by Thomas Enger
56
Pia Nøkleby was pleased with the meeting. It had been efficient and quick, and they were already taking action. But it was important not to get William Hellberg in too soon. First they had to understand why Tore Pulli had spoken to him so often on the phone, and what kind of connection they had in the past.
The head of investigations, Arild Gjerstad, had been instructed to ring Tønsberg Police immediately to get all the information they had on Hellberg. They would also check Hellberg’s phone log to see who else he’d been in touch with around that time, and who he had been in touch with more recently. But, most of all, they needed to know where Hellberg had been the evening that Preben Mørck was killed, and where he was now.
There was a lot to do all at once, and at the same time the search for Durim Redzepi had intensified. They needed all the hands they could get, so Pia Nøkleby knocked on Bjarne Brogeland’s door again and walked in without waiting.
But he wasn’t there.
Nøkleby turned and went out into the corridor, spotted Ella Sandland going into her office and called to her, then hurried to catch up.
‘What is it?’ Sandland asked.
‘Have you seen Bjarne?’
Sandland shook her head.
‘Have you tried calling him?’ she asked.
‘No, but he was in his office not long ago, busy with something, and he was supposed to come to a meeting when he was done.’
Sandland shrugged.
‘I’ve no idea what he’s up to.’
Henning half expected Durim Redzepi to aim and shoot him down, but it didn’t happen. Instead, he stopped in front of them.
‘Hello Durim,’ Henning said. ‘Nice to see you again.’
Redzepi didn’t answer. He looked over at Hellberg and said: ‘Have you got the money?’
‘It’s in the car,’ Hellberg said.
‘Get it.’
Hellberg hesitated a moment. Redzepi made a movement with the gun, in the direction of the car.
‘OK, relax,’ Hellberg said. ‘I’ll get it.’
Hellberg turned and went back to the car. Henning quickly understood the relationship between Hellberg and Redzepi. Non-existent, until Preben Mørck – Daddy Longlegs – had to die. Henning wondered if he could exploit that in some way. Draw out the time he had before the inevitable.
Hellberg opened the boot and got out a small, black sports bag. It wasn’t long before he was back.
‘Do you want to count it?’
Redzepi seemed to consider it.
‘I don’t think you’re dumb enough to try it on,’ he said. ‘Not now that I’ve seen your face. But I was starting to wonder; it took you so long to get here.’
Hellberg pointed to Henning.
‘This man here suddenly showed up out of the blue. Handy for us, as we don’t need to keep looking for him or wonder if he’s finally called it a day.’
Hellberg threw the bag down at Redzepi’s feet.
‘You should be grateful. You don’t need to hang around here any longer than necessary now.’
Redzepi glared at him.
‘Where’s Bjelland?’ Hellberg asked.
Henning turned quickly towards him.
Bjelland?
Hellberg made an ‘I didn’t have any choice’ movement with his hands.
‘He’s lying in the boat,’ Redzepi said.
Henning turned and peered through the trees. Saw there was a lake nearby. He studied Redzepi’s hand again. The red spots. The splashes on his t-shirt.
He closed his eyes, recalling what he’d said to Bjelland not long ago. ‘Right now, people around me have a tendency to end up dead’.
‘There was quite a mess,’ Redzepi said. ‘And I’d already cleaned the whole cabin. There’s no way I’m doing that again.’
‘So what are you thinking? To kill him out here?’
Hellberg nodded towards Henning.
‘No,’ Redzepi said. ‘He can come out in the boat. Less to wash. I’ve been here too long, I want to leave as soon as I can.’
Henning opened his eyes.
‘You know it’ll be you next,’ he said to Redzepi.
Redzepi squinted at him.
‘Afterwards, when you’re done here. You’re the only one who’s seen Hellberg’s face and knows that he’s behind it all. You’ve worked for Ørjan Mjønes; you’ve worked for Preben Mørck, or rather, Daddy Longlegs, as you probably knew him. You know a lot about most of them. But this guy,’ Henning said, and nodded in Hellberg’s direction, ‘he’s made sure that anyone who can identify him is killed. So why would he suddenly spare you?’
Redzepi glanced over at Hellberg.
‘And do you think he’ll just let you go with all that money?’
Henning pointed at the sports bag.
‘He lives for his money,’ Henning said. ‘And he’ll do everything he can to protect his family.’
‘I have no interest whatsoever in harming you, Redzepi.’ Hellberg had adopted his salesman face and calm reassuring voice. ‘He’s just trying to make you uncertain,’ he continued. ‘But there’s no need to worry. As soon as we’re done here, I’m going home. Then it’s all over, and you can leave … go wherever you want.’
He threw open his arms.
‘He’s got a gun in his inner pocket,’ Henning said to Redzepi. ‘Why do you think he’s got that with him?’
‘That was for you,’ Hellberg said to Henning. ‘In case you didn’t want to come of your own free will.’
‘Do you dare take the chance that he’s a man of his word?’ Henning said to Redzepi. ‘Do you dare take the chance that he’s not going to turn his gun on you?’
Henning shook his head.
‘I certainly wouldn’t.’
Henning could see that he’d made Redzepi doubt. But he was still the one holding a gun.
‘You mentioned a boat,’ Henning carried on. ‘Is it big enough for all four of us? Is Hellberg coming with us, too?’
He could see Redzepi’s mind working overtime.
‘I’ll wait here until you’re back,’ Hellberg assured him. ‘You don’t need to worry.’
‘There’s no reason for him to wait once you’ve rowed us out onto the lake.’
Redzepi looked at Hellberg.
‘I don’t know you,’ the Kosovo-Albanian said. ‘I don’t have any guarantee that you’ll wait.’
Hellberg sighed.
‘I realise it might all seem a bit suspect, but…’
‘Give me your gun,’ Redzepi said, aggressively. ‘Come on, give it to me. Now.’
Hellberg gave him an exasperated look, before he reluctantly did as he’d been told. He made quite a show of putting it down on the ground and then standing up slowly with his hands raised, Redzepi moved over and picked up the gun. Put it in the sports bag.
‘You’re coming with us down to the lake,’ Redzepi said, glaring at Hellberg. ‘There’s not enough room on the boat, but you’ll wait down there.’
‘You decide. But could we step on it, please? It’s starting to get dark and I’d like to get home while there’s some of the evening left.’
Redzepi looked at Henning, indicating that he should move.
‘Where?’ Henning said, playing stupid.
‘There,’ Redzepi said, and pointed to the lake. ‘And fast.’
Henning nearly stumbled on a root that had grown over the path. Hellberg was behind him, with Redzepi bringing up the rear. In front of them, the black water glittered. He heard an owl. Was it an eagle owl?
It was colder now.
It didn’t take long for them to reach the edge of the lake. A boat had been pulled up on the shore. There was a big, black oblong package already in it.
‘Sit there,’ Redzepi said to Hellberg, and pointed at a tree nearby.
‘Honestly, Redz, I…’
‘I don’t give a shit what you say. It’ll take ten minutes to row out to the middle of the lake and back. And ten minutes is more than enough time for
you to get away from here. So sit next to that tree over there.’
Redzepi went over to the boat, picked up a knife that was lying there, and cut a two-metre length of rope. He was on his way back to Hellberg when he stopped in his tracks.
‘What is it?’ Hellberg asked.
‘I thought I heard something,’ Redzepi said.
None of them moved. They all listened. There was silence.
‘What did you hear?’ Hellberg asked.
‘Don’t know,’ Redzepi said, but Henning could see that he was unsettled, on his guard. He listened again. Heard nothing.
For a brief moment, Henning hoped it was Bjarne, that he had somehow managed to find them, but he immediately dismissed the thought as ridiculous. He wondered if any of this could have been different if he’d let Bjarne know, told him en route that he was on his way to talk to Anne Cecilie Hellberg.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Nora would still be under threat and William Hellberg would still be Durim Redzepi’s employer. If Hellberg had been caught earlier, and if he’d been sentenced, he might still have been able to get to Nora from prison, through Redzepi. He could have made his threat good from there, as some kind of revenge or punishment. But now there was no reason for Hellberg to go after Nora. She could no longer be used as leverage to get to Henning. She was safe. The child was safe. That’s all that mattered to him.
Redzepi grabbed Hellberg’s arm and pulled him over to the tree. Forced him to sit down.
‘Is this really necessary, Redzepi?’
Hellberg was breathing fast and hard, and seemed to hate the fact that his suit was becoming damp and dirty.
‘Yes. Hands behind your back.’
Hellberg rolled his eyes.
Redzepi tied him to the tree, then straightened up. Looked around, in among the trees. Listened.
He looked at Henning and nodded towards the boat. Henning took the first hesitant step. A good thing Bjelland’s body hadn’t started to smell yet, he thought.
The boat rocked when Henning got in. He turned towards Hellberg, kept an eye on him all the time, even when Redzepi put one foot in the boat and used the other to push off from the shore.
They slid out onto the lake. The water rippled along the bow, making a sucking, lapping sound.
My last journey, Henning thought, and noticed a mist drifting in over the silent, dark water.
Redzepi sat down in the middle of the boat and grabbed the oars.
Then he started to row.
57
Bjarne drove as fast as he could, out of town, unsure if the car would take the strain. It was a while since it had been serviced, and he’d noticed that the engine had been making some funny noises recently. Luckily, the worst of the rush hour was over, and the cars pulled obediently onto the hard shoulder when he flashed his lights and tooted the horn. And if there was a queue, the siren always came in handy.
His phone rang. It was Pia Nøkleby.
‘Hi Bjarne,’ she said. ‘Where are you? What are you up to?’
Bjarne explained the situation and why he’d had to make such a hasty exit.
‘OK,’ she said. ‘Just don’t do anything stupid before we get there.’
A tractor appeared on the road in front of him. Because there were other cars around, he had to slow down and weave between the vehicles that were trying to get out of his way. The loss of those few minutes frustrated him.
‘I don’t think there’s time to wait for you,’ he said.
‘Do what you think is best,’ Nøkleby said. ‘Where are you?’
‘Just turned off at Grønmo.’
‘OK. Good luck.’
‘Thank you.’
Bjarned accelerated again as he zoomed the GPS down to five hundred metres, and saw on the map there were small roads and lakes everywhere. Ideal if you wanted to get rid of someone.
He was on Highway 155. Trees in every direction. Because he was driving so quickly, it felt like he was encapsulated, as though the forest around him was a narrow tunnel with high walls.
Ten minutes later he studied the map again and saw a small side road a few hundred metres in front of him. He slowed down and turned off. The car was immediately swallowed by the trees, and the headlamps shone between the trunks and branches. He turned them off. Drove a little further. Stopped. Saw a cabin about two hundred metres away on his right. There were two cars outside. One was a silver van, the other a black SUV. The lights were on in the cabin.
Bjarne took some binoculars from the glove compartment, adjusted the focus and looked at the cars. He turned off the engine, hurried round to the back of his car and opened his gun case. He ran down the gravel without closing the case or the boot. He didn’t notice that he passed another car, a Lexus, hidden behind some trees nearby.
Durim Redzepi watched Henning Juul sink down into the water.
He waited for about thirty seconds, then he put the oars back in the locks, backed away, then turned the boat round and headed towards the shore. The mist lay thick on the surface now, so he couldn’t see further than ten metres ahead. The only sound he could hear was the oars in the water, the water dripping off, interwoven with his own breathing, which was fast, but easy.
He stopped rowing, sure that he’d heard something. From the water. He peered into thick mist, but saw nothing. He couldn’t hear anything but the sound of the boat gliding through the dark, cold water.
Death cramps, he thought. Air bubbles.
He carried on towards the shore and before long he could see William Hellberg.
‘I see that went OK,’ Hellberg shouted, with a satisfied nod.
Redzepi didn’t answer, but steered the boat into the spot where he’d left it before, let the speed of the boat carry it the final stretch. There was a scraping under the hull. He pushed one of the oars to the bottom and felt the mud give way, but it was still firm enough to get the boat up onto land. Suddenly the boat came to a halt and he could get out. He didn’t bother to pull it up any further.
He stumbled up the path to Hellberg and loosened the rope.
‘Now I’ve kept my side of the deal,’ he said. ‘Where are my wife and daughter? Where are Svetlana and Doruntina?’
Hellberg stood up and assessed the damage to his suit, brushed off some leaves and grass, and smoothed the trouser legs.
‘Shall we go back to the cabin?’ he suggested.
‘No,’ Redzepi said. ‘Here and now. I’ve waited long enough. Done more than enough shit for you to tell me what you know about my girls.’
He pulled out the gun and aimed at Hellberg.
‘Take it easy,’ Hellberg said, with a sigh. ‘I’ll tell you what you want to know. But I’m not actually sure that you really want to know the truth.’
Redzepi squinted at him. Hellberg got the packet of cigarettes from his inner pocket and lit one. He offered one to Redzepi, but he just shook his head.
‘Your brother,’ Hellberg said, drawing the nicotine down into his lungs, ‘he’s not a good person.’
Redzepi frowned.
‘As I said to you on the phone, we checked what he had actually done with the money you’d sent him. And do you know what Daddy Longlegs found out?’
Redzepi just stared at him and waited for the answer.
‘Do you know what your brother’s been doing?’
Hellberg took another drag.
‘Nothing, Durim. Absolutely nothing.’
Redzepi didn’t know what to say.
‘There are two possible explanations,’ Hellberg said, and started to walk towards the cars and the cabin. ‘Either he can’t be bothered to look for them but is quite happy for you to send him money all the time – after all, he knows that you can’t go back because you’re wanted for double murder.’
He gesticulated as he walked. Redzepi followed behind him.
‘Or it could be that he’s found them, but doesn’t think there’s any point in telling you – for the same reason. He likes you sending hi
m money. But, Daddy Longlegs’s man never established whether he’d found them or not.’
Redzepi blinked furiously as he considered what he’d just heard. For so many years he’d prepared himself to hear that they were dead. That was the conclusion he’d come to himself. But he hadn’t been prepared for this.
Not at all.
The next moment a branch cracked right beside them.
‘Stay where you are, both of you,’ a loud voice shouted.
Redzepi turned his head towards the trees and saw a dark shape step out on the right, just ahead of them. Redzepi could only see the outline of his body and that he was holding something in his hands.
‘Put down the gun.’
The voice was clear.
Redzepi’s instincts screamed: do something, before it’s too late. Shoot – it was two against one, it might work. But the man in front of him was a policeman, and he had a gun in his hands that was pointing straight at Redzepi’s chest. He wouldn’t have time to do anything. And presumably the policeman had let others know where he was. So more were on their way.
Redzepi thought about his brother. If he was ever to see him again, if he was ever finally to find out what happened to Svetlana and Doruntina, he couldn’t chance a shoot-out. He had to play the long game. He was still in his forties, would have plenty of time when he got out of prison. Years that he could dedicate to making his brother’s life hell.
Redzepi sank to his knees and dropped the gun. The policeman was quick to move and kicked it away from him.
‘Where’s Henning?’ he asked.
Redzepi felt the handcuffs close around his wrists. The policeman looked around.
Neither Hellberg nor Redzepi answered.
‘Where’s Henning Juul?’
The policeman stood up.
‘Henning?’
The frantic cry disappeared over the water and was soon swallowed by the mist. The man shaded his eyes with both hands and looked from side to side.
Redzepi turned towards the blue flashing light that looked like it was dancing among the trees. It was only a matter of minutes before the place would be crawling with cars, and men and women in uniform.
