The Last Fix (39 page)

    'So
he was in custody,' Frølich said in a thinly disguised ironic tone.

    Gunnarstranda
nodded. 'Skau was arrested on the evening of 13 June. A call-out to Sagene
Video, a small shop by Sagene church. A young girl on the cash desk reported a
robbery - Skau was arrested behind Sagene church, in the area leading to the
Akerselva the evening after Katrine was murdered. He was held under suspicion
of robbing Sagene Video for a few kroner and some films in CD format.'

    'DVD
format,' Frølich corrected.

    'The
worst thing is that the shop's right by where I live and the man's been in
custody until now,' Gunnarstranda said.

    'And
the warrant for his arrest was issued several days ago.'

    Gunnarstranda
scowled. 'Don't tell any journalists.'

    'But
he still could have killed Katrine on the Saturday night.'

    'Possible,
but it doesn't seem very likely any longer.'

    'But
he had her jewellery.' Frølich extended his arm outside the canopy.
'See,' he said. 'Now it's raining again.'

    Gunnarstranda
glanced up at the sky and took out a cigarette; he lit it and cupped his hand
to shelter it from the rain.

    'When
I went to Skau's place I was let in by a girl of fourteen. Her name's Linda Ros
and she says she's Skau's girlfriend.'

    'Fourteen
years old! The man's almost forty!'

    The
police inspector had one of his famous coughing fits. While Gunnarstranda was
struggling, the rain hammered down on the canopy making them feel as if they
were sitting in a tent.

    As
the cough subsided Frølich burst out: 'What's happened to the coffee?
There are only two of us here. It can't take that bloody long to brew two cups
of coffee!'

    'Yes,
but the problem is this girl maintains she was the one who took the jewellery
into the flat. Our people found Katrine's jewellery in the handbag lying on the
sitting room table. The girl says it had come by post and she put the bag on
the table.'

    'Post?'

    'That's
what she says. The bag came by post on Wednesday or Thursday.'

    'Is
she telling the truth?' Frølich asked.

    'It's
very probable. The girl's head over heels in love.'

    'But
Skau can still have killed Katrine on the Saturday night.'

    Gunnarstranda
wrinkled his nose. 'The girl is stupid, but not stupid enough to make up this
story. And why would Skau send Katrine's jewellery to himself?'

    'Why
did Skau turn up at her work - at the travel agency?' Frølich asked in turn.

    'He
claims Katrine owed him money.'

    'How
much?'

    'He
wouldn't say. Nor would he say why she owed him money.'

    Frølich
nodded.

    'Keeping
his mouth shut won't help him. Skau's the usual sort, an old acquaintance, as
the saying goes, and he thinks he has something to gain by withholding
information. Anyway, two narks, quite independently of each other, tipped off
Yttergjerde that Skau owes money everywhere. That explains why he was so
desperate and went for Katrine at her workplace.' Gunnarstranda paused and
reflected on what he had just said.

    He
took another cigarette from his pocket and lit it from the stump of the last.

    'Skau
is supposed to have been doing amphetamine deals with some Vietnamese. That
explains why he was desperate. They're tough on debtors.'

    'Well,
here comes the coffee at last,' Frølich said with glee. He took the cups
and found the money to pay. 'Got a lot on today, have you?' he asked the girl,
who was sullenly gazing into space. Her pout deepened after the sarcastic
remark.

    'I
refuse to make a statement,' Raymond Skau said as he was pushed through the
door.

    'That
is your legal right,' the detective inspector said from his chair with a yawn.
He pointed a weary finger at the red plastic chair. 'Please take a seat.'

    Skau,
unshaven and red-eyed, dressed in a loose- fitting, grey track suit stood
looking at the chair and repeated: 'I refuse to make a statement. Something
wrong with your hearing?'

    'Does
that also mean you refuse to sit down?' Gunnarstranda asked drily.

    Skau
looked from the policeman to the chair and back again.

    'Of
course you may remain standing if you wish.'

    'Drive
me back to my cell.'

    The
policeman checked his watch. Ten minutes past midnight. He pulled a glum face
and informed the man: 'The first transport to leave here will be at seven
tomorrow morning.

    ''You
have no fucking right to do this.'

    'What
have we no right to do?'

    'To
refuse me transport to my cell.'

    'But
I'm not refusing you transport to your cell, am I?'

    'Well,
then you can drive me back.'

    'There
is no transport for six hours and fifty minutes. Would you like to stand for
the duration?'

    'I'll
report you.'

    'Be
my guest.'

    'I'll
report you to the police complaints authority, SEFO. My solicitor will report
you.'

    'Please
do. It's your legal right. In the meantime perhaps you wouldn't mind sitting
down. As I said, you have over six hours to kill.'

    Gunnarstranda
stood up and walked over to the window. 'Your girlfriend claims she received a
parcel in the post, a parcel containing Katrine's jewellery,' he said with his
back to the detainee.

    'We've
talked about this before - I refuse to tell you anything more,' the man behind
interrupted. 'There's no point starting this bollocks again. I refuse and it is
my legal right.'

    Gunnarstranda
turned. Skau had sat down and was resting both forearms on the table. He
glowered up at the policeman from beneath two narrow, finely arched eyebrows.
Gunnarstranda went closer. The white parting in the man's hair ran as straight
as an arrow from the forehead to the back, not a strand out of place.
Gunnarstranda stuck his face right up close to his. The man's eyebrows had been
touched up with a pencil. 'Do you wear make-up?' the policeman asked, unable to
believe his eyes.

    'So
what if I do?' Skau snapped. 'Besides, I don't like your breath.'

    Gunnarstranda
straightened up. He stood looking down at Skau with a smile playing around his
mouth. 'It's fine by me if you don't want to make a statement,' he said. 'I
don't think it's very clever of you, but you're within your rights to refuse to
make a statement. Nevertheless, I would like you to listen to what I have to
say since you are here, anyway. Have you any strong objections to listening to
what I believe?'

    'I
object to being bloody tricked into saying things that can be used against me later.'

    'But
do you have any reason to fear saying something that can be used against you?'

    Raymond
Skau did not answer.

    'Your
girlfriend,' Gunnarstranda began. 'Linda. Of course she may be lying. The
jewellery story may be something she made up to protect you. For some reason
she's in love with you. Of course she is entitled to be. But that kind of love
is ephemeral. I speak from experience. I say that because you are going to be
charged with corruption of a minor and sexual exploitation. She is only
fourteen years old.'

    'I
didn't fucking know that!'

    'Of
course not. But that's not the point. She has admitted the actual state of
affairs, so you will be convicted whether you like it or not. The consequence,
irrespective of how much in love with you she is now, will be that her love
will pass. If she is lying about the jewellery it is therefore just a question
of time before she tells the truth. And then you're in a bit of a spot. On the
other hand, she may be telling the truth. She may indeed have got the parcel
through the post. The question is then who would have sent you the jewellery.
Let's ask the question: Who could have done this?'

    Skau
stared into the distance with a darkened brow.

    The
policeman coughed and said, 'You may have done it yourself. You might have put
the jewellery in the postbox.'

    'Why
would I do that?' Skau interposed.

    Gunnarstranda
pretended not to hear. 'I have no idea why you did it, but I have been thinking
about finding out. I intend to find that out and why you attacked Katrine at
work the day before she was killed.' Skau tried to interrupt, but the policeman
held up his palm in the air. 'You claim that Katrine owed you money, but you
won't say why she owed you money, or how much. Well, suppose that's true. I
assume it is true because two informers - independently of each other - said
you have been desperate for money these last two weeks. Rumours are going round
that you owe a Vietnamese a lot of kroner for amphetamines you sold on and
didn't pay for.'

    Skau
frowned and said darkly: 'Am I going to be charged for that as well now?'

    'I
don't give a shit what you do with drugs,' the policeman answered drily. 'I
have other things on my mind, but let's assume for the sake of argument that
what the two informers have whispered in our ears is true. What I do know is
that you went to Katrine's workplace and demanded the money she owed you. We
know you were so angry that you resorted to physical violence with Katrine even
though someone else was present. It's this fury of yours which is interesting.
The very same fury, and behaviour, when you met her alone - in the middle of
the night - with no witnesses present - that's interesting too.'

    Skau
said nothing.

    Gunnarstranda
observed him for a few seconds in silence before continuing. 'That's why it's
important for me to find out what happened after you left the travel agency. It
was one o'clock in the afternoon when you left Katrine's workplace. It closed
at two because it was a Saturday. Let me hypothesize what might have happened.'

    'Save
your breath,' Skau hissed.

    'You
hid,' Gunnarstranda ventured. 'You knew the shop closed early because it was a
Saturday. That was why you waited for her. You sat on a bench not too far away
and waited until you saw her come out. Then you followed her home to the block
in Hovseterveien. You waited there until she reappeared. But she came out with
her boyfriend, so you hesitated, then followed them anyway.'

    'Why
don't you give it a rest,' Skau said, tired. 'You're talking shite and you know
you are.'

    Gunnarstranda
checked his watch. 'We've got plenty of time,' he mumbled. 'This is just a
hypothesis, but let's say it happened. You followed the couple. You followed
the taxi that picked them up. The taxi went to Voksenеsen and dropped the pair
of them outside a house in Voksenkollveien. Now it was just a question of
waiting for the party to finish. Let's assume you did that. Or let's assume
that night you had a little recce around where the two of them lived, in
Holmlia or the area around Hovseter so that you could waylay her. That would be
quite logical. You're under a lot of pressure. Katrine owes you money. Why
wouldn't you wait for her that night? You're desperate. Between three and four
o'clock she walked up the road to Holmlia on her own. An hour later she was
dead. Her body must have been lifted into a car. The killer drove a little way,
stopped and threw her body over the barrier, where it remained. The car went
on, stopping only to get rid of a bag containing her clothes. And three days
later our people found her jewellery in your flat. Goodness me, Raymond. Can't
you see that you're in a bit of a tight spot?'

    'I'm
always in a tight spot in this place.'

    'Everything
points to you. You owe money to everyone and his brother. You had x thousand
kroner owed to you by Katrine. We know you threatened her that Saturday. The
jewellery in your flat is conclusive evidence that you had been in touch with
her that night…'

    'I
have no idea where the jewellery came from!'