The Girl With No Heart

by Marit Reiersgaard

Verner Jacobsen stood up. He didn’t have anything to do with the fire, but suddenly, a reason to contact Bitte Røed had flared up. It’s ridiculous, he thought. I’m behaving like a teenager.

  «It’s just fine to report this to me,» Verner said with a smile, taking out the notepad he always carried in his pocket. He took down the information she gave him. Agnar Eriksen, an old acquaintance of her husband, had unexpectedly shown up a couple of days ago. It wasn’t until today that she and her husband realized that he must be the son of the woman who had been in the burned-down house in Tranby. Agnar Eriksen and her husband had freshened up old memories by going on a bender, she added, embarrassed, looking at the floor.

  «He, Agnar that is, doesn’t know anything about this yet,» Elin said slowly, as if she was savoring every word before she pronounced it. But suddenly her tongue loosened, and she started explaining, a bit rapidly.

  «We, uh, my husband and I were a little unsure about how we should tell him the bad news. He’s just been released after a long stay in prison, and besides we aren’t completely sure if it really was his mother who lived in that house, that is. You understand, he hasn’t had it easy, we thought maybe someone who is used to giving bad news to people ought to tell him that.»

  «Someone like me, you mean?»

  She looked anxious and Verner hurried to assure her that it was quite all right. She looked relieved.

  «Do you know what he was in prison for?»

  «No,» she said, looking away. She excused herself, saying that she had a report to write, and disappeared out of the room.

  Verner turned toward his mother.

  «I can’t stay too long today, Mom,» he said. «I have to get back to work, but I’ll come again soon.»

  She didn’t watch as he left, just waved quickly as if she was brushing off irritating flies, then she rustled the newspaper and continued to read with small twitches.

  I don’t miss her, Verner Jacobsen thought as he got in the car a little later. And at the same time, he knew that he would not miss her until she was gone for good.

  34

  Bitte Røed opened one of the moving boxes and had an unhappy reunion with some flower vases she and Robert had received when they got married. She was considering putting them back in the box when the doorbell rang. It’s a shame to throw them out, and what if I could use one of them? she thought, expectantly opening the door.

  «Come in!»

  A stab in her chest. A flash of heat.

  «Oh! It’s you?»

  She blushed lightly when she saw who it was.

  «I thought it was Kristian. I’m waiting for him to come, you understand. He’s no longer a person of interest in the case.»

  She knew that the smile might be mistaken for triumph, but was unable to stop it.

  «But anyway, it’s you, Verner. How nice!»

  She truly meant it, that it was nice to see her colleague, but at the same time she was worried that Kristian would come right now. Kristian will see that Verner is special to me, she thought. There were certain people you preferred to see without your partner. People you gladly had intimate conversations with, but only when you were alone with them. These conversations were in no way secret, but it still felt like she had to be careful about what she said when others were around. Verner was that kind of person.

  «I’m disturbing you,» Verner said. He remained standing on the steps, although she had opened the door wide.

  «No, come on in.»

  Before she closed the door, Bitte cast a glance down the street to see if Kristian was on his way, but there was only a big, red cat slinking along the hedge that separated and screened the townhouses from each other.

  «I won’t be long,» said Verner. «You’re on this fire case, you see...»

  Bitte nodded and was disappointed for a moment. It’s work.

  «Nice apartment,» Verner said as he came into the living room. There were stacks of boxes along one wall, but it was still possible to see the neat, white-painted wainscoting, and she had put up a bookcase.

  «I have books too, but right now I don’t know where they are,» Bitte said, laughing. «So, what are you wondering?»

  She knew that Verner liked to read. Now he smiled wryly.

  «Is there something new in the fire case?» Bitte asked.

  Should she offer him anything? If she did, he’s going to meet Kristian. Did she want that? What would it be like to see them next to each other? Would they be in the same class?

  «I heard at the station that you have evidently identified the owner of the house. Erna Eriksen. I’ve found her son. In any event, I think he’s been found. He is supposedly at this address right now.»

  Bitte took the slip of paper that he had torn out of his notepad.

  «Obviously, I can deliver the information to the officer on duty,» he said. «Then a patrol car can go out and have a talk with him. You’re off duty and expecting a visitor.»

  He seemed embarrassed. It was strange how a colleague you think you know well becomes like a stranger when he shows up at your house. His presence was suddenly difficult. She didn’t know what to say. This was not like her.

  «Or you can choose to go down there now,» he continued. «Don’t feel any pressure, but I can go with you if you want.»

  Bitte heard two voices. One advised her to stay where she was. Peder and Julie were at home. Kristian would soon arrive.

  And the other said: Work is most important. Your career. You may get a breakthrough in the case—will you let others take that? And Verner will be with you. Be. With. You.

  «Julie!»

  Bitte stuck her head up in the stairway to the second floor. No one answered.

  «Wait here,» she said to Verner and went upstairs. «I’m just going to ask Julie to mind Peder while we’re gone.»

  Julie had been reasonably submissive when Bitte confronted her with the fact that she knew she’d been at the same party as the dead girl. Julie had been dismissive and locked herself in her room, closing herself up like a clam. Bitte had strategically chosen to let her sit there, confident that she would not try to run off.

  She sent Kristian a text message that she had to postpone their date that evening.

  «Do you know why Agnar Eriksen was in prison?» Bitte asked as they were on their way out to the garage. «By the way, I’ll take my car, so you don’t have to drive me out here again afterward.»

  «I called and got Heiki to check the archives while I was on my way to your place,» Verner said, closing his mouth again immediately.

  «You see,» he said, and discovered too late that he was feverishly trying to explain away why he had visited her.

  «I’m coming from Sylling. I was visiting my mother, and that’s why I’m here, on my way past... Tranby is on the way, so I thought...»

  Why is he so nervous? thought Bitte Røed. She was about to say that he didn’t have to justify why he was in Tranby, when Verner continued.

  «Until two days ago, Agnar Eriksen has been in prison for seven years for assault and attempted murder of his mother.»

  35

  It was dark when Bitte Røed and Verner Jacobsen were standing outside the entrance, ringing the doorbell for Elin and Finn Berget.

  «We’re from the police,» Bitte Røed said as the intercom crackled. «Can you let us in?»

  There was a click in the door, and they went up to the third floor. Bitte Røed showed her ID card to the man who answered, while she tried to conceal how out of breath she was from the stairs.

  «We’re looking for Agnar Eriksen,» she said. «Is that you?»

  The man in the doorway shook his head, turned around, and looked into the apartment.

  «We need to speak with him. It concerns his mother,» Bitte continued.

  «Yes. Yes, he’s here.»

  The man looked nervous. He whispered.

  «I understand that you’ve talked with my wife. Did she say that Agnar still doesn’t know that his mother’s house burned down? We ha
ven’t said anything to him. When we saw today that next of kin were being looked for, we didn’t quite know how to tell him... and he’s been drinking quite a bit.»

  «We’ll be gentle,» Bitte said with an unpleasant tingling in her abdomen. She hated bringing bad news. Fortunately, Verner Jacobsen was with her.

  They went into the living room. There was no one there. A man with nice pants and a light-blue shirt came out of the kitchen. Apart from the fact that he was obviously three sheets to the wind, he did not resemble what she had expected of someone convicted of assault. He grinned stupidly with a charming, inquisitive gaze.

  «They’re from the police, Agnar,» Finn said seriously. «They have bad news.»

  «Huh?»

  Agnar supported himself on the back of an armchair. He clung to it firmly and pulled himself around. Sat down and let his gaze swim between Bitte and Verner.

  Bitte sat down on the sofa right across from him. She had a strange feeling that he was acting. Was it normal to appear so anxious before they’d even said why they were there?

  «It’s about your mother,» she said.

  «Mama?»

  Agnar swallowed with a strikingly loud sound. A muffled sound from his throat. Did he have tears in his eyes?

  «There is reason to believe that she died when her house burned to the ground. Haven’t you heard that?»

  «No!»

  Agnar shouted, and then he turned to Finn.

  «Did you know that? Did you ask these people to come here?»

  Bitte Røed glanced at Verner Jacobsen, who was staying in the background. Did he also have a sense of being an audience in a theater? Verner’s face did not show what he was thinking.

  «Elin saw it on the news just a few hours ago,» Finn said, not looking at Agnar while he talked. «We thought it was best if you got help from professionals.»

  «And so you contact the police?»

  Finn looked down at the floor.

  «You’ve been staying here the last few days?» Bitte asked.

  Agnar nodded and cast a glance at Finn.

  «Yes, he came here on Wednesday afternoon,» Finn said. «I’m unemployed, so he... uh, we’ve been celebrating the reunion.»

  «Agnar,» said Bitte Røed. «We want you to go with us. We’re trying to confirm the identity of the person who died in the fire. If it is your mother, as we assume, a DNA sample from you could give us one hundred percent certainty.»

  Agnar tried to stand up, but fell back on the chair. Three sheets to the wind, thought Verner Jacobsen, and was involuntarily reminded of some episodes with Ingrid. She also had this tendency to think she was completely sober and needed to show it with simple tasks, such as putting glasses in the dishwasher or clearing away a pile of newspapers on the coffee table.

  «I think it will be best for you to go with us now,» Verner said. «First, you need to sober up, and then we can arrange for someone you can talk to.»

  «But I’m sleeping here on the sofa at Finn’s,» said Agnar. «I can get sober here. Can’t I, Finn? I don’t need to drink any more now.»

  Finn looked uncertain.

  «You’re going with us,» Bitte Røed said firmly. «And you stay in the vicinity,» she added, fixing her gaze on Finn. «We will most likely come back to talk to you later.»

  Finn looked relieved as they took Agnar with them to put him in the drunk tank overnight. Agnar went calmly, but stumbled on the doorstep on his way out.

  «Well, well, Finn. Bye-bye, then. Give my best to the wife. Bye-bye, I said. Bye!»

  36

  It was Friday evening and Christmas buffet season. The cells in the drunk tank were already almost fully booked for the weekend. It smelled like vomit in reception, and they could hear a racket in the hallway inside. Bitte was glad she could turn around when they dropped off Agnar by the metal counter in the drunk tank. Fortunately, it was not too late when she got in her car to drive home to her kids. Maybe she would have time to read a little to Peder, sitting on the edge of his bed before he fell asleep.

  She unlocked the door to the apartment. It was quiet. Apart from a lone lamp that was on in the kitchen, the whole first floor was dark. Julie must have managed to get Peder to bed. She almost stumbled over a box by the doorway to the living room.

  «I can’t deal with it right now,» she said, as if it had deliberately put itself in her way. She gave it a kick. The sound of something breaking. Oh, no! The wine glasses!

  Another sound made Bitte Røed stiffen. There was someone in the living room.

  «Julie?»

  A shadow got up from the couch. Not Julie. Bitte Røed felt the blood drain from her head. Her ears were ringing.

  «Trying day?»

  «Oh my God! You scared me!»

  Bitte began to laugh with small hiccoughs, closer to tears than laughter.

  «That wasn’t the idea,» said Kristian, coming toward her. «Julie let me in ten minutes ago,» he explained. «She said you’d sent her a message that you’d be home soon.»

  «It’s not like me to be so jumpy,» said Bitte, trying to laugh off the fact that she had been scared for a moment. «Why are you sitting here in the dark?»

  «The ceiling light needs a new bulb,» said Kristian. «It blinked a couple of times and went out before you came in.»

  «I have to get an electrician to look at it,» said Bitte, giving it a push so that it started swinging back and forth over the coffee table. The light came on at once.

  «So nice to see you!»

  She smiled and fell into his arms.

  «I’m sorry I cancelled our date,» she mumbled into his chest.

  «It doesn’t help to cancel anything with me, you know. I’ll come anyway.»

  «I’m happy about that,» said Bitte, allowing herself to feel a moment’s weakness. She just wanted to disappear into those long, strong arms. Happiness poked small, pleasant holes in her, as if she had swallowed an itty-bitty hedgehog. Kristian was here. With her. And he was hers. I could get used to this, she thought, suddenly recalling that she had meant to take the first opportunity to ask about his interview. But suddenly that wasn’t as important.

  «It’s been a tough day,» he said, jerking her back to reality. In the real world, she could not cling tightly in an embrace and act as if everything was all right.

  «So, you weren’t charged and held?» she said, smiling in a way that was supposed to show that she was joking. She just had to say that. He had to understand that it was the police department’s job to suspect key witnesses. She saw how he stepped back, his eyes wandered.

  «Were you afraid of that?» she asked, sincerely surprised.

  «Of course I was,» Kristian said.

  «In most homicide cases the perpetrator is someone who knew the victim well. Often it’s a family member or friend. If I were to guess...»

  She cut herself off.

  «Kristian, you’re a journalist, I’m a cop, we shouldn’t talk about this. Can I trust that you won’t release anything I say in the press? I’m not involved with the case, and it’s unprofessional to speculate.»

  «I love amateurs,» he said with a chuckle. Then he turned serious. «Bitte Røed, my dear...»

  She melted back in his embrace.

  «You can trust me. I love you. I would do anything at all for someone I love.»

  «Hm, that sounds like something I could make use of.»

  «You have my full permission,» he said, tousling her hair.

  Sunday, November 30

  37

  You should light a candle on the first Sunday of Advent, Marte thought. One. Not a thousand. The place where Idunn was found was still cordoned off, but the road leading to the barricade tape was a consecutive chain of candles. The roses that someone had left there were reminiscent of scattered blood stains.

  She and her father were invited to dinner with his new girlfriend, and his father had sent her out along with the girlfriend’s daughter, Julie. Now they were standing on the edge of the road, each with a
candle and matches. Marte planted the candle at the edge of the ditch and lit it while she tried to avoid looking toward the spot itself. Fortunately, it was packed with people; they filled the road with light and sound and screened off the darkness that hid the obelisk.

  Julie had been talking nonstop on the way up. Asked her about everything that had happened both during and after the party. If she and Idunn had been best friends. About what she felt and thought. Marte had blurted out that she kept a diary. Now she regretted it.

  «Just forget what I said about the diary. And you don’t need to pretend like you want to be friends with me,» said Marte. «Is it your mom or my dad who asked you to be so nice?»

  Julie shuffled her feet as she made a little mound with the tip of her boot.

  «My mom,» said Julie.

  Marte turned away from her and started walking back.

  «Hey, wait,» Julie called.

  She had to run to catch up with her. Marte didn’t stop, but slowed down. They walked side by side down the hill without looking at each other. They met an even stream of people. All with candles or flowers, goal-oriented, like a pilgrimage.

  «Can you believe it?» Marte asked as they approached the housing development. «The reason my dad and I are having dinner with you tonight is to discuss bullying at school? Like, the police meets the PTA!»

  «Mom is acting like a teenager. It’s just so awkward,» said Julie.

  Their eyes met. Marte nodded and had to smile.

  «Dad isn’t any better,» she said.

  «How can old people be so childish?» Julie said. «When I get married, I’ll never get a divorce.»

  «I’m never getting married,» Marte said.

  «You’re just saying that because you’re not in love with anyone.»

  Marte thought about what had been in the mailbox yesterday. Someone had given her a heart. A heavy, silver-colored heart, with a severed leather strap. It just said MARTE in big letters on the envelope. Someone had been there and put it in the mailbox. At first she thought about Fredrik and got heart palpitations, but then she realized that it was the same kind of jewelry Idunn had. Who put it in her mailbox? Why? There was a Post-it note with it, too. It was written in the same big, almost childish letters, as if someone wanted to conceal their own handwriting: