Harry Hole Mysteries 3-Book Bundle (85 page)

Harry glanced at his watch. Five past seven. He rang the duty officer.

‘I need assistance for an arrest in Holmenveien.’

‘Detention?’

Harry knew very well that he didn’t have enough to ask the police solicitor for an arrest warrant.

‘To be brought in for questioning,’ Harry said.

‘I thought you said arrest? And why do you need assistance if it’s only—?’

‘Could you have two men and a car ready outside the garage in five minutes?’

Harry received a snort by way of response, which he interpreted as a yes. He took two puffs of his cigarette, stubbed it out, got up, locked the door and left. He was ten metres down the culvert when he heard a faint noise behind him which he knew was the landline ringing.

He had come out of the lift and was on his way to the door when he heard someone shout his name. He turned and saw the security guard waving to him. By the counter Harry saw the back of a mustard-yellow woollen coat.

‘This man was asking for you,’ the receptionist said.

The woollen coat turned. It was the type that is supposed to look as if it is cashmere, and on occasion it is. In this case, Harry assumed it was. Because it was filled out by a broad-shouldered, long-limbed man with dark eyes, dark hair and possibly a dash of Arab blood in his veins.

‘You’re taller than you appear in the photos,’ said Tony Leike, exhibiting a row of porcelain dental high-rises and an outstretched hand.

‘Good coffee,’ said Tony Leike, looking as if he meant it. Harry studied Leike’s long, distorted fingers wrapped around the coffee cup. It wasn’t contagious Leike had explained as he had proffered his hand to Harry, just good old-fashioned arthritis, an inherited affliction that – if nothing else – made him a reliable meteorologist. ‘But, to be frank, I thought they gave inspectors slightly better offices. Trifle warm?’

‘The prison boiler,’ Harry said, sipping his coffee. ‘So you read about the case in
Aftenposten
this morning?’

‘Yes, I was having breakfast. Almost choked on it, to be honest.’

‘Why’s that?’

Leike rocked in his chair, like a Formula One driver in a bucket seat before the start. ‘I trust what I say can remain between us.’

‘Who is
us?
’

‘The police and me. Preferably you and me.’

Harry hoped his voice was neutral and did not reveal his excitement. ‘The reason being?’

Leike took a deep breath. ‘I don’t want it to come out that I was in the Håvass cabin at the same time as the MP, Marit Olsen. For the
moment I have a very high media profile because of my impending wedding. It would be unfortunate if I were to be linked with a murder investigation right now. The press would be on to it and that might … things would emerge from my past that I would prefer to be dead and buried.’

‘I see,’ Harry said innocently. ‘Of course, I will have to weigh up a number of factors and for that reason cannot promise anything. But this is not an interview, just a conversation, and I don’t usually leak this kind of thing to the press.’

‘Nor to my … er, nearest and dearest?’

‘Not unless there is a reason for it. If you’re afraid it will be made public that you were here, why did you come?’

‘You asked people who were at the cabin to come forward, so it’s my civic duty, isn’t it?’ He sent Harry a questioning look. And then pulled a face. ‘Christ, I was frightened, wasn’t I. I knew that those who were there that night were next for the chop. Jumped in my car and drove straight here.’

‘Has anything happened recently to make you concerned?’

‘No.’ Tony Leike scented the air thoughtfully. ‘Apart from a break-in through the cellar door a few days ago. Christ, I should get an alarm, shouldn’t I.’

‘Did you report it to the police?’

‘No, they only took a bike.’

‘And you think serial killers do a spot of cycle-nicking on the side?’

Leike shook his head with a smile. Not the sheepish smile of someone who is ashamed of having said something stupid, Harry thought. But the disarming, winning smile that says ‘you got me there, pal’, the gallant congratulation from someone used to their own victories.

‘Why did you ask for me?’

‘The papers said you were in charge, so I thought it only natural. Anyway, as I said, I was hoping it would be possible to keep this between as few people as possible, so I came straight to the top.’

‘I’m not the top, Leike.’

‘Aren’t you?
Aftenposten
gave the impression you were.’

Harry stroked his jutting jaw. He hadn’t made up his mind about Tony
Leike. He was a man with a groomed exterior and bad-boy charm that reminded Harry of an ice-hockey player he had seen in an underwear ad. He seemed to want to present an air of unruffled, worldly-wise smoothness but also to come across as a sincere human being with feelings which could not be hidden. Or perhaps it was the other way round; perhaps the smoothness was sincere and the feelings were pretence.

‘What were you doing at Håvass, Leike?’

‘Skiing of course.’

‘On your own?’

‘Yes. I’d had a few stressful days at work and needed some time off. I go to Ustaoset and Hallingskarvet a lot. Sleep in cabins. That’s my terrain, you could say.’

‘So why haven’t you got your own cabin there?’

‘Where I would like to have a cabin you can’t get planning permission any more. National park regulations.’

‘Why wasn’t your fiancée with you? Doesn’t she ski?’

‘Lene? She …’ Leike took a sip of coffee. The kind of sip you take in mid-sentence when you need a bit of thinking time, it struck Harry. ‘She was at home. I … we …’ He looked at Harry with an expression of mild desperation, as though pleading for help. Harry gave him none.

‘Shit. No pressure then, eh?’

Harry didn’t answer.

‘OK,’ Leike said as though Harry had given a response in the affirmative. ‘I needed a breather, to get away. To think. Engagement, marriage … these are grown-up issues. And I think best on my own. Especially up there on the snowy plains.’

‘And thinking helped?’

Leike flashed the enamel wall again. ‘Yes.’

‘Do you remember any of the others in the cabin?’

‘I remember Marit Olsen, as I said. She and I had a glass of red wine together. I didn’t know she was an MP until she said.’

‘Anyone else?’

‘There were a few others sitting around I barely greeted. But I arrived quite late, so some must have gone to bed.’

‘Oh?’

‘There were six pairs of skis in the snow outside. I remember that clearly because I put them in the hall in case of an avalanche. I remember thinking the others were perhaps not very experienced mountain skiers. If the cabin is half buried under three metres of snow you’re in a bit of a fix without any skis. I was first up in the morning – I usually am – and was off before the others had stirred.’

‘You say you arrived late. You were skiing alone in the dark, were you?’

‘Head torch, map and compass. The trip was a spontaneous decision, so I didn’t catch the train to Ustaoset until the evening. But, as I said, they are familiar surroundings, I’m used to finding my way across the frozen wastes in the dark. And the weather was good, moonlight reflecting off the snow, I didn’t need a map or a light.’

‘Can you tell me anything about what happened in the cabin while you were there?’

‘Nothing happened. Marit Olsen and I talked about red wine and then about the problems of keeping a modern relationship going. That is, I think her relationship was more modern than mine.’

‘And she didn’t say anything had happened in the cabin?’

‘No.’

‘What about the others?’

‘They sat by the fire talking about skiing trips, and drinking. Beer perhaps. Or some kind of sports drink. Two women and a man, between twenty and thirty-five, I would guess.’

‘Names?’

‘We just nodded and said hello. As I said, I had gone up there to be alone, not to make new friends.’

‘Appearance?’

‘It’s quite dark in these cabins at night, and if I say one was blonde, the other dark, that might be way off the mark. As I said, I don’t even remember how many people were there.’

‘Dialects?’

‘One of the women had a kind of west coast dialect, I think.’

‘Stavanger? Bergen? Sunnmøre?’

‘Sorry, I’m not much good at this sort of thing. It might have been west coast, could have been south.’

‘OK. You wanted to be alone, but you talked to Marit Olsen about relationships.’

‘It just happened. She came over and sat down next to me. Not exactly a wallflower. Talkative. Fat and cheery.’ He said that as if the two words were a natural collocation. And it struck Harry that the photo of Lene Galtung he had seen was of an extremely thin woman – to judge by the latest average weight for Norwegians.

‘So, aside from Marit Olsen, you can’t tell us anything about any of the others? Not even if I showed you photos of those we know to have been there?’

‘Oh,’ Leike said with a smile, ‘I think I can do that.’

‘Uh-huh?’

‘When I was in one room looking for a bunk to crash out on, I had to switch on the light to see which was free. And I saw two people asleep. A man and a woman.’

‘And you think you can describe them?’

‘Not in great detail, but I’m pretty sure I would recognise them.’

‘Oh?’

‘You sort of remember faces when you see them again.’

Harry knew that what Leike said was right. Witnesses’ descriptions were way out as a rule, but give them a line-up and they rarely made a mistake.

Harry walked over to the filing cabinet they had dragged back to the office, opened the respective victims’ files and removed the photographs. He gave the five photos to Leike, who flipped through them.

‘This is Marit Olsen, of course,’ he said, passing it back to Harry. ‘And these are the two women who were sitting by the fire, I think, but I’m not sure.’ He passed Harry the pictures of Borgny and Charlotte. ‘This may have been the boy.’ Elias Skog. ‘But none of these were asleep in the bedroom. I’m sure about that. And I don’t recognise this one either, he said, passing back the photo of Adele.

‘So you’re unsure about the ones you were in the same room with for a good while, but you’re sure about those you saw for a couple of seconds?’

Leike nodded. ‘They were asleep, weren’t they.’

‘Is it easier to recognise people asleep?’

‘No, but they don’t look back at you, do they. So you can stare unobserved.’

‘Mm. For a couple of seconds.’

‘Maybe a bit longer.’

Harry put the photos back in the files.

‘Have you got any names?’ Leike asked.

‘Names?’

‘Yes. As I said, I was the first up and I had a couple of slices of bread in the kitchen. The guest book was in there and I hadn’t signed in. While I was eating I opened it and studied the names that had been entered the night before.’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’ Tony rolled his shoulders. ‘It’s often the same people on these mountain skiing trips. I wanted to see if there was anyone I knew.’

‘Was there?’

‘No. But if you give me the names of people you know or think were there, maybe I can remember if I saw them in the guest book.’

‘Sounds reasonable, but I’m afraid we don’t have any names. Or addresses.’

‘Well then,’ Leike said, buttoning up his woollen coat. ‘I’m afraid I can’t be of much help, can I. Except that you can cross my name off.’

‘Mm,’ Harry said. ‘Since you’re here, I’ve got a couple more questions. So long as you have time?’

‘I’m my own boss,’ Leike said. ‘For the time being, anyway.’

‘OK. You say you have a murky past. Could you give me a rough idea of what you mean?’

‘I tried to kill a guy,’ Leike said without embellishment.

‘I see,’ Harry said, leaning back in his chair. ‘Why was that?’

‘Because he attacked me. He maintained I’d stolen his girl. The truth was that she was neither his girl nor wanted to be, and I don’t steal girls. I don’t have to.’

‘Mm. He caught you two in the act and hit her, did he?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’m trying to understand what sort of situation may have led to you trying to kill him. If you mean it literally, that is.’

‘He hit
me.
And that was why I did my best to kill him. With a knife. And I was well on the way to succeeding when a couple of my pals dragged me off him. I was convicted for aggravated assault. Which is pretty cheap for attempted murder.’

‘You realise that what you’re saying now could make you a prime suspect?’

‘In
this
case?’ Leike looked askance at Harry. ‘You kidding me? You lot have a bit more nous than that, don’t you?’

‘If you’ve wanted to kill once …’

‘I’ve wanted to kill several times. I assume I’ve done it, too.’

‘Assume?’

‘It’s not so easy to see black men in the jungle at night. For the most part you shoot indiscriminately.’

‘And you did that?’

‘In my depraved youth, yes. After paying for my crime, I went into the army and from there straight to South Africa and got a job as a mercenary.’

‘Mm. So you were a mercenary in South Africa?’

‘Three years. And South Africa is just the place where I enlisted; the fighting took place in the surrounding countries. There was always war, always a market for pros, especially for whites. The blacks still think we’re smarter, you know. They trust white officers more than their own.’

‘Perhaps you’ve been to the Congo, too?’

Tony Leike’s right eyebrow formed a black chevron. ‘How so?’

‘Went there a while back, so I wondered.’

‘It was called Zaire then. But most of the time we weren’t sure which bloody country we were in. It was just green, green, green and then black, black, black until the sun rose again. I worked for a so-called security firm at some diamond mines. That was where I learned to read a map and compass from a head torch. The compass is a waste of time there, too much metal in the mountains.’

Tony Leika leaned back in his chair. Relaxed and unafraid, Harry noted.

‘Talking of metal,’ Harry said, ‘think I read somewhere that you’ve got a mining business down there.’