Beyond the Truth

by Anne Holt

  CONTENTS

  Thursday December 19

  Friday December 20

  Saturday December 21

  Sunday December 22

  Monday December 23

  Tuesday December 24

  Wednesday December 25

  Thursday December 26

  Friday December 27

  Saturday December 28

  Praise for Anne Holt

  Half Title

  Also by Anne Holt

  Copyright

  THURSDAY DECEMBER 19

  It was an old dog with stiff joints, damaged by calcification. Illness had caused the animal to resemble a hyena, for its powerful chest and strong neck shrank abruptly into a skinny backside, with the tail curling around its testicles.

  The mangy animal came and went. No one could remember when it had first appeared. In a way, it belonged to the district: an unpleasantness impossible to avoid, like the noise of the trams, double-parked vehicles, and untreated sidewalks. People had to take precautions, keep basement doors closed and locked, haul cats in for the night, and secure lids tightly on garbage bins in back yards. Now and again someone complained to the public-health authorities when food scraps and other items of rubbish were left scattered beside bicycle racks three mornings in a row. They rarely received any response, and nothing was ever done to catch the beast.

  If anyone had stopped to consider how the dog actually lived, it would have been obvious that it moved around the neighborhood according to a pattern, out of step with the calendar and therefore difficult to spot. If anyone had taken the trouble, they would have realized that the dog was never very far off, and that it seldom roamed beyond an area measuring just fifteen or sixteen blocks.

  He had lived like that for almost eight years.

  He knew his territory and avoided other animals as much as possible, giving a wide berth to lapdogs on gaudy nylon leads, and had understood long ago that pedigree cats with bells around their necks were a temptation best resisted. He was a stray mongrel in Oslo’s upper-class west end and knew how to lie low.

  The period of mild weather in early December was over, and now a biting pre-Christmas frost had glazed the asphalt. There was a hint of snow in the air. As the dog’s claws scratched the black ice, he dragged his back leg behind him. The glare from the street lamp highlighted a gash on his left haunch, liver-colored on his close-cropped fur and speckled with yellow pus. It had snagged on a spike the previous evening while he was searching for somewhere to sleep.

  The apartment building was secluded, set back from the street. A paved walkway divided the front garden in two, and knee-high chain-link fencing, painted black, enclosed the wet, dead grass and a flowerbed covered with tarpaulin. A twinkling, decorated Christmas tree flanked either side of the entrance.

  This was the dog’s second attempt to gain entry in the course of the evening. There was usually a way. Unlocked doors were easiest, of course. A quick leap, a swipe of the paw at the door handle. It was usually immaterial whether the door opened in or out: unlocked doors were a piece of cake. But rare. Normally he had to search for basement windows opened a chink, loose boards around walls due to be repaired, or gaps under rotting cellar stairs. Access points that everyone else, apart from him, had forgotten. They were not to be found everywhere and sometimes these gaps were mended, basement shutters shut, and walls replastered. Blocked and impenetrable. He walked on. Sometimes it took several hours to find a place for the night.

  There was an opening in this block. He was familiar with it and though it was easy, it mustn’t be abused. He never slept in the same spot for more than one night. On his first attempt that evening, someone had turned up. These things happen. So he always made himself scarce, quick as a flash. Trotted on for two or three blocks. Lay down under a bush, behind a bike rack, hidden from anyone who did not look too closely. Then he tried again. A good den was worth a couple of forays.

  The frost had worsened during the past hour and the snow was real now: dry, light flakes that painted the sidewalks white. He shivered: he had not had anything to eat for more than twenty-four hours.

  The building was quiet now.

  The lights both lured and scared him.

  Light brought a chance of being seen. It was threatening. However, light also brought warmth. Blood pulsed painfully through his infected wound. Warily, he stepped over the low chain fence, whimpering as he lifted his back leg. His hole – access into the store where an old sleeping bag lay discarded in a corner – was at the rear of the building, between the basement stairs and two bicycles that were never used.

  But the front door was open.

  Front doors were dangerous. He could get locked in. A cozy glow enticed him all the same. Stairways were better than basements. At the very top, where people seldom ventured and nobody lived, it was warm.

  Keeping his head down, he approached the stone steps and stood perfectly still, front paw raised, before stepping slowly into the beam of light. Nothing stirred anywhere; there were no alarming sounds to be heard, only the distant, reassuring murmur of the city.

  He was inside.

  There was another open door.

  He could smell food, and everything was totally silent.

  The scent of meat was strong and he no longer hesitated. Quickly he limped into the apartment, but came to a sudden stop in the hallway. Emitting a low growl, he bared his teeth at the man on the floor. Nothing happened. The dog drew closer, inquisitive now, and more curious than apprehensive. Gingerly, he thrust his nose nearer the motionless body and tried licking some of the blood around the man’s head. His tongue grew more eager, washing the floor, cleaning the congealed clots from the man’s cheek, probing into the hole just beside his temple; the starving dog slurped down what he could extract from the skull, before it dawned on him that he did not have to exert himself to obtain food.

  There were three more bodies in the apartment.

  His tail wagged in delight.

  “There’s nothing to discuss. Nefis will damn well have to learn how we do things.”

  Mary slammed the door behind her.

  “One, two, three, four,” Hanne Wilhelmsen counted and when she reached the “f” of five, Mary had reappeared in the room again.

  “Bloody hellfire, if I went to those Muslims at Christmastime, I’d eat whatever they put down in front of me. Pure, sheer good manners, if you ask me. She’s not even religious. She’s told me that, time after time. On Christmas Eve here in Norway we eat pork ribs. Enough said, and that’s the end of it.”

  “But, Mary,” Hanne made a desperate effort, “can’t we have rack of lamb? Then the whole problem is solved. After all, we had your pork ribs last year.”

  “The problem?”

  Mary Samuelsen had once lived under the name “Hairy Mary”, the oldest street hooker in Oslo. Hanne had bumped into her three years ago in connection with a homicide case. Mary was near to death at that time, high on drugs and freezing in the bitter cold of the big city. Now she kept house for Hanne and Nefis in a seven-room apartment in Kruses gate.

  Mary ran her arthritic hands stiffly over her apron.

  “The problem, my dear Hanne Wilhelmsen, is that the only rack of lamb I ever put in my toothless gob before I met you and Nefis was cold, watered down, and arrived on a paper plate, courtesy of the Salvation Army.”

  “I know that, Mary. We could have both, don’t you think? For heaven’s sake, we can certainly afford it.”

  Hanne added the latter as she glanced despairingly around the room. The only furniture that remained from the apartment in Lille Tøyen where she had lived for more than fifteen years was an antique bureau, almost lost in a recess beside the door leading out to a gigantic terrace.

  “Christmas is no
time for compromise,” Mary declared solemnly. “If you’d sat like I had, sucking on a scrap of fatty meat too tough to swallow, year after year, one Christmas Eve after another, out of sight and forgotten in a corner, then you’d realize this has something to do with holding on to your dreams. Christmas Eve with crystal and silver and a decorated tree and a huge fat rib of pork in the center of the table, with crackling so crisp that you can hear it crow. Throughout all those years, that was what I dreamed of. And that’s the way it has to be. You could show that much respect for a poor old woman who might not have very much longer to live.”

  “Give over, Mary. You’re remarkably fit. And not so old, either.”

  Without a word, Mary turned on her heel once more and marched out, dragging one leg behind her. Her rhythmic hirpling disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. Hanne had measured it when they moved in, pacing it out when she thought no one was looking: sixteen meters from the settee to the kitchen door. From the dining room to the largest bathroom was eleven meters. From the bedroom to the front door, six and a half. The whole apartment was filled with distances.

  She poured out more coffee from a stainless-steel thermos, before switching on the TV set.

  For the very first time she had taken the entire festive period off work. A whole fortnight. Nefis and Mary had invited every Tom, Dick, and Harry to a sumptuous breakfast on Christmas morning, lunches during the following week, and a huge party on New Year’s Eve. On Christmas Eve it would be just the three of them. At least, that was what she thought. You never knew.

  Hanne Wilhelmsen was both dreading and looking forward to Christmas.

  The television was broadcasting a dramatization of the Christmas gospel story. Oddly enough, the baby Jesus was blue-eyed. The Virgin Mary wore heavy make-up and had blood-red lips. Closing her eyes, Hanne turned down the volume.

  She tried not to think about her father. These days, that demanded all her strength.

  The letter had reached her too late, three weeks ago now. Hanne suspected her mother of ulterior motives for using the postal service. Everyone knew that snail mail was no longer reliable. The message reporting his death had taken six days to reach her. By then the funeral had already taken place. Actually that was just as well. Hanne would not have attended anyway. She could visualize the scene: the family on the front pew, her brother with his mother’s hand in his, a repulsive claw, covered in eczema, sprinkling flakes of skin all over her son’s dark suit trousers. Her sister would most likely be wearing some expensive creation and would burst into tears at regular intervals, but not be so distressed that she neglected to look her brilliant best for the assembled congregation; her father’s colleagues from home and abroad, a few celebrated academics, elderly women no longer in full control of their morning ablutions and who therefore dispersed an odor of old-fashioned perfume along the rows of pews.

  Her phone played an Arabian dance. Mary had tinkered with the list of ringtones and felt that oriental tunes would please Nefis. Hanne grabbed the receiver swiftly, to prevent Mary from reaching it first.

  “Billy T. here.” The words were spoken before she managed to say anything. “It would be best if you came over here.”

  “Now? It’s past eleven o’clock.”

  “Now. It’s a major case.”

  “Tomorrow’s my last workday before the holidays, Billy T. There’s no point in me starting something I won’t be able to finish.”

  “You can damn well forget about that time off, Hanne.”

  “Cut it out. Bye. Ring someone else. Call the police.”

  “Very funny. Come on. Four bodies, Hanne. Mother, father, and son. And somebody else whose identity we haven’t figured out yet.’

  “Four … four bodies? Four people murdered?”

  “Yep. In your own neighborhood, by the way. If you want, I’ll meet you there.”

  “Quadruple homicide—”

  “Eh?”

  “Do you mean we’re faced with homicide times four?”

  A demonstrative sigh crackled through the receiver.

  “How many times do I have to repeat it?” Billy T. asked her irascibly. “Four dead people! In an apartment in Eckersbergs gate. All of them shot. It looks fucking horrendous. Not only are the bodies punctured, but there … There’s been … someone’s been there afterwards. An animal. Or something like that—”

  “Good God …”

  On the TV screen, Joseph had begun to knock on doors at nightfall. In a brief close-up of his knuckles rapping on a rustic door in Bethlehem, Hanne noticed that the actor had forgotten to remove his wristwatch.

  “Absurd,” she mumbled. “An animal?”

  “A dog, we think. It has … eaten its fill, you might say.”

  “Eckersbergs gate, was that what you said?”

  “Number five.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “I might take longer than that.”

  “Fine.”

  They both hung up simultaneously. Hanne gulped down the last of her coffee and stood up.

  “Are you thinking of going out?”

  Mary stood with her legs astride, her hip leaning on the doorway, and her gaze forced Hanne to sit down again, raising her hands in a defensive gesture.

  “This is an extremely serious case,” she began.

  “I’ll give you serious,” Mary barked. “Nefis is coming home in half an hour. She’s on her way from the airport. She’s been gone for a whole week now, and I’ve been busy in the kitchen since seven. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “I must.”

  Mary sucked through her teeth. For a moment she seemed to be thinking of something else.

  “Then you’ll have to take some food with you. Are you going to meet that slob?”

  “Mmm.”

  Ten minutes later, Hanne was ready. She had two plastic boxes of venison stew in her shoulder bag, half a sliced loaf spread generously with butter, a couple of apples, one and a half liters of cola, a large bar of chocolate, a packet of napkins, two plastic cups, and some silver cutlery into the bargain. She tried to protest.

  “It’s the middle of the night, Mary. I don’t need all this!”

  “Yes, you do. We never know when we’ll see you again,” Mary muttered. “Remember to bring that silver cutlery home with you!”

  With that, she shut the door firmly behind Hanne, using all three locks.

  Hanne had never grown accustomed to these streets. The wide spaces between the grand apartment blocks and forbidding villas cloaked in darkness created an atmosphere of angst, as if something dreadful were about to happen. Infrequent pedestrians crossed the road diagonally, with their eyes on the ground to avoid being drawn into any kind of intimacy with others. It was natural for Mary to choose to shut herself inside. After almost half a century under the influence of drugs and alcohol, isolation was probably a good idea. It was impossible to understand why all the other residents of this area seemed to make the same choice. Maybe they were perpetually absent. Maybe no one really lived here. The whole of Frogner is a stage set, Hanne thought.

  She tugged her winter jacket more snugly around her frame.

  It was pretty crowded outside the stone villa at Eckersbergs gate 5. Red-and-white police tape constrained a small group of curious spectators, but the interior of the cordoned area was swarming with uniformed colleagues. She recognized several of the journalists making friendly overtures to the youngest and most inexperienced police officers: shocked, immature, on edge, and easy to engage in conversation. The number of journalists swelled unbelievably fast, as if they all lived in the vicinity. At the sight of Hanne Wilhelmsen, they did no more than hoist their shoulders brashly to ward off the cold, conveying a greeting by lifting their heads ever so slightly.

  “Hanne! Brilliant!”

  Sergeant Silje Sørensen broke free from a group of eagerly gesticulating police personnel.

  “My goodness,” Hanne said, sizing her up. “Uniform? This must be something to wr
ite home about.”

  “Had an extra shift. But yes, this is something to write home about. Come on in!”

  “I’ll wait for a bit. Billy T. will be here soon.”

  She was dazzled by the temporary lighting that the police had already managed to rig up, making it difficult to gain a general impression of the apartment block. Hanne stepped back a few paces, using her hand to shield her eyes. It did not help much, until she walked all the way to the opposite side of the street.

  “What are you looking for?” Silje Sørensen asked, following in her footsteps.

  Silje always asked questions. Pestered. What are you looking for? What are you doing? What are you thinking? Like a child. A smart but slightly annoying child.

  “Nothing. Just looking around.”

  The apartment block was antique-rose in color, with broad cornices. Above each window was a statue of a man battling a hideous fabled creature. The front garden was tiny, but a broad paved footpath snaking around the western corner of the building might indicate a more impressive back yard concealed at the rear. The building seemed to contain only four apartments. The one on the top left-hand side was in darkness. Frugal lamplight shone from the ground and first floors on the right of the building, leaving little doubt about where the crime had taken place. Through three of the windows down on the left she could see figures in white overalls and hairnets moving to and fro, precise and apparently purposeful. Someone drew a curtain.

  Suddenly Hanne was embraced from behind and lifted off her feet.

  “Bloody hell,” Billy T. yelled. “You’ve put on weight!”

  She kicked him on the shin with the heel of her boot.

  “Ouch! You could just have said something.”

  “I have done,” Hanne told him. “Don’t lift me every time you see me. I’ve said that a thousand times.”

  “You just say that because you’re getting fatter and fatter,” he grinned, brushing her shoulders. “You never mentioned it before. Never. You used to like it.”

  Snow was falling more thickly now, light, bone-dry flakes.

  “I don’t think you’re any fatter,” Silje was quick to say, though Hanne was already halfway across the street.