Death on Pilot Hill

Karl was staring off into space. . that was her favorite quotes. . that he seemed irritated or upset. . she said all those were the typical symptoms of molestation.”

“I. . ”

“Don’t you want to contradict the misleading lies and misinformation she’s planting about you?”

“I love my wife and she loves me.”

Sohlberg felt horrible about the amount of punishment he had dealt to Gunnar Haugen in the interview process. But Sohlberg had to get critical information out of the father. This was after all a cold case about a missing boy.

“Herr Haugen. . we interviewed several people at the gym and they all told us that your wife complained about your coldness and lack of attention and the ugly ways that you criticized her weight gain after having your baby daughter.”

“Not true. I never said a word about her weight. She’s the one obsessed with her body and looks. She’s the one who made me pay for her implants. She’s the one who went overboard in training to become a champion bodybuilder.”

“She says these were all your ideas.”

Silence.

Haugen’s silence puzzled Sohlberg. Usually by this point any other man would have begun spilling a flood of negative information about his wife and her involvement in a little boy’s disappearance. But not Gunnar Haugen.

Sohlberg tried again. “She’s told friends that you’re a very controlling person. . that you controlled her spending.”

“Her spending? Whose money is she spending? Mine. She was out of control spending all of my money. So ja. . I controlled her spending my money. I plead guilty to that charge. Does that finally make you happy Chief Inspector? Do you think that you’re going to solve this case by dragging me through mud? All of this is nothing more than vile and idle gossip of some minor marital discord we’ve had. . all marriages have their ups and downs. But I was. . I am happy in our marriage”

“Perhaps. But not all up-and-down marriages have missing children. Do they?”

Silence.

“You and Agnes always painted a pretty picture of your happy marriage and home life to friends and families. . and later to us. This is the first I’ve heard of your marriage with ups and downs. All of your social media postings on Facebook and Biip and elsewhere paint the picture of your family being a perfectly happy blended family.”

Gunnar Haugen coughed and was about to say something but he stopped himself.

“Herr Haugen! You claim you have a happy stable marriage but Agnes Haugen has sent dozens and dozens of e-mails and text messages to her family and friends about how she was fed up of taking care of Karl and that you refused to discipline him.”

“Maybe she did go overboard with controlling Karl. . but she does that with everyone else. . if Karl did not bring a green slip or note from school every day then she wanted me to punish him by locking him up in his room for the evening without any play time. She often refused to let him watch television or any movies even after I said he could. There was no room for error.”

Sohlberg felt sorry for Gunnar and Karl Haugen and anyone else who lived in a family with no room for error. A chill crept into Sohlberg’s hands which no amount of rubbing could warm up.

“After the birth of our daughter eighteen months ago my wife grew even more impatient with everyone and everything. . even with the baby.”

“What about the baby?”

“She would get angry that our baby would wake up at all hours and not stop crying.”

“What else?”

“My wife started bombarding Karl’s mother and stepfather up in Namsos with several e-mails a day complaining about Karl and how difficult life was at our home with the baby. . of course she did the same with Karl’s teacher. . sending her e-mails complaining almost every day about Karl and me and the baby. . and even her first son Thor who never gave us any problems when he lived with us.”

“Whose idea was it to kick Thor out of your house?”

“Not mine. I came back from a business trip to Helsinki and. . boom!. . I find out she sent Thor to live with her parents even though Thor and I were getting along very well.”

“Would Thor agree with that statement?”

“Ja. Call him up right now. Anyway. . I complained to her about her sudden and disruptive action but what can I do?. . He’s not my son. It was her idea to kick him out and send him to live with her parents. . she was fed up with him not obeying her and talking back at her all the time. She and Thor. . who’s now fourteen. . they got into awful fights. . her postpartum depression led to her into big fights with Thor all the time. . as all parents do with teenagers.”

“Your son Karl went missing less than two weeks after Thor left your home.”

“So?. . That’s just a coincidence.”

“Really Herr Haugen. . don’t you tie the two events together? You don’t think your wife did something to your son Karl in retaliation for you kicking her son Thor out of your home?”

“No.”

Sohlberg glanced at Gunnar Haugen as if saying “Are you that naive or stupid?”

“Look Inspector. . my wife has postpartum depression. That’s the reality we’ve had to live with.”

“What doctor diagnosed her with postpartum depression?”

“I. . I don’t think she mentioned. . but it’s common knowledge that many women get severely depressed after delivering their baby. She told me she has postpartum depression. Wouldn’t she know best what she has?”

“She’s not a doctor. . is she?”

“No.”

“On the other hand maybe she does know what’s best if she’s setting up an insanity defense.”

“What?. . Why would she want an insanity defense?”

“So she can walk away scot-free from whatever crimes she committed against your son.”

“No!” said Gunnar Haugen who slumped into his seat.

“Herr Haugen. . I need you to help us. . the investigation uncovered irrefutable facts that point to you or your wife or both of you taking Karl that Friday.”

“You have no grounds to say that.”

“Oh. . but I do. . you have an unhappy marriage filled with resentments and betrayals.”

Sohlberg was not surprised that Gunnar Haugen refused to admit that he had been spying on his wife’s electronic communications. What surprised him profoundly was Gunnar Haugen’s next statement.

“Inspector. . you’re making my marriage appear to be what it’s not. We were managing our relationship and working through all our issues in a positive manner.”

“Herr Haugen. . you’re just giving me a lot of phony corporate doubletalk. . managing the relationship. . working through issues in a positive manner. . you do realize. . I hope. . that we’re on the same planet. . planet Earth. . we’re talking about a deeply troubled marriage with infidelity and resentments and lies. . we’re not talking about some employee’s performance review for the year.”

“Sir! Everything was fine in our marriage until some sick perverted stranger took our little boy. Why aren’t you out looking for that criminal huh?”

Sohlberg almost sneered when he noticed that Gunnar Haugen was returning to his stoic martyr look and possibly withdrawing or shutting down for good.

“Chief Inspector. . why are you harassing me. . saying all these ugly things about our good marriage?”

At first Sohlberg felt like jumping across the table and slapping Gunnar Haugen. Sohlberg then realized with immense sadness that at some level Gunnar Haugen actually believed that he had a good marriage to Agnes Haugen and that his wife loved his son and that somehow everything would be alright if he repeated often enough the Big Business and Big Government mantra of working through issues in a positive