The Human Flies (K2 and Patricia series) (29 page)

There was silence on the line for a moment. We both remembered only too well our discovery in Konrad Jensen’s flat two days earlier. The lights were the deciding factor. I asked her to be ready with the keys and immediately went down to the car to drive over there.

A quarter of an hour later, I was once again standing with a nervous caretaker’s wife outside a locked door. Once again I was armed with my service revolver. And once again there was not a sound to be heard from inside, even though I rang the bell and knocked on the door several times. At twenty-five past twelve, I asked the caretaker’s wife to open the door and crossed the threshold with trepidation, my gun ready in my hand.

The lights were on in all the rooms. There was no apparent difference from the day before. The furniture was all in the same place, the books and papers were untouched, and there was some washing-up left from his last meal in the kitchen, but his fur coat was no longer on the coat stand by the door. And most importantly, Darrell Williams himself was nowhere to be seen, not in the hall, not in the bathroom, not in the bedroom or the kitchen. I left the living room until last and half expected to find Darrell Williams collapsed in a chair – just as I had found Konrad Jensen two days earlier on the floor below. But fortunately, all the chairs were empty. Between the bottles on the table lay a short letter with a brief attempt at an explanation.

Honourable Detective Inspector Kristiansen,

I apologize sincerely that I am duty-bound to follow a new order from my employer and to leave Norway immediately without being able to inform you in advance. I would like to reiterate my assurance that I have no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Harald Olesen’s death, and leave the country confident that you will find his murderer without my cooperation within the next few days.

With my deepest respect,

Darrell Williams

I read the letter four times. The first two times with increasing disbelief, the last two with increasing anger. I went out to reassure the caretaker’s wife that there had not been another death, but that Darrell Williams had had to go away at short notice. Then I went back down to the car and drove faster than the speed limit and traffic permitted to the American Embassy.

III

My anger at Darrell Williams’s disappearing act survived the journey remarkably well, just as it did my meeting with the building’s facade and the American Embassy staff. I informed the receptionist briefly, and possibly a touch too curtly, that I was Detective Inspector Kristiansen and was investigating the murder of Harald Olesen and that I would wait here until Embassy Counsellor George Adams had the time to meet me. It was a bold strategy. Behind my bravado, my heart pounded for the endless, long-drawn minutes that followed until someone came to tell me that ‘Mr Adams’ was in his office and would be happy to see me immediately.

The desk was just as big, the handshake just as firm, the face just as void of expression and the voice just as drawling as on my last visit.

‘What a pleasure to see you again, Detective Inspector. Congratulations on your breakthrough in the investigation, which was reported in the papers yesterday. Now, how can we help you today?’

I studied him, without seeing any cracks in his diplomatic armour.

‘Well, to begin with, you can explain to me why Darrell Williams has disappeared and then tell me where and why he has gone.’

George Adams rubbed his hands.

‘“Disappeared” is perhaps the wrong word. I can confirm that Darrell Williams has left the country, and we of course know where he is. There is no drama attached to the situation. As Mauritius has become an independent state, the USA has established an embassy there and Mr Williams was asked to assume the position of ambassador.’

I nodded grimly; it was about as audacious as I had expected.

‘In which case, why did the embassy not find it necessary to inform me or the police of this?’

George Adams rubbed his hands even harder and looked even more smug.

‘We of course apologize if such notification should have been given, but we saw no grounds to disturb such an important person as yourself in a situation where we had every reason to believe that the murder case had been solved in the best possible way, without Mr Williams being involved at all. Furthermore, we had no reason to believe that you would appreciate being informed at midnight on Maundy Thursday.’

I quickly realized that any display of anger or irritation was pointless and decided to play the diplomat myself. This time, I fortunately had a far better card up my sleeve than before.

‘I am afraid there appears to have been a regrettable breakdown in communication. I informed Darrell Williams late last night of a dramatic development in the murder investigation that made it necessary for all the residents of 25 Krebs’ Street who were there on the night of the murder to remain in town until after the Easter weekend.’

George Adams gave an apologetic shrug and smiled blithely.

‘I am very sorry to hear that. As you say, there appears to have been a regrettable breakdown in communication. Might I add that there is a simple explanation as to why Mr Williams did not mention this at the time. He was called to Mauritius by telephone at two o’clock this morning and left Norway on a six-o’clock flight. Obviously, the opportunity to become an ambassador was so unexpected and attractive that he immediately forgot everything else.’

I gave an even more exaggerated shrug and smiled even more blithely.

‘These things happen, and obviously no one is to blame, but the misunderstanding is indeed very unfortunate as it may trigger unwarranted anti-American reactions from politicians and the press in Norway. That was what I had hoped to avoid by telling Mr Williams yesterday.’

It felt for the first time like I had hit a weak point in George Adams’s armour. He kept his friendly smile, but his movements were more tense.

‘The embassy would naturally do whatever necessary to avoid such a development. Would you be able to explain what the problem is?’

‘With pleasure. I have no reason to believe that Darrell Williams is in any way involved with the murder, but a situation may arise over the weekend in which the press once again turns a critical eye on the investigation and I may be obliged to ask some important questions of all the witnesses. If Mr Williams is no longer here, it would of course give rise to suspicion and possible speculation. The press would then ask if I had informed Williams that he was not allowed to leave the country and as a guardian of the law, I would have to tell the truth. And that in turn could easily lead to unfortunate rumours and more speculation.’

George Adams gave a sharp nod to indicate that he understood the problem and then leaned forward over the desk. It was clear that he was wracking his brains to find a solution. I still had an ace of spades up my sleeve and saw no reason to save it, given the way things had gone.

‘However, the misunderstanding is all the more regrettable as I have, in the course of the investigation, got wind of information that could indicate a degree of cooperation between Harald Olesen and American intelligence agencies in the past, which may also have involved certain leading politicians in both Norway and the USA. There may be details of activities in Norway and lists of who was involved. As far as I can tell, this is of little significance to the murder investigation, and I had hoped that it would be possible to exclude it from my reports. But should the press decide to take a more critical look at the case, this may be difficult. And that would be extremely unfortunate, given the upcoming election in the USA and the already excessive anti-American feeling abroad in Norway . . .’

I had obviously hit the jackpot. George Adams’s head immediately dropped noticeably, and his gaze was almost fearful. It was impossible not to be impressed at how well he continued to express himself even though the tension in his voice was now obvious.

‘The embassy would like to thank you for informing us immediately, and we will of course do our best to avoid a situation in which sensitive personal information falls into the wrong hands and creates any extreme reactions. Could you please advise us on how best to avoid such a situation?’

I nodded with exaggerated willingness.

‘Well, let us hope first of all that Mr Williams has not yet boarded the flight to Mauritius and that it will be possible to get him a return ticket to Oslo as soon as possible. If he was back in his flat in Oslo by four o’clock tomorrow afternoon, for example, we should be able to control the situation. Otherwise, the situation could become very dramatic and uncomfortable should it be necessary to issue a warrant through Interpol. It is only reasonable to assume that enemies of the USA here in this country and elsewhere would soon notice such a warrant for an American diplomat. In which case, the situation could quickly spiral out of control in both political circles and the press. In the worst-case scenario, a list of Harald Olesen’s contacts in Norway and America and information about what they have done may get out.’

George Adams immediately nodded three times, his head sinking with every nod. By the third, his chin almost hit the desk.

‘Then I won’t take up any more of your time and will myself immediately review the situation and investigate ways in which to get Darrell Williams back to Oslo as soon as possible in order to avoid any further complications. On behalf of the American Embassy, I would once again like to thank you for your goodwill, and I will inform you immediately when we have an overview of the situation.’

This time the embassy counsellor’s hand was definitely sweaty. I managed to keep a straight face until I had left the building and was back in my car driving away – but no longer.

A new howl of laughter was triggered that afternoon in my office when a secretary came in at half past two with an urgent telegram from the American Embassy. The message was short:

DARRELL WILLIAMS LANDING AT FORNEBU TOMORROW 2.30PM AND WILL IMMEDIATELY BE DRIVEN TO HIS FLAT STOP THANK YOU FOR COOPERATION AND AGAIN APOLOGIES FOR MISUNDERSTANDING STOP GEORGE ADAMS

My irritation at Williams’s disappearance had definitely now turned into joy at the way the case was progressing. I was filled with childish delight and pride at the fact that I had forced the mighty American Embassy to retreat. Just then, my secretary came in with another urgent telegram. I asked, not without trepidation, if it was also from the embassy, but was told that it was from the Swedish Police. I ripped open the telegram immediately. It was longer than the one from the American Embassy, and even more dramatic:

SARA SUNDQVIST TAKEN IN CHARGE AT A SMALL POLICE STATION IN SÄLEN FEBRUARY 1944 STOP CHIEF OF POLICE HANS ANDERSSON STILL IN SERVICE AND REMEMBERS MANY DETAILS STOP HAS MET HARALD OLESEN AND DEERFOOT BUT DOES NOT KNOW HIS NAME STOP ANDERSSON ASKS YOU TO COME TO SÄLEN IN PERSON AS SOON AS POSSIBLE STOP SWEDISH POLICE STOCKHOLM

I looked at my watch and saw that as it took four to five hours to get to Sälen, it was too late to drive there and back today. So I hastily wrote a return telegram in which I confirmed that I would get to Sälen around lunchtime tomorrow. And then I phoned Patricia to hear if she had any good advice to help me on my way.

IV

My afternoon meeting at the White House lasted no longer than an hour – even though it included an excellent three-course meal of onion soup, salmon and rice cream. It felt a little as though we were celebrating the imminent closure of the case. However, the atmosphere was far from riotous. Patricia laughed, as I had hoped, at the story of my new and far more productive meeting with the embassy counsellor, but soon became deadly serious again.

‘Well, let us hope that your intuition is right and that Darrell Williams is not the murderer. Otherwise it may in fact be difficult to avoid a public scandal.’

A piece of potato got stuck in my throat.

‘I think it is safe to say that he is not. I did seriously start to wonder if Darrell Williams was the murderer when he was given help by the embassy to leave the country. But in that case, they would hardly have agreed on the spot to have him sent back . . .’

Patricia chewed her salmon thoughtfully.

‘This is a slightly risky situation. Darrell Williams is a truly cold-hearted player if he did commit the murders and comes back all the same, and there is already much to indicate that he is a cool player. What has happened is that the embassy now trusts you, and you trust the embassy. Your successful tactic today more or less knocks one of the remaining theories on the head, namely that Harald Olesen was murdered by Darrell Williams because of the old information and things that had to be kept secret. Which in turn reinforces the impression given in the diary that the situation had already been resolved and the papers burned before Harald Olesen was murdered. But the embassy must have totally misjudged the situation and believed that if Darrell Williams disappeared from the scene, the negative focus would not be as great. Or they knew about his old conflicts with Harald Olesen and were afraid that he may have actually murdered him. Which cannot be entirely ruled out, can it?’

For a moment I lost my appetite and pushed the rest of the delicious salmon to one side. We could unfortunately not rule this out, and it would be a very embarrassing scenario, especially given my performance at the American Embassy today. I comforted myself with the thought that if Darrell Williams should prove to be the murderer, the situation would be more embarrassing for the embassy. Practically everything I had said or done in the course of the investigation could be justified in relation to the general public and my superiors. However, the idea of being accused of hoodwinking the embassy of Norway’s most powerful ally in connection with a murder case was not an attractive one, it had to be said. I hastily replied to Patricia that it seemed highly unlikely and she gave a sombre shake of the head.