She never tired of studying all the exquisite illustrations and the workmanship that had gone into each volume. A few books had been so damaged by Jon's activation that they had been unsalvageable, but the quick action of Iversen and Pau had prevented the major disaster that might otherwise have resulted.
Next to the light switch inside the door was a big scorched patch, and charred sections of the carpet bore witness to the violent event several days earlier. There wasn't much chance that anything would go wrong by reading the papers Jon was now looking at, but with his activation in mind, Katherina directed all her attention to what Jon was reading. Everything proceeded without drama. Jon read the lifeless texts without adding any emotion, and judging by the images that occasionally turned up, he wasn't especially focused. Katherina blushed when she discovered some of the images were of herself.
'Stop,' she exclaimed suddenly, pointing at Jon.
The two men looked up at her in surprise.
'What are you reading?' she asked.
Jon looked down at the documents. 'A list of board members at one of Remer's companies. Why?'
'Read the names again,' said Katherina.
Jon looked again at the page and slowly worked his way down the list. About halfway he opened his eyes wide.
'W. Kortmann,' he said in astonishment.
24
In the sunlight Kortmann's villa looked even more grotesque than on the night when they last visited. The huge building with the gleaming red bricks looked like some sort of cake, even though the impression was seriously marred by the rusty tower for the lift, which was leaning against the house like an old hollow tree. The sky was a deep blue, and the lawn surrounding the villa still had a lush green colour, even though they were well into October by now.
Jon wondered if it was because of the good weather or because Katherina had come along that Kortmann received them in the driveway instead of in his library. He was sitting in something that resembled an antique wheelchair with a curved black metal frame and a seat covered with red leather. A thick blanket hid his legs, and a pair of sunglasses concealed his eyes.
They had rung Kortmann several hours earlier, explaining that there was something they wanted to show him. He had sounded neither surprised nor particularly curious, merely suggesting that they meet that same afternoon. Both Iversen and Katherina insisted on going along – for different reasons, Jon suspected. Iversen was convinced that just because Kortmann was on the board of one of Remer's companies, that didn't necessarily mean he was part of the Shadow Organization. On the contrary, he might know nothing and was being used without his knowledge. Jon sensed that Katherina was of a different opinion. She pointed out that it was Kortmann who had constantly put up roadblocks to meetings of the two groups, and he was the one who was chiefly responsible for the split twenty years earlier. Who could possibly be a better mole?