‘Yes.’
‘So we’re talking the world’s worst choice of getaway vehicle?’
‘Let’s hope so. Keep me informed.’
Bjørn jogged over. ‘Oleg and that doctor are driving Berntsen to Ullevål,’ he panted. ‘Wyller’s gone with them.’
‘What are his chances, do you think?’
‘I only have experience of dead bodies.’
‘OK, did Berntsen look like one?’
Bjørn Holm shrugged. ‘He was still bleeding, and at least that means he isn’t completely empty yet.’
‘And Rakel?’
‘She’s sitting in the auditorium with Bellman’s wife, she’s really cut up about it. Bellman himself had to rush off to manage the operation from somewhere he could get an overview of the situation, he said.’
‘Overview?’ Katrine snorted. ‘The only place we’ve got any sort of overview is here!’
‘I know, but take it easy, darling, we don’t want the little one to get stressed, do we?’
‘Bloody hell, Bjørn.’ She squeezed her phone. ‘Why couldn’t you have told me what Harry was planning?’
‘Because I didn’t know.’
‘You didn’t know? You must have known something if he’s brought Forensics in to examine Smith’s car.’
‘He hasn’t, that was a bluff. Like that bit about the dating of the DNA found on the water pipe.’
‘What?’
‘The Forensic Medical Institute can’t determine how old DNA is. What Harry said about them having found out that Smith’s DNA was more than two months old, that was a complete lie.’
Katrine looked at Bjørn. Put her hand in her bag and pulled out the yellow document folder Harry had given her. She opened it. Three sheets of A4. All blank.
‘A bluff,’ Bjørn said. ‘For stylometry to be able to reveal anything with any degree of accuracy, the text has to be at least five thousand characters long. Those short emails that were sent to Valentin reveal nothing about the identity of their author.’
‘Harry had nothing,’ Katrine whispered.
‘Not a damn thing!’ Bjørn said. ‘He was just going for a confession.’
‘Damn him!’ Katrine pressed her phone to her forehead, not quite sure if she wanted to warm it up or cool it down. ‘So why didn’t he say anything? Christ, we could have had armed police outside.’
‘Because he couldn’t say anything.’
The answer came from Ståle Aune, who had walked over and stopped beside them.
‘Why not?’
‘Simple,’ Ståle said. ‘If he’d informed anyone in the police of what he was planning, and the police hadn’t already intervened, then what happened in the auditorium would de facto have been a police interview. A police interview way outside the rules, in which the person being questioned wasn’t informed of his rights, and in which the interviewer lied intentionally in order to mislead. And then none of what Smith said today could have been used in a trial. But as it is now …’
Katrine Bratt blinked. Then she nodded slowly. ‘As it is, Harry Hole, lecturer and private citizen took part in a disputation in which Smith spoke out of his own volition and in the presence of witnesses. Did you know about this, Ståle?’
Ståle Aune nodded. ‘Harry called me yesterday. He told me all the things that were pointing to Hallstein Smith. But he had no proof. So he explained his plan to use the disputation to set a monkey trap, with my help. And using Dr Steffens as an expert witness.’
‘And how did you reply?’
‘I said Hallstein Smith, “the Monkey”, had walked into that sort of trap once before, and was hardly likely to do so again.’
‘But?’
‘But Harry used my own words against me by referring to Aune’s Thesis.’
‘Human beings are notorious,’ Bjørn said. ‘They make the same mistakes over and over again.’
‘Precisely,’ Aune nodded. ‘And Smith had apparently told Harry in the lift at Police HQ that he’d rather have his doctorate than a long life.’
‘And he walked straight into the monkey trap, of course, the idiot,’ Katrine groaned.
‘He lived up to his nickname, yes.’
‘Not Smith, I’m talking about Harry.’
Aune nodded. ‘I’m going back to the auditorium – Bellman’s wife needs help.’
‘I’ll come with you to secure the crime scene,’ Bjørn said.
‘Crime scene?’ Katrine asked.
‘Berntsen.’
‘Oh, yes. Yes.’
When the men had left her she looked up at the sky. Where had that helicopter got to?
‘Damn you,’ she muttered. ‘Damn you, Harry Hole.’
‘Is it his fault?’
Katrine turned round.
Mona Daa was standing there. ‘I don’t want to disturb you,’ she said. ‘I’m not actually working at the moment, but I saw it online so I came down. If you want to use VG to say anything, to send Smith a message or anything …?’
‘Thanks, Daa, I’ll let you know.’
‘OK.’ Mona Daa turned on her heel and started to leave, walking her penguin walk.
‘I was actually surprised not to see you at the disputation,’ Katrine said.
Mona Daa stopped.
‘You’ve been VG’s lead reporter on the vampirist case from the start,’ Katrine said.
‘So Anders hasn’t spoken to you.’
Something about the way Mona Daa used Anders Wyller’s first name, so naturally, made Katrine raise an eyebrow. ‘Spoken to me?’
‘Yes. Anders and me, we …’
‘You’re kidding?’ Katrine said.
Mona Daa laughed. ‘No. I realise that there are certain practical issues, purely professionally, but no, I’m not joking.’
‘And when did you …?’
‘Now, really. We’ve both got a few days off, and have been spending them in claustrophobically close proximity in Anders’s little flat, to find out if we’d make a good match. We thought it made sense to know before we told anyone.’
‘So no one knows about it?’
‘Not until Harry very nearly caught us red-handed with a surprise visit. Anders reckons Harry realised. And I know he tried to get hold of me at VG. I’m assuming that was to confirm his suspicions.’
‘He’s pretty good at suspicions,’ Katrine said, looking up at the sky for the helicopter.
‘I know.’
Harry listened to the faint whistling sound as Smith breathed in and out. Then he noticed something odd out on the fjord. A dog that looked like it was walking on water. Meltwater. Seeping up through cracks in the ice even though it was below freezing.
‘I’ve been accused of seeing vampirism simply because I want it to exist,’ Smith said. ‘But now it’s been proven, once and for all, and soon the whole world will know what Professor Smith’s vampirism is, regardless of what happens to me. And Valentin isn’t the only one, there’ll be more. More opportunities to keep the world focused on vampirism. I promise you, they’ve already been recruited. You asked me once if recognition meant more than life. Of course it does. Recognition is eternal life. And you’re going to get eternal life too, Harry. As the man who almost caught Hallstein Smith, the man they once called the Monkey. Do you think I talk too much?’
They were approaching IKEA. They’d be at Asker in five minutes. Smith wouldn’t react if there was a bit of a queue, the traffic often built up there.
‘Denmark,’ Smith said. ‘Spring comes earlier there.’
Denmark? Was Smith turning psychotic? Harry heard a dry clicking sound. The car was indicating. No, no, he was turning off the main road! Harry saw a sign with the name Nesøya on it.
‘There’s enough meltwater for me to be able to get out to the edge of the ice, wouldn’t you say? A super-light aluminium boat with just one man on board won’t sit too deep.’