couldn't confirm or deny the timing. The mother was full of Valium, and none of the neighbours heard the shot. Their house was quite isolated, a hideous place that had originally been a grocer's shop. A brick building with steep stone staircase and two huge windows on either side of the door."
He wiped his nose, a nervous gesture.
"But fortunately there were a number of contraindications."
"Such as?"
"If Halvor was the one who fired the shot, he would have had to lie down next to his father, with the shotgun pressed to his chest and the muzzle up under his chin. Would a 15-year-old be able to think that clearly, with his cheek sliced open?"
"It's not impossible. Someone who lives in a house with a psychopath year after year has to learn a lot of tricks. Halvor's a bright kid."
"Were they sweethearts? Halvor and the Holland girl?"
"Sort of sweethearts," Sejer said. "I'm not happy about your theory, but I'm going to have to take it into consideration."
"So you're going to make it public?"
"If you give me a copy of the case file, that would be great. But it's probably impossible now, after so much time, to prove anything. I don't think you need to worry. I've served on a district police force myself. I know how it is. You get too tied to the people."
The community officer stared sadly out the window.
"I've probably damaged Halvor's case by telling you this. He deserved better. He's the most considerate boy I've ever met. He took care of his mother and brother all those years, and I've heard that he's been living with old Mrs Muntz now, and taking care of her."
"That's right."
"So he finally found a girlfriend. And it ends up like this? How's he doing? Is he keeping his head above water?"
"Yes, he is. But perhaps he didn't expect anything from life other than repeated catastrophes."
"If he killed his father," the community officer said, looking Sejer straight in the eye, "then it was in self-defence. He saved the whole family. It was him or them. I have a hard time believing that he would kill for any other reason. So it would not be fair to use this as evidence against him, an incident that we've never properly solved. After I've solved the problem for myself by acquitting him, giving him the benefit of the doubt."
He rubbed his hand over his mouth. "Poor Lilly didn't know what she was doing when she said yes to Torkel Muntz. My father was the community officer here before me, and there were problems with Torkel even in his day. He was a troublemaker, but he was a handsome guy. And Lilly was so pretty. Separately they might have made something of themselves in the world. But there are certain combinations that just can't work, don't you agree?"
Sejer nodded. "We have a departmental meeting later today, and we'll have to evaluate the charges. I'm afraid ..."
"Yes?"
"I'm afraid I won't be able to convince the team to let him go free. Not after this."
Holthemann leafed through the report and gave them a stern look, as if he wanted to coerce the results through the sheer force of his eyes. The departmental head was not a man anyone would suspect of having a shrewd mind or a high-ranking position if they stood behind him in the check-out queue at a Rimi supermarket. He was as dry and grey as withered grass, with a shiny, sweaty bald pate and a wary gaze behind his bifocal lenses.
"What about that character up on Kolleveien?" he said. "How thoroughly have you investigated him?"
"Raymond L氓ke?"
"The jacket found on the body was his. And Karlsen says that there are rumours about him."
"There's a lot of that kind of thing," Sejer said. "Which rumours are you thinking of?"
"That he drives around drooling over girls. There are also rumours about his father. That there's nothing wrong with him, that he just lies in bed reading porn magazines and lets his poor son run around for him. Maybe Raymond has been reading the magazines on the sly and got inspired."
"I think we're definitely looking for a local man," Sejer said. "And I think he's trying to mislead us."
"You believe Halvor?"
"I do believe him. We also have an unidentified person who appeared in Raymond's yard, and convinced Raymond that the car he saw was red."
"A rather far-fetched story. Maybe it was just a hiker. Raymond doesn't have all his wits about him, does he?"