imposed like a Roman galley. He sat on the mattress, placed his fingers on the cold, white bedsheet, closed his eyes and felt it pitch and roll. A slow, heavy ground swell. Was it here-like this-Anna had waited for him that evening? An angry buzz. Harry looked at his watch. Seven sharp. It was Beate. Aune rang a few minutes later and his double chins were flushed as he came up the stairs. He said a breathless 'Hello' to Beate and all three of them went into the sitting room.
'So you can say who these three portraits represent?' Aune said.
'Arne Albu,' Beate said, pointing to the picture on the left. 'Harry in the middle and Alf Gunnerud on the right.'
'Impressive,' Aune said.
'Well,' Beate said. 'An ant can distinguish between millions of other ant faces in an anthill. Proportionate to body weight, it has a much larger fusiform gyrus than I have.'
'I'm afraid then my own is extremely under-developed,' Aune said. 'Can you see anything, Harry?'
'I can certainly see a little more than when Anna first showed me. Now I know it's these three who have been indicted, by her.' Harry motioned towards the female figure holding the three lamps. 'Nemesis, the goddess of justice and vengeance.'
'Which the Romans pinched off the Greeks,' Aune said. 'They kept the scales, changed the whip for a sword, bound her eyes and called her Justitia.' He went to the lamp. 'When, in 600 BC, they began to think the system of blood revenge didn't work and decided to exact revenge from the individual and make it a public affair, it was precisely this woman who became the symbol of the modern constitutional state.' He stroked the cold, bronze woman. 'Blind justice. Cold-blooded vengeance. Our civilisation rests in her hands. Isn't she beautiful?'
'As beautiful as an electric chair,' Harry said. 'Anna's revenge wasn't exactly cold-blooded.'
'It was both cold-blooded and hot-blooded,' Aune said. 'Premeditated and impassioned at the same time. She must have been very sensitive. Psychologically damaged of course, but then we all are. Basically, it is just a question of the degree of damage.'
'And how was Anna damaged?'
'I never met her, so it will have to be a pure guess.'
'Go on then,' Harry said.
'On the subject of ancient gods, I assume you have heard of Narkissos, the Greek god who became so enamoured of his own reflection that he couldn't tear himself away? Freud introduced the concept of a narcissist to psychology, a person with an exaggerated sense of uniqueness, obsessed by the dream of boundless success. For the narcissist the need for revenge against those who have affronted him or her is often greater than all other needs. It is called the 'narcissist's rage'. The American psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut has described how such a person would seek to avenge the affront-which may seem a mere bagatelle to us-with whatever means they have at their disposal. For instance, what would seem on the surface to be a standard rejection might result in the narcissist working tirelessly, with a compulsive determination, to redress the balance, causing death if necessary.'
'Death to whom?' Harry asked.
'To all.'
'That's insane,' Beate burst out.
'In fact, that's what I'm saying,' Aune said drily.
They went into the dining room. Aune tested one of the old, upright chairs at the long, narrow oak table. 'They don't make them like this any more.'
Beate groaned. 'But why should she take her own life…just to get even? There must be other ways.'
'Of course,' Aune said. 'But suicide is often an act of revenge in itself. You want to inflict a sense of guilt on those who have failed you. Anna just ratcheted it up a few notches. Besides, there was every reason to suspect that she didn't want to live any longer. She was lonely, rejected by her lovers and her own family. She had failed as an artist and resorted to drugs, but that didn't help. She was, in sum, a deeply disappointed, unhappy person who chose premeditated suicide. And vengeance.'
'Without any moral scruples?' Harry asked.
'The morality angle is interesting, of course.' Aune crossed his arms. 'Our society imposes on us a moral duty to live and, hence, to condemn suicide. However, with her apparent admiration for antiquity, Anna may have found her prop in the Greek philosophers, who thought every person should choose for themselves when they die. Nietzsche also considered that the individual had a full moral right to take his own life. He used the word freitod or voluntary death.' Aune raised a pointed index finger. 'But she had to confront another moral dilemma. Revenge. Insofar as she professed to be a Christian, Christian ethics demand that you should not take revenge. The paradox is, naturally, that Christians worship a God who is the greatest avenger of them all. Defy him and you burn in eternal hell, an act of revenge which is completely out of proportion to the crime, almost a case for Amnesty International, if you ask me. And if-'
'Perhaps she just hated?'
Aune and Harry both turned towards Beate. She looked up at them in fear, as if the words had slipped out by mistake.
'Morality,' she whispered. 'Love of life. Love. And yet hatred is strongest.'
47
Phosphorescence
Harry stood by the open window listening to the distant ambulance siren slowly fading in the rumble of noise from the urban cauldron. The house Rakel had inherited from her father lay high above everything happening in the carpet of light he could glimpse between the tall pine trees in the garden. He liked to stand looking at the trees, wondering how long they had been there and feeling the thought calm him. And at the lights from the town so reminiscent of marine phosphorescence. He had seen it only once, one night when his grandfather had taken him out in a rowing boat to shine a light on the crabs by Svartholmen. It was only the one night, but he would never forget it. It was one of those things that become brighter and more real with every year that passes. Not everything is like that. How many nights had he spent with Anna? How many times had they set off in the Danish skipper's boat and sailed wherever their whim took them? He couldn't remember. Soon all the rest would be forgotten too. Sad? Yes. Sad and necessary.
Nevertheless, there were two Anna moments he knew would never quite be erased. Two almost identical images, both with her thick hair spread across the pillow like a black fan, eyes wide open and one hand clutching the white, white sheet. The difference was the other hand. In one image, her fingers were interlaced with his; in the other they held a pistol.
'Could you close the window?' Rakel said behind him. She was sitting on the sofa, her legs tucked beneath her, a glass of red wine in hand. Oleg had just gone to bed happy, after smashing Harry at Tetris for the first time, and Harry was frightened an era had just passed irrevocably.
The news had nothing new to say. Old refrains: the military crusade against the East, reprisals against the West. They had switched off the TV and put on the Stone Roses, which to Harry's surprise and joy had been in Rakel's record collection. Youth. That was a time when nothing pleased him more than to see arrogant English kids with guitars and attitude. Now he liked the Kings of Convenience because they sang with precision and sounded only a touch less stupid than Donovan. And the Stone Roses on low volume. Sad but true. Maybe necessary. Things went in circles. He closed the window and promised himself he would take Oleg out to an island and shine a torch on crabs as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
'Down, down, down,' mumbled the Stone Roses from the loudspeakers. Rakel bent forward and took a sip of wine. 'It's a story as old as the hills,' she whispered. 'Two brothers who love the same woman, the very recipe for a tragedy.'
They fell silent, entwined their fingers and listened to each other's breathing.
'Did you love her?' she asked.
Harry considered the question carefully before answering: 'I don't remember. It was a time in my life which was very…muddled.'
