world’s leading non-governmental anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International, who announced later that year that Norway was the most corrupt country in Scandinavia. Guri also secured an interview with the Norwegian-born French magistrate and politician Eva Joly, a famous anti-corruption scourge and the topic was hotly debated both on Tabloid on TV2 and on other news channels. It might not have been a major scoop, but it helped Guri get noticed. Shortly afterwards, TV2 offered her a permanent contract.
She had arrived.
Guri started dating a senior TV2 executive, Iver met Nora, and since then they have stayed out of each other’s beds. But Iver knows that the spark is still there, a delicious tension that simmers between them. And Guri is well aware that she owes him a favour.
The picture of Tore Pulli freezes on the screen as Prison Governor Borre Kolberg tells viewers that he can’t discuss Tore Pulli’s medical history before the journalist announces that an autopsy will be carried out on Pulli’s body as is standard procedure when a death is unexplained. Iver turns off the television, lights a cigarette and mulls it all over before he picks his mobile up from the coffee table and searches for Guri Palme’s number amongst his contacts. He stares at her name for a while before he presses call. And he thinks it’s definitely just as well that he isn’t with Nora tonight.
Chapter 56
After hours of mindless TV-watching, Henning’s brain starts to work again. At eleven o’clock that evening he opens FireCracker 2.0, the program Henning’s source within the police wrote a couple of years ago for their confidential two-way communication, and checks to see if 6tiermes7 is logged on. The minutes pass. Then there is a ding-dong sound as if someone had rung the doorbell.
Henning’s fingers hit the keyboard.
MakkaPakka: Do you know what killed Pulli yet?
6tiermes7: Come on, what do you think?
MakkaPakka: That it’s way too early. Was there any blood at the crime scene?
6tiermes7: No.
MakkaPakka: Anything suspicious at all?
6tiermes7: Not that I know of.
MakkaPakka: Police interviews?
6tiermes7: They haven’t got that far yet.
MakkaPakka: Why not?
6tiermes7: TV2 refuses to release the tapes without a warrant. But here’s something interesting for you. A member of TV2’s staff has gone missing.
Henning sits up.
MakkaPakka: Someone who was there when Pulli died?
6tiermes7: Yes.
MakkaPakka: Who is he?
6tiermes7: His name is Thorleif Brenden. He’s a cameraman.
MakkaPakka: Any previous convictions?
6tiermes7: No, or he would never have got into the prison.
MakkaPakka: Okay, but do you know anything about him at all?
6tiermes7: No. He hasn’t put a foot wrong his whole life.
MakkaPakka: So what are you doing about it?
6tiermes7: Nothing at the moment. He hasn’t been missing for very long. But we’ll put out a missing-person bulletin, I imagine — if he doesn’t turn up over the weekend.
Interesting, Henning thinks. Very interesting indeed.
MakkaPakka: Now for something completely different: do you know where Rasmus Bjelland is these days?
6tiermes7: Didn’t he apply for witness protection?
MakkaPakka: Yes. That’s why I’m asking.
6tiermes7: No. Not a clue. Do you want to talk to him again?
MakkaPakka: Not really sure. But I wonder if the people looking for Bjelland might be behind the arson attack on my flat. Knowing if he is still alive would be a good start.
6tiermes7: It could take some time. I might not be able to come up with anything.
MakkaPakka: Okay. I’ll just have to be patient.
6tiermes7: Stay healthy.
MakkaPakka: You too.
Chapter 57
Though it is late in the evening, the weather is still warm. Orjan Mjones lights a cigarette, blows smoke out through his nose. He is just about to take a second drag when the public telephone on the street corner starts to ring. Mjones squashes the embers with the tips of his fingers and puts the cigarette back in the packet. He goes inside the telephone booth and lifts the handset.
‘Hello?’
‘Congratulations.’ Langbein’s voice is flat.
‘Thank you.’
‘Have you tied up all the loose ends?’
Mjones hesitates. ‘Not all of them, but-’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s not a problem. I’m in control, there’s nothing to worry about.’
‘I’m paid to worry.’
‘Yes, but you can trust me.’
‘I’ve made that mistake once before.’
‘Okay, I understand why you say that, but it’s never going to point back to you or the deal that we have.’
‘I don’t like loose ends.’
‘Neither do I. That’s why I’m going to fix it.’
‘I’ll call you in seventy-two hours. If your problem has gone away, you’ll get the rest of your money.’
‘But-’
‘Same number. Same time.’
Mjones doesn’t have time to protest before the line goes dead. He hangs up the handset hard, shakes his head and walks out into the night.
A big part of him is tempted to let Brenden run, let him play his own game, since he evidently doesn’t understand how this works. Brenden has ruined everything for himself. Brenden killed Tore Pulli. If the police should ever manage to discover how Pulli died, and if they suspect that he might have been murdered, they will be looking for Brenden precisely because he is missing. They will probably want to interview him anyway, for the same reason. It doesn’t look good to disappear on the day that you were in a room with a convicted killer who collapses and dies. And if the police find him, Brenden will be too scared to talk. He knows that his family will be harmed if he reveals anything about the duress he was under.
The best solution, Mjones thinks, would be to give Brenden enough time to start yearning for his family and his old life. He has no experience of lying low. Sooner or later he will have to come out or someone will find him. The cash Brenden withdrew won’t last for ever, regardless of how careful he is. And when the media starts running their missing-cameraman stories or the police decide to issue a warrant for him, the chances that someone will
