been triggered by sexual abuse, in other words, it’s a family affair. You could just as easily say that all of this goes off in a variety of directions. Hard to say what we can do, in my opinion.’
‘But Hammersten may have been involved in all of the cases.’
‘May have been? All we have is vague rumours about some connection with the Tveiten murder in 1973.’
‘And he lived with Mette Olsen!’
‘After she got into drugs, yes. But in 1966 she was with David Pettersen.’
I leaned forward. ‘At least do me one favour, Vadheim. As soon as he’s back in town… bring him in for a — talk. Have a chat with him.’
He viewed me with scepticism. ‘With Hammersten? On this evidence? Hardly, Veum. Hardly.’
‘Then I’ll have to do it myself.’
‘Would you take the risk?’
‘If no one else dares, then…’
43
Marianne Storetvedt received me at the same office as in 1974. Bryggen Museum and the new SAS hotel had been up a long time on the other side of the bay, but apart from that the view was the same. She hadn’t changed much, either. She still reminded me of a Hollywood star from the early fifties, glamorous and with the slightly old- fashioned, glossy hairstyle: Rita Hayworth in a role she filled to perfection, to everyone’s surprise. But her attire was not very provocative and the clear signs of wrinkles on her face would hardly have been accepted by Columbia Pictures.
She listened without interrupting while I told her about Jan Egil and all the other developments in the case since she had treated him in 1974. A couple of times she jotted something down in the notebook on her lap.
When I had finished, she nodded her head in acknowledgement as if I had passed an exam. ‘A classic tale, I’m afraid,’ she said.
‘In what sense?’
‘The art of creating a psychopath.’
‘You’re thinking about — Jan Egil?’
She lowered her head in affirmation. ‘I think we talked about this last time. He was already exhibiting clear signs then of early emotional damage, what we in the profession call a reactive attachment disorder. If parents only knew how important the first years of life are for their children, Varg!’
‘In this case, neither parent was even present. Well, one was, but not a hundred per cent. The mother was on drugs when he was born.’
‘Even more typical. Here it’s the frequent shifting of carers that creates the problem, on top of the primary carer — in this case the mother — not being stable enough, being on drugs, at least for long periods. A child like this will develop its own primary personality based on rejection. It becomes the fundamental emotion this child will feel most at home with, even when grown up — and then often with tragic consequences.’
‘I see. So if you were to be a character witness in the case against Jan Egil…’
She interrupted me. ‘I wouldn’t be able to do that, of course. I haven’t followed his development for the last ten years. I’m only giving my opinion in general terms, Varg. But, by and large, it’s not so unusual for children with this kind of background to perform criminal actions at a very young age. Often directed against adoptive or foster parents who in a way are there in loco parentis, ones who, voluntarily or involuntarily, failed them.’
‘But not in such a dramatic manner as this, I hope?’
‘No, but it could be hooliganism, it could be theft — of cars, for example — or other anti-social actions. Such as smashing up the foster father’s car. Sometimes with a fatal conclusion for them both, or anyone else they might meet on a joyride. If people only realised…’
‘Doesn’t sound like you’ll be invited to the witness box by his defence counsel, anyway. More likely by the prosecution, sad to say.’
‘We’ll have to see what the investigation turns up before we make our final judgement…’
‘For Jan Egil, of course, it’s a big problem that the murder weapon has no fresh prints on it other than his. Could it be that he wasn’t aware of the consequences of his actions?’
‘You mean if he wasn’t the murderer? That he might conceivably have come to the crime scene after the murders had taken place and picked up the weapon without thinking? Then taken it with him when escaping from the police, out of fear of being blamed?’
‘Something like that.’
‘Being governed by sudden impulses, and therefore capable of carrying out imprudent actions, would not clash at all with the picture of the personality I broadly sense here, no.’
‘Right. Well, at least there’s some light in the tunnel, if I can call it that.’
We sat for a while in a somewhat uneasy silence. I noticed her scrutinising me. ‘You look troubled. Is there something bothering you?’ she said.
‘Nothing apart from the fact that I have a son myself, thirteen years old, who I might not have been a hundred per cent present for in the first years of his life. I don’t know if you remember, but we… split up when he was two years old.’
She smiled gently. ‘Have you had any problems with him?’
‘Not that I’ve been aware of, no.’
‘So why the concern? My God, with all the divorces we have nowadays… and all the children of divorced parents! We would’ve had an avalanche of psychopaths if they’d all had reactive attachment disorders. I’m talking about relatively few unhappy souls, Varg, and we must not forget that some of this is genetically determined.’ She laid her hand on mine and patted it comfortingly. ‘So you can relax. Your son will be absolutely fine.’
‘But I’m not only concerned about him. I can’t get Jan Egil out of my mind, either. I’ve met him at three stages of his life. As a helpless little child, as an apathetic and aggressive six-year-old, and now as an unbalanced and somewhat complicated teenager. The period in 1974 when Cecilie, Hans and I looked after him like… well, like a married couple and an uncle, we were all of the same opinion… that he could have been our own child, Marianne! Our common foster child.’
‘But then remember what I said. The reactive disorders emerge during the first years of life. An adopted child you know nothing about can be a time bomb. We see this most clearly with foreign adoptions, children from slum areas or — even worse — a war zone. But then you know the child’s background and you know it’s bad news. If the mother was on drugs during the pregnancy, it means he will be born with withdrawal symptoms, if I can phrase it like that. Suddenly he no longer has access to what the tiny body was used to in the mother’s womb. There is no father at hand, and he has a mother who either isn’t there — because he’s in a clinic for infants — or when she is there, she’s barely capable of looking after him properly.’ She leaned forward and locked her intense eyes on mine. ‘Neither Cecilie, Hans nor you could have done anything for Jan Egil, Varg!’
‘That is a terribly defeatist view of life, Marianne.’
She looked at me sadly. ‘I’m afraid not. It’s statistics. And experience.’
‘Hans feels the same way. He told me… I don’t want to be indiscreet, but he’s decided to give up. He can no longer face all these failures, all these never-ending projects, all this work that appears to be in vain.’
‘But there are lots of successful treatments, too.’
‘That’s what I said. But he’s given up, as I said. He wants a total break.’
‘Well…’ She threw up her hands. ‘We all feel like that at some point. How’s your business going, by the way?’
‘As a private eye?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m into my tenth year now. And I haven’t gone bust yet, even though it’s been a close thing a couple of times.’
She smiled again and nodded with sympathy. Then she stood up. ‘Should you need me again, you know where to find me.’
