'Beate Lшnn is quite new in this context and our video recording specialist.'
Beate's face went as red as a beetroot.
'Beate is the daughter of Jшrgen Lшnn who served for over twenty years in what was then called the Robberies and Serious Crime Unit. So far she seems to be following in her legendary father's footsteps. She has already contributed vital evidence which has helped solve a number of cases. I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but over the last year in the Robberies Unit we have had a conviction rate bordering on fifty per cent, which in an international context is reckoned to be-'
'You have mentioned it before, Ivarsson.'
'Thank you.'
This time Ivarsson eyed Harry directly when he smiled. A stiff, reptilian smile baring his teeth far beyond the jawbone on both sides. And he continued to smile that smile for the rest of the introductions. Harry knew two of them. Magnus Rian, a young detective from Tomrefjord who had been in Crime Squad for six months and made a solid impression. The other was Didrik Gudmundson, the most experienced investigator around the table and the second-in-command of the Robberies Unit. A quiet, methodical policeman with whom Harry had never had any problems. The last two were also from the Robberies Unit, both with Li as a surname, but Harry immediately established that they were not identical twins. Toril Li was a tall blonde woman with a narrow mouth and a closed face, while Ola Li was a squat, red-haired man with a rounded face and laughing eyes. Harry had seen them enough times in the corridor for many to think it would be natural to say hello, but it had never occurred to him.
'As for myself, I should be familiar to you from other contexts,' Ivarsson concluded the round by saying. 'But just for formality's sake, I am the PAS of the Robberies Unit and have been appointed to lead this investigation. And to come back to what you said initially, Hole, this is not the first time we have had to investigate a robbery with a fatal outcome for the innocent parties.'
Harry tried not to rise to the bait. He really did, but the crocodile grin made it impossible.
'Also with a conviction rate of just under fifty per cent?'
Only one person at the table laughed, but his laughter was loud. Weber.
'My apologies, I obviously omitted to mention something about Hole,' Ivarsson said without smiling. 'He is said to have a talent for comedy. A real wit, I've heard say.'
There was a second's embarrassed silence. Then Ivarsson gave a brief honk of laughter and a low chuckle spread around the table.
'OK, let's start with a summary.' Ivarsson flipped over the front sheet. The next bore the title FORENSIC EVIDENCE. He took the top off a marker and prepared himself. 'It's all yours, Weber.'
Karl Torleif Weber stood up. He was a short man with a lion's mane of grey hair and a beard. His voice was an ominous, low-frequency rumble, but, for all that, clear. 'I'll be brief.'
'By all means,' Ivarsson said, putting the pen to paper. 'But take all the time you need, Karl.'
'I'll be brief because I don't need much time,' Weber growled. 'We haven't got a thing.'
'Right,' Ivarsson said, lowering the pen. 'You haven't got a thing. Exactly what do you mean by that?'
'We have a print of a brand new Nike shoe, size 45. Most things about this robbery have such a professional ring about them that the only information I can infer is that it is unlikely to be the size he normally takes. The bullet has been analysed by the ballistics boys. It is standard 7.62 millimetre ammo for the AG3, the most common ammunition to be found in the kingdom of Norway since it is in every military barracks, arms store and home of a reserve officer or volunteer around the country. In other words, impossible to trace. Apart from that, you would think he had never been in the bank. Or outside it. We've searched for evidence there, too.'
Weber sat down.
'Thank you, Weber, that was…erm, informative.' Ivarsson turned over the next sheet. WITNESSES.
'Hole?'
Harry slumped even further into his chair. 'Everyone who was in the bank was questioned immediately afterwards, and no one can tell us anything we can't see on the video. That is to say, they remember a few things which we know to be incorrect. One witness saw the robber heading up Industrigata. No one else has called in.'
'Which brings us to the next point-getaway cars,' Ivarsson said. 'Toril?'
Toril Li stepped forward, switched on the overhead projector, where there was already a transparency with a summary of private vehicles stolen over the past three months. In her strong Sunnmшrsk dialect she explained which four cars she considered to be the most probable getaway cars, basing her judgement on the fact that they were run-of-the-mill brands and models, neutral, light colours and new enough for the robber to feel confident that they wouldn't let him down. One particular car, a Volkswagen GTI parked in Maridalsveien was of interest as it had been stolen the night before the bank raid.
'Bank robbers tend to steal cars as near the time to the robbery as possible so they don't appear on patrol- car lists,' Toril Li elucidated. She switched off the overhead projector and picked up the transparency on her way back to her seat.
Ivarsson nodded. 'Thanks.'
'For nothing,' Harry whispered to Weber.
The title on the next sheet was VIDEO ANALYSIS. Ivarsson had put the top back on the marker. Beate swallowed, cleared her throat, took a sip of water from the glass in front of her and coughed again before beginning, her eyes firmly fixed on the table. 'I've measured the height-'
'Speak a little louder, would you please, Beate.' Reptilian smile. Beate cleared her throat several times.
'I've measured the height of the robber from the video. He's 1.79. I checked this out with Weber, who agrees.'
Weber nodded.
'Brilliant!' Ivarsson called out with laboured enthusiasm in his voice. He snatched the top off the marker and wrote: HEIGHT 1.79 m.
Beate continued talking to the table: 'I've just spoken to Aslaksen from the university, our voice analyst. He's had a look at the five words the robber says in English. He…' Beate peered nervously up at Ivarsson, who was standing with his back to her, ready to take notes. '…said the recording quality was too poor to do anything with. It was unusable.'
Ivarsson dropped his arm at the same time as the low sun disappeared behind a cloud and the large rectangle of light on the wall behind them faded away. There was a deafening silence in the room. Ivarsson inhaled and moved forward onto the balls of his feet.
'Fortunately, we have saved our trump for last.'
The Head of the Robberies Unit flipped over the last sheet of paper.
SURVEILLANCE.
'For those of you who do not work in the Robberies Unit we should perhaps explain that we always bring in the surveillance section first when we have a video recording of a bank raid. In seven out of ten cases a good video recording will reveal the identity of the robber, if he's one of our old friends.'
'Even if he's masked?' Weber asked.
Ivarsson nodded. 'A good undercover investigator will identify an old lag by his build, body language, the way he speaks during the robbery, all the small details you cannot hide behind a mask.'
'But it's not enough knowing who it is,' Ivarsson's second-in-command Didrik Gudmundson interposed. 'We have to-'
'That's right,' Ivarsson broke in. 'We have to have proof. A robber can spell his name out to the camera, but so long as he's masked and does not leave tangible evidence, in the eyes of the law we have nothing.'
'So, how many of the seven you recognise end up being convicted?' Weber asked.
'A few,' Gudmundson said. 'It's still better to know who has committed a robbery, even if they go free. Then we learn something about the pattern and their methods. And we get them the next time.'
'And if there's no next time?' Harry asked. He noticed how the thick veins over Ivarsson's ears expanded when he laughed.
'Dear murder expert,' Ivarsson said, still in jocular mood. 'If you look around you, you'll see that most people are smiling in their beards at what you just asked. That's because a bank robber who has pulled off a successful raid will always-always-strike again. That's a law of gravity with bank robbers.' Ivarsson peered out of the window and allowed himself another chuckle before spinning round on his heel. 'If that's the end of adult education for
