think Raymond's smart enough to make up a story like that. I think someone really did speak to him."
"And this is the man who allegedly sneaked past Halvor's window? And put Annie's bag in the shed?"
"It's possible, yes."
"It's not like you to be so gullible, Konrad. Have you let a dimwit and a teenager win you over with their charm?"
Sejer felt extremely uncomfortable. He didn't like to be reproached, but perhaps he was letting his instincts overshadow the facts. Halvor was the closest person to the victim. He was her boyfriend.
"Did Halvor give you any details?" Holthemann asked. He got up from his chair and sat down on the desk, which meant that he could look down at Sejer.
"He heard a car starting up. Possibly an old car, possibly with one cylinder out. The sound came from the main road."
"There's a turning place there. Lots of cars stop."
"I realise that. Let's release him. He's not going to run away."
"After what you've told us, he might well be a killer. Someone who killed his own father in cold blood. It doesn't look good for him, Konrad."
"But he loved Annie, he really did, in his own strange way. Even though she never gave him much encouragement."
"He probably got impatient and lost control. And if he blew his father's head off, that shows there's plenty of explosive material inside that young man."
"If he really did kill his father – and we don't know that for sure – it must have been because he believed he had no choice. His whole family was being destroyed, after years of abuse and neglect. And he'd been stabbed in the face. I have no doubt that he would have been acquitted."
"Quite possibly. But the fact remains that he might be capable of murder. Not everyone is. What do you think, Skarre?"
Skarre was chewing on his pen and shaking his head.
"I picture an older murderer," he said.
"Why is that?"
"She was in extremely good physical shape. Annie weighed 65 kilos, and most of it was muscle. Halvor is only 63 kilos, so they were about the same weight. If Halvor really did shove her into the water, he would have encountered enough resistance so that Annie would have been marked by some outward signs of a struggle – such as cuts and scratches. But all indications are that the killer was bigger than she was and probably much heavier. From what I've seen, I believe that Annie was physically superior to Halvor. I don't mean that he couldn't have done it, but I think it would have been very difficult for him."
Sejer nodded silently.
"OK. That sounds reasonable enough. But then we're left with nothing. Have we found any other persons close to Annie who might have a motive?" Holthemann said.
"Halvor doesn't have any apparent motive either."
"He had the bag, along with a strong emotional attachment. I'm the one who has to take the responsibility here, even though I don't particularly like it, Konrad. What about Axel Bjørk? Bitter and alcoholic, with a dangerous temper? Did you find anything there?"
"We have no evidence that Bjørk was in Lundeby on the day in question."
"I see. From the report, you both seem more interested in the death of a two-year-old boy." Now he smiled, though not in an obviously scornful way.
"Not in the boy himself. More in Annie's reaction to the death. We've tried to work out the reason for the change in her personality; it might have something to do with the boy, or possibly the fact that she was ill. I was hoping to find something there."
"Such as what?"
"I don't know. That's what is so difficult about this case; we have no idea what kind of man we're looking for."
"An executioner, maybe. He held her head underwater until she died," Holthemann said harshly. "There wasn't a scratch on her."
"That's why I think they were sitting on the shore, side by side, talking. Completely at ease. Maybe he had some kind of hold over her. Suddenly he puts his hand at the back of her neck and throws her down on her stomach in the water. All in the blink of an eye. But the idea may have occurred to him earlier, maybe while they were in the car, or on the motorcycle."
"He must have been wet and muddy," Skarre said.
"No one saw a motorcycle on Kolleveien?"
"Only a car, going fast. But the owner of Horgen's Shop saw a motorcycle. He didn't see Annie. Johnas didn't see her get on the