Arne and Vigdis Albu exchanged glances.
'We can do this here or at the police station,' Harry said.
'He was here,' Vigdis said.
'As I said.' Harry blew the smoke out through his nose. He knew he was over-playing his hand, but a half- hearted bluff would fail, and there was no way back now. 'We can do this here or at the police station. Shall I tell the guests the party's over?'
Vigdis chewed her bottom lip. 'But I'm telling you he was…' she started. She wasn't beautiful any longer.
'That's fine, Vigdis,' Albu said and patted her on the shoulder. 'Go and see to the guests. I'll walk herr Hole to the gates.'
Harry could hardly feel a breath of wind although higher up it was clearly gusting. Clouds were chasing across the sky and occasionally covering the moon. They ambled.
'Why here?' Albu asked.
'You asked for it.'
Albu nodded. 'Perhaps I did. Buy why did she have to find out like this?'
Harry shrugged. 'How did you want her to find out?'
The music had stopped and the odd salvo of laughter came from the house. Christian was under way.
'Can I borrow a cigarette?' Albu asked. 'Actually, I have given up.'
Harry passed him the packet.
'Thank you.' Albu placed a cigarette between his lips and bent over Harry's lighter. 'What are you after? Money?'
'Why does everyone ask that?' Harry mumbled.
'You're on your own. You have no papers to arrest me and you try to bluff me with threats of taking me to the police station. And if you've been inside the chalet in Larkollen, you're in at least as much trouble as I am.'
Harry shook his head.
'No money?' Albu leaned back. There were a few stars sparkling up above. 'Something personal then? Were you lovers?'
'I thought you knew everything about me,' Harry said.
'Anna took love very seriously. She loved love. No, worshipped, that's the word. She worshipped love. That was the only thing which had any place in her life. That and hatred. Do you know what neutron stars are?'
Harry shook his head. Albu held up his cigarette. 'They're planets with such compactness and high surface gravity that if I dropped this cigarette on one of them it would strike with the same force as an atom bomb. It was the same with Anna. Her gravitation to love-and hatred-was so strong that nothing could exist in the space between them. Every tiny detail caused an atomic explosion. Do you understand? It took me time to understand. She was like Jupiter-hidden behind an eternal cloud of sulphur. And humour. And sexuality.'
'Venus.'
'I beg your pardon.'
'Nothing.'
The moon protruded from between two clouds, and like a fictional beast the bronze hart stepped out of the shadows in the garden.
'Anna and I had arranged to meet at midnight,' Albu said. 'She said she had a couple of personal things of mine she wanted to return. I was parked in Sorgenfrigata between twelve and a quarter past. We had agreed I would phone her from the car instead of ringing the bell. Because of a nosy neighbour, she said. Anyway, she didn't answer, so I drove home.'
'So your wife was lying?'
'Of course. The day you arrived with the photo, we agreed she would give me an alibi.'
'And why are you giving up the alibi now?'
Albu laughed. 'Does it matter? We're two people talking, with the moon as a silent witness. I can deny everything afterwards. To be frank, I don't think you have anything you can use against me, anyway.'
'Why don't you tell me all the rest while you're at it then?'
'That I killed her, you mean?' He laughed, louder this time. 'It's your job to find out, isn't it?'
They had come to the gates.
'You just wanted to see how I would react, didn't you.' Albu rubbed the cigarette against the marble. 'And you wanted to exact your revenge, that was why you told my wife. You were angry. An angry little boy who hits out at whatever comes in his way. Are you happy?'
'When I find the e-mail address, I've got you,' Harry said. He wasn't angry any more. Just tired.
'You won't find any e-mail address,' Albu said. 'Sorry, old chap. We can continue this game, but you can't win.'
Harry struck out. The sound of knuckles on flesh was dull and brief. Albu staggered back a pace, holding his brow.
Harry could see his own grey breath in the darkness of the night. 'You'll have to get that sewn up,' he said.
Albu looked at his blood-stained hand and guffawed. 'My God, Harry, what a terrible loser you are. Is it OK if we use first names? I think this has brought us closer together, don't you?'
Harry didn't answer, and Albu laughed louder.
'What did she see in you, Harry? Anna didn't like losers. At least she wouldn't let them fuck her.'
The laughter rose higher and higher as Harry walked back to the taxi, and the jagged edges of the car keys cut into his skin as his hand closed tighter and tighter around them.
23
Horsehead Nebula
Harry woke up to the telephone ringing and squinted at the clock. 7.30. It was Шystein. He had left Harry's flat only three hours ago. Then he had located the server in Egypt and now he had made further progress.
'I've e-mailed an old friend. He lives in Malaysia and does a bit of small-time hacking. The ISP is in El Tor, on the Sinai peninsula. They have quite a few ISPs there, it's a sort of centre. Were you asleep?'
'Kind of. How will you find our client?'
'There's only one way, I'm afraid. Go there with a thick wad of American greenbacks.'
'How much?'
'Enough to make someone tell you who to talk to. And to make the person you talk to tell you who you really have to talk to. And to make the person you really-'
'I've got you. How much?'
'A grand should make some headway.'
'Do you think so?'
'Off the top of my head. What the fuck do I know?'
'OK. Will you take the job?'
'Course.'
'I pay shit. You travel on the cheapest plane and stay in a crap hotel.'
'Deal.'
It was twelve o'clock and the Police HQ canteen was packed. Harry clenched his teeth and went in. He didn't dislike his colleagues on principle; he disliked them by instinct. And, as the years went by, it was getting
