The Human Flies (K2 and Patricia series) (8 page)

Patricia proved for the first time to be a good listener, as she patiently heard out my long account of what had been found in the case so far. Several times I noticed a twinkle in her eyes, but when I made signs of stopping, she motioned impatiently for me to continue.

‘That was very interesting and informative on certain points,’ she said, when I had finished, sometime around four o’clock. I chose to take that as a huge compliment.

‘So, who killed Harald Olesen?’ I asked pointedly.

She gave me a small smile as she shook her head apologetically.

‘Investigating a murder when the perpetrator is unknown is in many ways similar to painting a portrait. On Thursday night, we had a blank canvas, but have now managed to sketch a few characteristics, which will then lead to more. Even though it may all become clear soon, it may still take a considerable amount of hard work before the face is distinct enough. Despite the adjusted timeframe, it remains hard to see how the murderer could get in before the murder without being seen – or escape afterwards. Given what we know, he or she can still only be one of the other residents. But we have to keep our options open. As the murder took place sometime between eight and ten past ten, everyone who was in the building – with the exception of the baby, of course – had the opportunity, in theory.’

I looked at her and hesitated, but then ventured a slight objection.

‘Don’t you think we can rule out the man in the wheelchair?’

She shook her head and pushed back her own chair.

‘Not at all. Nothing that we know thus far rules out the possibility that a man in a wheelchair, who is otherwise healthy, might have committed the murder, alone or in collaboration with others. You must ask him in more detail about how he came to be in a wheelchair and just how serious it is. Even the caretaker’s wife, until proven innocent, is a potential murderer.’

Patricia was on a roll now and carried on tirelessly.

‘So, in the spirit of Agatha Christie, the main question therefore must be, who stood to gain so much from Harald Olesen’s death that they murdered him? And by extension, why was there a need to kill him now – when he did not have long to live anyway?’

‘Perhaps the murderer did not know he was ill?’ I suggested.

Patricia nodded, but then shook her head.

‘That is, of course, perfectly possible, but I still believe that it is more likely that the murderer knew about the illness, and that, paradoxically, was the very reason why things had to happen fast.’

Naturally, I could not resist asking why. I was not entirely sure what sort of answer I expected; it definitely was not the one I got.

‘Because there was no murder weapon at the scene of the crime.’

Again she smiled at my confusion. Her smile seemed to me to be a rather arrogant and unlikeable side of her nature, but I was too interested in what she had to say to give it any further thought.

‘I have to admit that the conclusion is somewhat speculative, given there are so many unknown factors, but it is very odd. If you had found a murder weapon near the body, the case would probably have been interpreted as an obvious suicide. Leaving a weapon behind would have been a far more obvious choice than this advanced idea involving the stereo player. The fact that the murderer did not use the option of leaving the gun behind would indicate that the murder was committed earlier than planned. The only other explanation I can think of is that the murderer wanted to demonstrate that it was a murder and not a suicide. No matter what, the question as to why it happened now is currently almost inseparable from the question of why it happened. His will and the money that was missing from his account are obviously both of great interest in this connection. You should follow up both questions as soon as possible after the weekend. In the meantime, I suggest that you ask the neighbours if they can provide the investigation with information regarding their finances. It will be of considerable interest simply to see who answers “yes” or “no” to this.’

I nodded, and immediately followed up with a new question.

‘Do you think that this is essentially about money?’

Patricia thoughtfully nibbled on her carrot for a minute or so before answering.

‘The money may be decisive, but I think it is a lead more than a solution, and that this is about something more important and more serious. In any case, there are already several clues that point back to the war.’

I thought to myself once again that people who claimed that money was not important for some reason always seemed to have plenty of it. But before I could decide whether to mention it or not, she pushed on to new heights.

‘In short, I do not think we are looking for someone who functions normally. I believe we are looking for a human fly.’

Despite the fact that my knowledge of zoology is perhaps better than average, I have to confess that this was an unknown species to me – and I certainly did not understand why she was talking about it now. Having wracked my brains for a minute or so, I had to swallow the bitter pill and ask what she meant. She attempted to give an apologetic smile, without much success.

‘I am sorry – I wasn’t thinking. It is a concept that I made up myself and have used so much since that I forget that it is not something that other people understand. But I do think that it may be relevant here. There are a good many people who at some point in their lives have experienced something so painful and traumatic that they never get over it. They become human flies and spend more or less the rest of their life circling round what happened. Like flies round a rubbish tip, to use a simple analogy. I think that Harald Olesen himself, behind his suit and mask, was in fact a human fly. And I have a strong suspicion that he was killed by another one.’

I now understood what she meant – and immediately saw a possible link to my own preliminary theories.

‘Which would point to Konrad Jensen?’

Patricia wagged her head thoughtfully before answering.

‘Yes and no. At the moment, Konrad Jensen is the most obvious human fly among the neighbours. But I suspect that he is not the only one, and I for various reasons doubt that he is the right one. It would be more plausible that he was the murderer if we could find a direct link between his background in the war and Harald Olesen’s.’

I had to agree with what she had said so far. And it suddenly occurred to me that I should ask what her thoughts were regarding the blue raincoat. She lit up when I mentioned it and gave me a much longed-for compliment.

‘You are absolutely right – it may be crucial. Once we have established who threw the blue raincoat away, I think we will be hard on the heels of the murderer. The problem is that it was not found until Friday morning. And I am sure that you did not go through the residents’ wardrobes on Thursday evening in search of a blue raincoat?’

This was my opportunity for a welcome small victory.

‘Of course we did not search their wardrobes for a blue raincoat that we knew nothing about, but I think we can say with reasonable certainty that it was not to be seen in any of the neighbours’ flats late on Thursday night. No one has made a note of a large blue raincoat, and it would not be particularly easy to hide something like that in the event of a house search.’

For a moment I thought that Patricia was about to get out of her wheelchair. For about thirty seconds her eyes flashed and her body tensed.

‘Brilliant,’ she almost whispered. ‘It is still not a determining factor, but may prove to be.’

I waited for further explanation, but soon realized that this would not be forthcoming. So instead I asked what she made of the neighbours’ statements. This time she was quick to answer.

‘There are still an extraordinary number of secrets in that building. The fact that all those people have ended up in the same building is suspicious in itself. The American diplomat is perhaps strangest of all, but the student from Sweden, rentier from Oppland and millionaire’s daughter from Bærum do not really belong on the east side of the river in Torshov either. Some of them may have ended up there by chance – that goes without saying – but that is certainly not the case for all of them. In fact, I suspect that only one of the residents has been completely open and honest so far.’

She stopped abruptly, no doubt knowing that I would ask who. When I did, she gave me the most tantalizing smile and tore a page from her notebook. With her left hand hiding the page, she dashed off some words before folding the paper. Then she rang the bell for the maid. While we waited, Patricia beamed at me with the most disarming and innocent smile.

‘Please forgive my somewhat eccentric behaviour, but it is a shot in the dark that may be wrong. And if that is the case, my speculations must not be allowed to bias your ongoing investigation.’

As soon as there was a knock on the door, she stopped the conversation and held the folded sheet out to the maid.

‘Please put this in a sealed envelope and send it to Detective Inspector Kolbjørn Kristiansen at Oslo Police. You will find the address in the telephone directory. Send the letter this evening on your way home.’

Benedikte looked from Patricia to me, obviously confused.

‘Benedikte, do not try to think for yourself, as it has never been very successful. Benedikte should just do as she is told and then everything will be fine,’ Patricia instructed, in a harsh voice.

The silent Benedikte nodded apologetically, took the piece of paper and hastily withdrew. I felt the episode to be uncomfortable, even though this might be the way they normally spoke to each other. However, I already had more than enough problems without interfering in internal communications in the Borchmann household.

Patricia waited before saying any more until the door was safely closed behind Benedikte.

‘The post has already been collected today, so the letter will not be sent until Monday, which means that you will not receive it before Tuesday at the earliest. It may be that I have made a mistake, but it will be interesting to see whether my theories today tally with what happens between now and Tuesday. I would be very surprised if some of the residents had not decided to amend their original statement quite substantially by then.’

I remembered one of the loose threads that I was struggling to tie up and immediately drew her attention to it.

‘Kristian Lund is perhaps one of them. What do you make of the discrepancy as to when he came home on the evening of the murder? It’s three against two, and I am really not sure who to believe.’

Suddenly, Patricia burst into loud, mischievous laughter.

‘Perhaps I should not laugh. That is another story, but it may of course still prove to be important. If you think about it, it is not necessarily three against two in favour of Kristian Lund. The fact that his wife confirms that he came through the door at nine o’clock does not necessarily contradict the claims from the other two that he came in the front door an hour earlier. The only person to support his claim that he came in at nine is the caretaker’s wife, who you said seemed to be bothered by the situation. I think you should have a serious talk with her about it, then I think that it will be cleared up soon enough.’

I promised to do so, without entirely seeing the point.

‘But where was Kristian Lund in the meantime, then? He could hardly have used all that time to get from the front door to the first floor.’

Patricia laughed again – just as loudly and mischievously as before.

‘If that were the case, he would be even less able than Andreas Gullestad and myself combined. If Kristian Lund did come back at eight o’clock, he could in theory have been in any of the other flats in the building. In practice, however, there are really only two possibilities. One is extremely serious, and the other extremely embarrassing – and both are of great potential importance to the investigation.’

I stared at Patricia, more fascinated than ever. She gave me her most coquettish smile and on purpose munched the rest of her carrot at a very leisurely pace before continuing.

‘The first and more serious possibility is of course obvious . . . Kristian Lund was on the second floor in Harald Olesen’s flat. For reasons he cannot or does not dare to share with us. It is quite possible this is the case, but the second theory is more probable.’

My patience was in danger of running out. And it certainly did when she found this to be a suitable moment to conjure up another raw carrot and take another couple of pensive bites. My suppressed irritation at being teased by those more intelligent than me at middle school suddenly flared up again.

‘So where was Mr Lund between eight o’clock and nine o’clock according to your second and more embarrassing theory? Could the young Miss Borchmann be as kind as to let the head of investigation know?’

My sharp tone made Patricia frown for a moment. Then she smiled disarmingly again, but still with a mischievous undertone. Suddenly, she was just like any other normal, gossipy eighteen-year-old girl on a school trip.

‘According to my second and more embarrassing theory, he was of course on the first floor. In the bedroom of Flat 2A, to be precise – on top of Miss Sara Sundqvist!’

She burst out laughing again, this time presumably at the expression on my face.

‘It fits suspiciously well, does it not? It would explain her mysterious lover, and the remarkable fact that he has never been seen by the caretaker’s wife, or anyone else for that matter. It would also explain why Kristian Lund stubbornly denies in front of his wife that he came back any earlier.’

Of course it fitted suspiciously well. Including the reaction of the caretaker’s wife, now that I thought of it. The only thing it did not explain was why I had failed to recognize the possibility myself. And why the caretaker’s wife had lied. Kristian Lund had an increasing number of awkward inconsistencies to explain, even though I still could not bring myself to see the anxious young father as a cold-blooded murderer.

In wrapping up, Patricia agreed that it would be prudent to inform the press of the change in the time of the murder and the story behind it on Sunday, once I had confronted the neighbours. She said that I was ‘right’ that it was a better idea to increase pressure on the murderer than to give a false impression of safety. Secretly, I was more worried about what people and the media might think or believe if more days were to pass without any visible breakthrough in the investigation.