Otnes frowns. ‘Why do you want to talk about Vidar now?’
‘I’m working on a story about Tore Pulli. His appeal is coming up, and much of the evidence against him is circumstantial. It is based on his relationship to Vidar. I was… working on other things when he was killed, but now I’m back, and I’m trying to get an idea of what happened.’
She looks at him. A cat rubs itself against her legs before it darts out on the flagstones.
‘If it’s convenient? I really need your help.’
Otnes hesitates before she nods. ‘We can sit over there,’ she says, pointing to an arrangement of plastic chairs. A parasol casts a dark shadow over the grey flagstones.
‘Thank you so much.’
Otnes goes back inside to get a jacket and comes out again. Henning smiles as they sit down.
‘Lovely house,’ he remarks.
Otnes beams with pride. ‘Thank you.’
‘And very unusual for Oslo. A proper old-fashioned log cabin. Do you live in this enormous house all on your own?’
‘I have my cat,’ she replies and smiles quickly as a gust of wind takes hold of her hair. An awkward silence passes between them.
‘So you run a knife-sharpening business?’ Henning continues.
‘Yes, I do. It’s not very common, especially if you’re a woman. And these days people just buy new knives when their old ones get dull. The throwaway society. We have it too good in this country.’
Henning nods in agreement. ‘Is it mainly knives you sharpen?’
‘Yes.’
‘What about axes?’
‘No, hardly ever. If someone had brought in an axe, I think I would have remembered.’
‘And you don’t remember an axe?’
‘No. Why do you want to know about that? I thought you were here to talk about Vidar?’
Henning pauses briefly before starting in again. ‘I have to be honest with you, Irene, I didn’t just come here to talk about Vidar. The circumstances surrounding his death seem quite clear. I’m more interested in what happened afterwards. With Jocke Brolenius and Tore Pulli.’
‘Yes, that’s when it all fell apart,’ she says and shakes her head softly.
‘How do you mean?’
‘I’m thinking of the discussions we had in the weeks that followed.’ She shakes her head again.
‘You were very outspoken, I understand, seeking to avenge Vidar’s murder?’
‘Yes, I was angry and upset. But I look at it from another viewpoint now. After Brolenius was killed, I realised it made absolutely no difference. I was still upset.’
Henning nods.
‘I’ve heard that Vidar went to Tore to ask for financial help for Fighting Fit. Is that true?’
‘It is, yes.’
‘But Tore said no?’
She shakes her head in contempt. ‘Tore liked to think of himself as a big shot, you know. He took his business very seriously. He wouldn’t make any investment unless there was a guaranteed profit at the other end.’
‘Did Vidar and Tore fall out over it?’
‘No, it would have taken a lot more than that. They had known each other a long time.’
Henning nods quietly. ‘Do you think Tore is guilty?’
‘I don’t really know how to answer that.’
‘A simple yes or no would suffice.’ Henning attempts a smile.
‘I don’t think I want to say anything about it.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because of Veronica. I don’t want her to read about me in the paper. We’re friends, you understand, and I’ve always supported her. I wouldn’t want her to find out that I don’t believe her husband is innocent.’
‘This won’t appear in the paper, I promise you. So you believe he did it?’
She looks at him for a while before she nods.
‘Because?’
‘Because Tore has always been good at wrapping people around his little finger. And I know that he lies about all sorts of things.’
Henning moves to the edge of the chair. ‘Such as?’
‘Everything from little fibs and white lies to outright deception. Vidar used to get so annoyed with him because of it. When Vidar set up Fighting Fit, Tore was around and he helped out a bit. Whenever Vidar asked Tore if he had done something, picked something up or called the plumber, Tore would say yes, he had done it, but then it turned out that he hadn’t done it after all. It happened all the time.’
Henning feels his stomach lurch.
‘I could go on. Cinema tickets, hotel rooms. Once Vidar was helping out a musician friend of his who was looking for a rehearsal space, and Tore said he could fix it. And when Vidar asked Tore if he had taken care of it, Tore replied that everything was sorted. But when the guy turned up to practise, the room was already occupied. The man who ran the place had never even heard of Tore.’ She shakes her head. ‘People who do that really irritate me,’ she declares.
Henning nods and reasons that if you lie about the little things in life then the path to the really big lies isn’t a very long one. Once again he is overcome by a feeling that Pulli is playing him.
‘Do you know Robert van Derksen?’
Otnes snorts. ‘Have you seen his Facebook profile?’
‘I’m not on Facebook.’
‘He has posted some very impressive photos of himself, shirtless and glistening with oil.’ She pulls a face and shakes her head.
Henning thinks about the photos van Derksen had uploaded of himself on www.hardenever.no. ‘So he likes showing off?’
‘Oh yes. And he is extremely fond of the ladies. He even tried it on with me.’
When they wind up their chat a little later, Henning concludes that Otnes is still bitter but that at the same time she is starting to come to terms with Fjell’s death. There was no hatred in her eyes when she talked about Tore. Nor when she spoke about Brolenius. And he can’t see why she would keep secrets. If she had known who Brolenius’s real killer was, she would have told someone. Especially if she could have earned herself one million kroner by doing so.
The afternoon is warm and pleasant, and Henning decides to walk all the way home to Grunerlokka. It takes him an hour, and he stands under the shower for a long time when he gets back. He eats a slice of bread with jam while he checks his emails, scrolling quickly through the 128 new emails in his inbox. Heidi Kjus has sent some round-robin emails, he sees. Directives and targets. The memos she has carefully composed disappear with just a hard tap on the delete button. He instantly feels better for it. His mood improves even further when he discovers an email from Oslo Prison.
From: Knut Olav Nordbo kon@kriminalomsorg. no
Subject: ‹‹request for visit — Tore Pulli››
To: Henning Juul ‹henning. juul@123news. no›
Your application has been processed and your request to visit has been granted.
There is still considerable press interest in connection with the forthcoming appeal, but Tore has indicated that he would like to meet with you as soon as possible. If you are available as early as tomorrow — Tuesday — he would like to meet with you at 10 a.m.
Kind regards
Knut Olav Nordbo
Liaison Officer, Oslo Prison
As soon as tomorrow, Henning thinks, pleased. Perhaps then he can finally get some answers.
