Sohlberg and the Gift (22 page)

Traffic was heavier than usual on the southbound E-18 Highway. The short 7-mile trip to the southern suburb of Holmlia felt more like 20 miles because Sohlberg’s counter-surveillance measures meant driving around in aimless circles and repeatedly making u-turns and stopping and going into stores. Sohlberg barely arrived in time for his appointment at the homely if not ugly five-floor Holmlia Senter building where the Søndre Oslo Distriktspsykiatriske Senter (DPS) maintained offices. The Southern Oslo District Psychiatric Center occupied the entire second floor.

A mousy secretary escorted Sohlberg past a line of patients to a corner office. A giant color poster of the
Lily Flower Vendor
by Diego Rivera dominated the office and it offset the drabness of the furniture and the patients of the DPS.

“Good morning Chief Inspector,” said Dr. Bergitta Nansen who looked as exotic as always. This time she was clad in an all-white Chanel contraption that culminated in a white pillbox hat. “Please meet Doktor Jorfald. He’s the director here.”

A jovial red-faced giant of a man nimbly reached over a desk to vigorously pump Sohlberg’s hand. “Welcome to the Center. Welcome!”

“This looks impressive. You have the entire floor?”

“Yes. This floor is just for outpatient healthcare and the administration.
We
operate out of other facilities in the area . . .
we
have a total of eight different departments that cover three districts . . . Østensjø . . . Nordstrand . . . and Southern Nordstrand. . . .
We
are responsible under government mandate for the mental health of more than one hundred twenty-five thousand inhabitants in this area south of Oslo.”

“That’s quite a bit to manage,” said Sohlberg who couldn’t help noticing that Jorfald loved speaking about ‘
we
’. He wondered if Jorfald’s ‘
we
’ referred to Jorfald and his staff or Jorfald and his ego. Either way Dr. Jorfald sounded arrogant whenever he uttered the word ‘
we
’ in his conversation. Jorfald further irked Sohlberg because the doktor always squinted in self-importance while he yielded the word ‘
we
’ like a club over everyone’s head.

“
We
employ more than one hundred and forty people . . . you see . . .
we
deliver a multi-disciplinary approach to mental healthcare. So
we
employ doctors and psychologists and psychiatric nurses. Social workers. Occupational therapists. Family therapists. Physical therapists. A psychiatric pharmacist. And many others.”

“Impressive.”

“Now,” said the mammoth Jorfald as he laid the shovels of his beefy hands on the desk, “I understand from Doktor Nansen that you’re interested in one of our patients. I was baffled to say the least when she told me what you have in mind. So
we
want
to hear it straight from you to make sure that
we
have no misunderstandings.”

“Yes. I’m investigating a murder.”

“And how are
we
involved?”

“Indirectly.”

“How indirectly?”

“It’s hard to explain. . . .”

“Start at the beginning. That’s usually a good place.”

“Fine. . . . All of this started because I was looking for a report that two psychiatrists had submitted to the court in a criminal case. Doktor Nansen was on the panel that reviewed the report that was written up on the defendant Ludvik Helland in the Janne Eide murder case.”

“Our patient Ludvik Helland? . . . I’ve met him many times. Quite an interesting case. What’s your interest in him? . . . Just what is your proposed project?”

Sohlberg swallowed hard and laid out his ruse to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. Like all good ruses it was built out of half-truths and misleading omissions. He breathed in deeply and then spoke as calmly as he could:

“I have information that I need to check up on with respect to one of your patients . . . Håkon Krogvig. He’s a murderer . . . convicted of kidnaping and raping and stabbing two fourteen-year old girls. I suspect that he has killed many others . . . I mean . . . he just didn’t start killing out of the blue when he was in his forties. No . . . people like Krogvig have been killing for quite some time before they’re caught.”

“So . . . you only have suspicions about him . . . nothing else?” said Jorfald with a skeptical look on the slab of his immense face. “Any evidence? . . . Any testimony?”

“I have the fact that Krogvig fits the pattern of all serial killers. He’s had at least five major incidents of major brain trauma as a child and adult. He’s been a heavy drug and alcohol abuser since he was ten . . . and has a lifetime of severe nutritional deficiencies. He’s got toxic blood levels of lead and cadmium. He grew up in a dysfunctional if not toxic home . . . for a mother he had a vicious alcoholic prostitute whose routine beatings once left him in a two-day coma when he was seven. He’s a compulsive sexual deviant with serious memory and personality problems . . . and he’s been convicted as a juvenile and as an adult of arson and animal abuse and rape. He’s confessed to many killings in different jurisdictions and asked for help but no one in law enforcement paid him any attention because they had better suspects at the time. And he’s got a huge inferiority problem and feels very threatened by women.”

“And
you
have the credentials to determine these psychological patterns?” said Jorfald with a loud snicker.

“I don’t. But the American psychologist Joel Norris does. He’s studied dozens of serial killers and he found common and recurring patterns for all of them. Krogvig fits all of them.”

Nansen chuckled and said:

“Let’s suppose Chief Inspector that we agreed with this pattern theory. Exactly what do you propose to do with Krogvig?”

“Well . . . I can’t approach Krogvig directly since he would never speak to me at this stage in his life about other crimes that I’m sure he’s committed or knows about. Now . . . I did research on your group and found out that another patient of yours . . . Ludvik Helland . . . is also under your care because of a murder that he committed a few years ago. I want to use that patient to get information from Krogvig. I want to—”

“Excuse me,” interrupted Jorfald. “Do you mean that Krogvig knows about other crimes
or
that he committed other crimes.”

“Both.”

“Interesting,” said Jorfald as he folded his enormous hands on the table. “But
we
don’t like all of the ethical problems with your proposition.”

“What ethical problems?”

“To begin with . . . it’s based on deceit.”

“Look. It’s up to Ludvik Helland to decide if he wants to help me investigate another of your patients. Isn’t it? . . . I’ve done a lot of research on him . . . that’s why I wanted to read the court experts’ report on him . . . he’s my best hope to ever solve any of the murders that I think Krogvig got away with.”

“I . . . I just don’t know. Chief Inspector . . . this is so strange.
We
don’t feel comfortable having one of our patients spy on another patient while
we
know about it. You see . . .
we
try our hardest to build the trust of our patients.
We
want them to feel free to say everything and anything on their minds. That trust would be destroyed if the patients somehow found out that
we
allowed the police to use one patient to spy on another patient under our auspices.”

“Perhaps,” said Sohlberg with extreme patience. “But I’ve read several articles about you and Doktor Nansen . . . it seems that both of you have studied whether police work causes psychosis. . . . I also read that you’ve studied police spying . . . police undercover operations . . . as part of a psychosis case study. . . . Isn’t that what you want to study between the two patients
and
myself?”

“Yes,” admitted Jorfald. “I’m working with her on that study . . . we’re co-authors. Of course I’m glad you’re seeking help. So many police officers refuse to see a psychiatrist or psychologist . . . until it’s too late.”

“Doktor Jorfald . . . I hope you don’t think I’m psychotic.”

“I don’t know if you are or are not. Doktor Nansen or I would first have to diagnose you Chief Inspector.
We
would have to determine if you have indeed lost touch with reality.
We
want to study authority figures who are psychotic.”

“Well,” said Sohlberg, “that’s something I want to discuss with you. I laid out all my cards on the table. Now . . . how about if you explain your project.”

“Alright. First of all you need to understand that psychosis basically means that a person loses contact with reality . . . therefore the person has false beliefs . . . delusions . . . about themselves or others and about what is actually taking place. It can also include hallucinations which happen when a person sees or hears things that are not observable to others.”

Sohlberg grinned and said:

“I don’t see how you can even consider me for a study on psychosis given your own definition.”

“Ah. But wait . . . there’s more. Psychosis is a small part of a large number of psychiatric disorders that we are interested in studying. These include the bipolar disorder formerly known as the manic-depressive disorder. Surely Chief Inspector you won’t deny that many people have this disease.”

“No. I don’t deny it.”

“Wouldn’t you agree with me that many homicide detectives go through manic and depressive phases when they investigate a murder?”

Sohlberg lied. “I don’t know.”

“Really? That’s not what we’ve observed. Anyway . . . there’s also the delusional disorder. In addition to his drug-induced psychosis we’ve diagnosed Ludvik Helland as perfectly fitting this disorder.”

“Yes,” interrupted Dr. Nansen. “Helland is a classic case of a delusional disorder patient whose delusions may seem believable at face value . . . the patient appears quite normal as long as any independent observer does not probe into the delusional themes.”

“Themes?” said Sohlberg.

Bergitta Nansen stared at Sohlberg and moved closer to him. “Themes. Themes of delusions. Helland suffers from the erotomanic theme. That’s where a patient believes that a person who is usually of a higher social standing is in love with the patient. Then there’s the grandiose type. That’s not Helland as he does not believe that he is some great but unrecognized talent who has some spectacular insight or special identity. Helland also suffers from the jealous theme where he’s under the delusion that his romantic or sexual partner has always been unfaithful. And Helland suffers from the persecutory theme. That’s where the patient believes he is being cheated. Spied on. Drugged. Followed. Slandered. Mistreated for the wrong reasons.”

Sohlberg nodded. “Sounds like most criminals.”

Dr. Jorfald threw a look at Dr. Nansen that Sohlberg interpreted as saying, “This cop’s the perfect specimen for our study.”

Nansen smiled. “Don’t worry Chief Inspector. We’ll be analyzing your every word when we interview you. Not before.”

Sohlberg stared at Dr. Jorfald. “I have a feeling that psychiatrists like to analyze every word they hear from other people.”

Dr. Jorfald laughed a bellyful. “Could be Chief Inspector. Maybe
we
do it subconsciously.”

“Shall we get back to the matter at hand?” said Dr. Nansen with sincerity and urgency. “As I was trying to tell you Chief Inspector . . . psychosis includes clinical depression with psychotic features. And then there’s the schizoaffective disorder and its twin schizophrenia. And let’s not forget . . . various personality disorders like the schizotypal. The schizoid. The paranoid. The borderline personality. . . .”

“They all sound alike.”