by Karin Fossum
He stopped and scratched the back of his hand, where he had a red, scaly patch as big as a 20-krone coin.
"You're one of the people who knew her best. And I'm sure you've had a thousand thoughts about this. I have to ask you again whether there was anything in Annie's past – experiences, acquaintances, opinions, impressions, anything at all – that surprised you. Don't limit yourself to a specific line of thought, just think about whether anything troubled you. Look for the smallest detail, even if it seems silly. A reaction you hadn't expected. Comments, hints, facts that have stayed with you. Annie had undergone a change in behaviour. I had the impression that it might have been due to something more than just puberty. Can you confirm that?"
"Ada says—"
"But what do you say?" Sejer held his gaze. "She rejected Halvor, quit the handball team, and then withdrew into herself. Did something happen at that time, something out of the ordinary?"
"Have you talked to Jensvoll?"
"Yes, we have."
"Well, I heard some rumours, but maybe they're not true. Rumours spread fast around here," he said, a little embarrassed, his cheeks slightly flushed.
"What are you getting at?"
"Just something that Annie mentioned. That he was once in prison. A long time ago. I don't know why."
"Did Annie know?"
"So he was in prison?"
"That's correct, he was. But I didn't think anyone knew about it. We're checking everyone around Annie, to see whether they had an alibi. We've talked to more than 300 people, but unfortunately, no one is yet a suspect in the case."
"There's a man who lives up on Kolleveien," Holland said, "who's not all there. I've heard that he's tried things with girls around here."
"We've talked to him too," Sejer said patiently. "He was the one who found Annie."
"Yes, that's what I thought."
"He has an alibi."
"If it's reliable."
Sejer thought about Ragnhild and didn't tell Holland that his alibi was a six-year-old child.
"Why do you think she stopped baby-sitting?"
"I think she just grew out of it."
"But I understand that she really loved taking care of children. That's why I think it's a little strange."
"For years she did nothing else. First she'd do her homework and then she'd go outside to see if anyone on the block needed a ride in a pushchair. And if there was a fight going on, she'd calm everybody down. The poor child who threw the first stone would have to confess. Then he would be forgiven, and everything was fine again. She was good at mediating. She had authority, and everybody did what she said. Even the boys."
"A diplomatic personality, in other words?"
"Exactly. She liked to work things out. She couldn't stand unresolved conflicts. If there was something going on with Sølvi, for example, Annie would always find a solution for us. She was a kind of middleman. But in a way ..." he said, "she seemed to lose interest in that too. She didn't get involved in things the way she used to."
"When was this?"
"Sometime last autumn."
"What happened last autumn?"
"I've already told you. She didn't want to be part of the team any more, didn't want to be with other people the way she used to do."
"But why!"
"I don't know," he said in despair. "I'm telling you that I don't understand it."
"Try to look beyond yourself and your immediate family. Beyond Halvor and the team and the problems with Axel Bjørk. Did anything else happen in the village at that time? Anything that might not have been directly related to you?"
Holland threw out his hands. "Well, yes. Although it doesn't have anything to do with this. One of the children she baby-sat for died in a tragic accident. That didn't help matters. Annie didn't want to take part in anything after that. The only thing she thought about was putting on her trainers and running away from home and the street."
Sejer could feel his heart take an extra beat.
"What did you just say?" He leaned his elbows on the table.
"One of the children she took care of died in an accident. His name was Eskil."
"Did it happen while Annie was baby-sitting for him?"
"No, no!" Holland gave him a frightened look. "No, are you crazy! Annie was extremely careful when she was caring for children. Didn't let them out of her sight for an instant."
"How did it happen?"
"At his house. He was only about two years old. Annie took it really badly. Well, we all did, of course, since we knew them."
"And when did this happen?"
"Last autumn, I told you. About the time that she withdrew from everything. In fact, a lot was going on then, it wasn't a good period for us. Halvor kept calling and Jensvoll did too. Bjørk was putting on the pressure about Sølvi, and Ada was almost impossible to live with."
He fell silent, suddenly looking as if he were ashamed.
"When exactly did this death occur, Eddie?"
"I think it was in November. I don't remember the exact date."
"Did it happen before or after she left the team?"
"I don't remember."
"Then we'll keep going until you do. What kind of accident was it?"
"He got something caught in his throat and they couldn't get it out. He was in the kitchen alone, eating."
"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"
Holland gave him an unhappy look. "Because it's Annie's death you're supposed to solve," he whispered.
"And that's what I'm doing. It's important to eliminate certain things."
There was a long silence. There was sweat on Holland's high forehead, and he was constantly kneading his fingers, as if he had lost all sensation in them. Several idiotic pictures kept appearing in his mind, pictures of Annie wearing a red snowsuit and Russian cap, Annie wearing a wedding dress. Annie with an infant on her lap. Pictures that he would never take.
"Tell me about Annie, about how she reacted."
Holland straightened up in his chair and paused to think. "I don't remember the date, but I remember the day because we overslept. I had the day off. Annie was late for her bus, but she came home early from school because she wasn't feeling well. I didn't dare tell her right away. She went to her room to lie down, said she was going to have a sleep."
"She was sick?"
"Yes, well, no, she was never sick. It was just something temporary. She woke up later in the day, and I sat in the living room, dreading having to tell her. Finally I went to her room and sat down on the edge of her bed."
"Go on."
"She was stunned," he said thoughtfully. "Stunned and frightened. Turned away and pulled the covers over her head. I mean, what can you say to that? Afterwards she didn't show much of her feelings; she grieved in silence. Ada wanted her to take some flowers over to the house, but she refused. She didn't want to go to the funeral either."
"Did you and your wife go?"
"Yes, yes, we did. Ada was upset because Annie wouldn't go, but I tried to explain that's it's hard for a child to go to a funeral. Annie was only 14. They don't know what they're supposed to say, do they?"
"Did she visit his grave later?"
"Oh yes, she did. Several times. But she never went to their house again."
"But she must have talked to them, didn't she? Since she had baby-sat for the boy?"
"I'm sure she did. She had spent a lot of time with them. Mostly with the mother. She moved, by the way; they were separated after a while. Of course it's difficult to find each other again after a tragedy like that. You have to start over with a new relationship. And none of us will ever be the way we once were."
He seemed to have disengaged from the conversation and was sitting there talking to himself, as if the other man didn't exist. "Sølvi is the only one who's the same. I'm actually surprised that she can be the same after what's happened. But then she's not like other people. We have to take the children we've been given, though, don't we?"
&nb
sp; "And ... Annie?" Sejer said.
"Yes, Annie," he murmured. "Annie was never the same. I think she realised that we're all going to die. I remember the same feeling when I was a boy, when my mother died; that was the worst thing. Not that she was dead and gone. But that I was going to die too. And my father, and everyone I knew."
His gaze seemed fixed on something far away, and Sejer listened with both hands resting on his desk.
"We have more to talk about, Eddie," he said after a while. "But there's something you should know first."
"I don't know if I can stand to hear anything else."
"I can't keep it from you. Not with good conscience."
"What is it?"
"Can you remember if Annie ever complained of feeling pain?"
"No ... I can't. Except from the time before she got shock-absorbent trainers. Her feet used to hurt."
"Did she ever mention having abdominal pain."
Holland gave him an uneasy look.
"I never heard her say anything like that. You should ask Ada."
"I'm asking you because it's my understanding that you were the person closest to her."
"Yes. But those kinds of girl's things ... I never heard about anything like that."
"She had a tumour in her abdomen," Sejer said in a low voice.
"A tumour?"
"About as big as an egg. Malignant. It had spread to her liver."
Now Holland's whole body grew rigid.
"They must be mistaken," he said. "Nobody was healthier than Annie."
"She had a malignant tumour in her abdomen," Sejer repeated. "And in a short time she would have been very sick. There was a high chance that her illness would have led to death."
"Are you saying she would have died anyway?"
Holland's voice had an aggressive edge to it.
"That's what the pathologist says."
"Am I supposed to be happy that she didn't have to suffer?" he screamed, a drop of spit striking Sejer on the forehead. Holland hid his face in his hands. "No, no, I didn't mean that," he said, his voice choking, "but I don't understand what's happening. How could there be so many things I didn't know about?"
"Either she didn't know herself, or else she concealed the pain and purposely decided not to consult a doctor. There's no mention of it in her medical records."
"It probably doesn't say anything at all in them," Holland said. "There was never anything wrong with her. She had a couple of vaccinations over the years, but that was all."
"There's also one thing I want you to do," Sejer said. "I want you to talk to Ada and ask her to come down here to the station. We need to have her fingerprints."
Holland smiled wearily and leaned back in his chair. He hadn't slept much, and nothing seemed to be standing still any more. The chief inspector's face was flickering slightly, along with the curtain at the window, or maybe there was a draft, he wasn't quite sure.
"We found two fingerprints on Annie's belt buckle. One of them was Annie's. One of them might be your wife's. She told us that she often laid out Annie's clothes in the morning, so it might be her fingerprint on the buckle. If it's not hers, then it belongs to the killer. He undressed her. He must have touched the buckle."
At last Holland understood.
"Please ask your wife to come here as soon as possible. She should ask for Skarre."
"That eczema you have," Holland said suddenly, nodding at Sejer's hand. "I've heard that ash is supposed to help."
"Ash?"
"You smooth ash over the area. Ash is the purest substance that exists. It contains salts and minerals."
Sejer didn't reply. Holland's thoughts seemed to withdraw inward. Sejer left him in peace. It was so quiet in the room that they could almost feel Annie's presence.
CHAPTER 9
Halvor ate his pork sausage and boiled cabbage at the counter in the kitchen. Afterwards he cleaned up and put a blanket over his grandmother, who was dozing on the sofa. He went to his room, drew the curtains, and sat down in front of the monitor. This was how he spent most of his spare time now. He had tried out a lot of the music that he knew Annie liked, typing in titles and the names of musicians she had in her stack of CDs. Then movie titles, rather half-heartedly, because it wouldn't be like Annie to choose something like that. The task seemed insurmountable. She could have changed passwords several times, the way they did in the defence ministry to protect military secrets. They used passwords that changed automatically several times a second. He had read about it in a magazine from Ra Data. A password that kept changing was almost impossible to crack. He tried to remember when exactly he and Annie had created their own files and attached passwords to them. It was several months ago, sometime late in the autumn. He knew she wouldn't have chosen anything at random, she would have used something that had made an impression on her, or something that was familiar and dear to her. He knew quite a lot about things that were familiar and dear to Annie, and so he kept going. Until he heard his grandmother calling from the living room that she was done with her nap. Then he took a break to make coffee for her and butter a few pieces of lefse or some waffles, if they had any. To be polite, he watched TV for a while, keeping her company. But as soon as he felt able, he slipped back to his room. She didn't complain. He sat there until midnight, then dragged himself to bed and turned off the light. He always lay still for a while, listening, before sleep came. Often it didn't come at all, and then he would slip into his grandmother's room and steal a sleeping pill from her bottle. He didn't hear the footsteps outside going back and forth. As he waited to fall asleep, he thought about Annie. Blue was her favourite colour. The chocolate bar she liked best was a Dove with raisins. He made a mental note of several words and stored them away for later. The important thing was not to give up. When he finally found the right password, it would seem so obvious that she had chosen it, and he would say to himself: I should have thought of that before!
Outside, the courtyard was dark and quiet. The entrance to the empty kennel gaped like an open, toothless mouth, but it wasn't visible from the road, and a thief might still think there was a dog inside. Behind the kennel stood the shed with a modest woodpile, his bicycle, an old black-and-white TV, and a pile of newspapers. He always forgot when there was a paper drive, and he didn't read the local paper any more. In the far corner, behind a foam mattress, lay Annie's school bag.
He had run out to Bruvann and back, thirteen kilometres. Had tried to stay below the pain threshold, at least on the home stretch. Elise used to pour an ice-cold Farris and hand it to him when he came out of the shower. Often he would have only a towel wrapped around his waist. Now no one stood waiting for him, except for his dog, who lifted his head expectantly when Sejer opened the door and let the steam out. He got dressed in the bathroom and then found a bottle for himself. He snapped off the bottle cap against the counter edge and put the beer to his lips. The doorbell rang as he was half-done with the bottle. Sejer's doorbell didn't ring very often, so he was a little taken aback. He raised an admonishing finger at the dog and went to open the door. Outside stood Skarre, by the railing, with one foot on the stairs, as if to indicate that he would retreat quickly if he had come at a bad time.
