brainwashing. Now she's not interested any more. She's let Holland take over.'
He rubbed his jaw and when they didn't say anything, he continued.
'Maybe you were thinking that I killed Annie to take revenge? Let me assure you I didn't. I have nothing against Eddie Holland, and I wouldn't want even my worst enemy to lose a child. I don't have the energy left to fight, but I admit that the thought did cross my mind, of course, that now she knows what it's like, that prudish old hag, what it's like to lose a child. Now she knows what it feels like, goddammit. But now my chances of contacting Solvi are even slimmer. Ada will keep close tabs on her. And I would never put myself in that situation.'
Sejer sat motionless and listened. Bjork's voice was angry and sharp as acid.
'Where was I at the time in question? She was found on Monday, wasn't she? Sometime in the middle of the day, if I remember rightly. So here's my answer: in my apartment, no alibi. Most likely I was drunk, I usually am when I'm not at work. Do I get violent? Absolutely not. It's true that I hit Ada, but she was asking for a good smack in the face. That's what she wanted. She knew that if she got me to cross the line, she would have something to take to court. I hit her once, with my fist. It was pure impulse, the only time in my whole life that I've actually hit someone. I was extremely unlucky, I hit her hard and broke her jaw and several teeth, and Solvi was sitting on the floor and saw it all. Ada had set the whole thing up. She put Solvi's toys on the floor in the living room so that she would be sitting there, watching us, and she had filled the refrigerator with beer. Then she started arguing, she was very good at that. And she didn't give up until I exploded. I walked right into the trap.'
Beneath the bitterness there was a kind of relief, perhaps because someone was finally listening.
'How old was Solvi when you divorced?'
'She was five. Ada had already taken up With Holland, and she wanted Solvi to herself.'
'That's an awfully long time ago. You haven't been able to put it all behind you?'
'You don't leave your child behind.'
Sejer bit his lip. 'You were suspended?'
'I started drinking too much. Lost my wife and child, my job and my house, and the respect of nearly everybody. Actually,' he said with a bitter smile, 'it wouldn't really make much difference, one way or the other, if I turned into a killer. It really wouldn't.'
He smiled, a sudden devilish glint in his eye. 'But then I would have acted at once, not waited all these years. And to be quite honest, Ada is the one I would have chosen to throttle.'
'What did the two of you fight about?' Skarre asked.
'We fought about Solvi.'
He crossed his arms and stared out the window, as if his memories were parading past in the street outside. 'Solvi is a little different, she's always been like that. I'm sure you've met her, so you've seen how she's turned out in life. Ada always wanted to protect her. She's not very independent, may even be a little slow. Abnormally obsessed with boys and her appearance. Ada wants her to find a husband as fast as possible, someone who will take care of her. I've never seen anyone steer a girl so wrongly. I tried to explain that what she needs is exactly the opposite – she needs self-confidence. I wanted to take her on fishing trips and things like that, teach her to chop wood, play soccer, sleep in a tent. She needs physical exercise, needs to get her hair mussed up without panicking. Right now she slouches around in a beauty salon, looking at herself in the mirror all day. Ada accused me of having some kind of complex. Said I really wanted a son and never could accept the fact that we had a girl. We fought all the time,' he sighed. 'All the years we were married. And we've kept on fighting ever since.'
'How do you make your living now?'
Bjork stared at Sejer with a gloomy expression. 'I'm sure you already know that. I work for a private security company. Run around at night with a dog and a torch. It's okay. Not much action, of course, but I guess I've had my share.'
'When was the last time the girls were here?'
He rubbed his forehead, as if he were trying to dredge up the date from the depths of his mind. 'Sometime last autumn. Annie's boyfriend was here too.'
'So you haven't seen the girls since then?'
'No.'
'Did you go out to see her?'
'Several times, and each time Ada called the police, claiming that I was trying to force my way in. That I was standing at the door and making threats. I'd have had problems at work if there was any more trouble, so I had to give up.'
'What about Holland?'
'Holland's all right. Actually, I suspect he thinks it's a nasty business, but he's a wimp. Ada has got him by the balls, she really has. He does what he's told, and so they never fight. You've talked to them, I'm sure you've seen the set-up.'
He got up suddenly and went over to stand by the window with his back to them, pulling himself up to his full height.
'I don't know what happened to Annie,' he said in a low voice. 'But I would have understood it better if something had happened to Solvi. She's so unbelievably gullible.'
Sejer wondered why everyone said that. As if the whole thing were a big misunderstanding, and Annie had been killed by mistake.
'Do you own a motorcycle, Bjork?'
'No, I don't,' he said. 'I had one when I was younger. Kept it in a friend's garage, but I finally sold it. A Honda 750. I only have the helmet left.'
'What kind of helmet?'
'It's hanging in the hallway.'
Skarre peered into the hall and caught sight of the helmet, a full helmet, all black, with a smoke-coloured visor.
'A car?'
'I only drive the Peugeot from the security company. I've made an important discovery,' he said, looking at them. 'I've seen the mother-child phenomenon up close. It's a kind of holy pact that no one can break. It would be more difficult to separate Ada and Solvi than to pull Siamese twins apart with your bare hands.'
The image made Sejer blink.
'I have to be honest with you,' he continued. 'I hate Ada, and I don't feel like hiding it. And I know what the worst possible thing would be for her. It would be for Solvi to grow up enough to fully understand what happened, so that sooner or later she would dare to defy Ada and come here. So we could have a father-daughter relationship, what we were always meant to have, and what we're both entitled to. A proper relationship. That would take the wind out of her sails.'
He suddenly looked worn out. A tram thundered past outside, its bell clanging, and Sejer stared at the picture of Solvi again. He tried to imagine his own life taking a different turn. What if Elise had ended up hating him and had moved out, taking Ingrid with her, even winning a court ruling forbidding them from seeing each other? The thought made him dizzy.
'So,' he said softly, 'Annie Holland was the kind of girl you wish Solvi had been?'
'Yes, in a way. She's independent and strong. Was,' he said, and turned around. 'This is goddamned awful. I hope for Eddie's sake that you find the bastard who did it, I really do.'
'For Eddie's sake? Not for Ada's?'
'No,' he said fervently. 'Not for Ada's sake.'
'Quite an eloquent man, wasn't he?'
Sejer started the car.
'Do you believe him?' Skarre asked, signalling for him to turn right at Rundingen.
'I don't know. But there was a lot of despair behind that gruff mask of his, and it seemed genuine. I'm sure there are mean and calculating women in the world. And women do have a kind of first claim to their children. It must be bitter to be slapped with something like that, accusations that it won't do any good to deny. Maybe it really does have to be that way,' he said as he steered the car away from the tram tracks. 'Perhaps it's a biological phenomenon that's supposed to protect the children. A real bond with the mother that is totally unbreakable.'
'Jesus!' Skarre listened, shaking his head. 'You've got a child – do you really believe what you're saying?'
'No, I'm just thinking out loud. What do you think?'
