inspector, after all, who had come to him for assistance. But Sejer remained motionless. Finally he turned around.
'It wasn't until later that we started to think about things.' He went back to his chair. 'The father was lying inside a sleeping bag. He had taken off his jacket and boots, had even rolled up his sweater and stuck it under his head. I mean, he had really settled in for the night. Not…' he said, taking a breath, 'not to die. So it occurred to us afterwards that someone might have helped him on his way to eternity.'
Sejer shut his eyes. He rubbed hard at a spot on one eyebrow and felt a scrap of dried skin fall.
'You mean Halvor?'
'Yes,' the community officer said sombrely, 'I mean Halvor. Halvor could have followed him out, watched him fall asleep, stuck the shotgun inside the sleeping bag, into his father's hands, and pulled the trigger.'
The information made Sejer freeze.
'What did you do?'
'Nothing.'
The community officer threw out his hands in a helpless gesture. 'We didn't do anything at all. We didn't find anything that could connect him to it, nothing concrete. The wound was typical for a suicide. A 16 calibre, fired at close range, with the entrance wound under the chin and the exit wound at the top of the skull. No other fingerprints on the shotgun. No suspicious footprints outside the shed. Unlike you, we had a choice. But you might call it something else, I suppose. Breach of duty or a serious misjudgement?'
'I could probably think of even worse things.' Sejer smiled. 'If I was so inclined. But you talked to him?'
'We brought them in for questioning, but we didn't get anywhere. The younger brother was only about six; he didn't know a thing and couldn't confirm or deny the timing. The mother was full of Valium, and none of the neighbours heard the shot. Their house was quite isolated, a hideous place that had originally been a grocer's shop. A brick building with steep stone staircase and two huge windows on either side of the door.'
He wiped his nose, a nervous gesture.
'But fortunately there were a number of contraindications.'
'Such as?'
'If Halvor was the one who fired the shot, he would have had to lie down next to his father, with the shotgun pressed to his chest and the muzzle up under his chin. Would a 15-year-old be able to think that clearly, with his cheek sliced open?'
'It's not impossible. Someone who lives in a house with a psychopath year after year has to learn a lot of tricks. Halvor's a bright kid.'
'Were they sweethearts? Halvor and the Holland girl?'
'Sort of sweethearts,' Sejer said. 'I'm not happy about your theory, but I'm going to have to take it into consideration.'
'So you're going to make it public?'
'If you give me a copy of the case file, that would be great. But it's probably impossible now, after so much time, to prove anything. I don't think you need to worry. I've served on a district police force myself. I know how it is. You get too tied to the people.'
The community officer stared sadly out the window.
'I've probably damaged Halvor's case by telling you this. He deserved better. He's the most considerate boy I've ever met. He took care of his mother and brother all those years, and I've heard that he's been living with old Mrs Muntz now, and taking care of her.'
'That's right.'
'So he finally found a girlfriend. And it ends up like this? How's he doing? Is he keeping his head above water?'
'Yes, he is. But perhaps he didn't expect anything from life other than repeated catastrophes.'
'If he killed his father,' the community officer said, looking Sejer straight in the eye, 'then it was in self- defence. He saved the whole family. It was him or them. I have a hard time believing that he would kill for any other reason. So it would not be fair to use this as evidence against him, an incident that we've never properly solved. After I've solved the problem for myself by acquitting him, giving him the benefit of the doubt.'
He rubbed his hand over his mouth. 'Poor Lilly didn't know what she was doing when she said yes to Torkel Muntz. My father was the community officer here before me, and there were problems with Torkel even in his day. He was a troublemaker, but he was a handsome guy. And Lilly was so pretty. Separately they might have made something of themselves in the world. But there are certain combinations that just can't work, don't you agree?'
Sejer nodded. 'We have a departmental meeting later today, and we'll have to evaluate the charges. I'm afraid…'
'Yes?'
'I'm afraid I won't be able to convince the team to let him go free. Not after this.'
Holthemann leafed through the report and gave them a stern look, as if he wanted to coerce the results through the sheer force of his eyes. The departmental head was not a man anyone would suspect of having a shrewd mind or a high-ranking position if they stood behind him in the check-out queue at a Rimi supermarket. He was as dry and grey as withered grass, with a shiny, sweaty bald pate and a wary gaze behind his bifocal lenses.
'What about that character up on Kolleveien?' he said. 'How thoroughly have you investigated him?'
'Raymond Lake?'
'The jacket found on the body was his. And Karlsen says that there are rumours about him.'
'There's a lot of that kind of thing,' Sejer said. 'Which rumours are you thinking of?'
'That he drives around drooling over girls. There are also rumours about his father. That there's nothing wrong with him, that he just lies in bed reading porn magazines and lets his poor son run around for him. Maybe Raymond has been reading the magazines on the sly and got inspired.'
'I think we're definitely looking for a local man,' Sejer said. 'And I think he's trying to mislead us.'
'You believe Halvor?'
'I do believe him. We also have an unidentified person who appeared in Raymond's yard, and convinced Raymond that the car he saw was red.'
'A rather far-fetched story. Maybe it was just a hiker. Raymond doesn't have all his wits about him, does he?'
Sejer bit his lip. 'I don't think Raymond's smart enough to make up a story like that. I think someone really did speak to him.'
'And this is the man who allegedly sneaked past Halvor's window? And put Annie's bag in the shed?'
'It's possible, yes.'
'It's not like you to be so gullible, Konrad. Have you let a dimwit and a teenager win you over with their charm?'
Sejer felt extremely uncomfortable. He didn't like to be reproached, but perhaps he was letting his instincts overshadow the facts. Halvor was the closest person to the victim. He was her boyfriend.
'Did Halvor give you any details?' Holthemann asked. He got up from his chair and sat down on the desk, which meant that he could look down at Sejer.
'He heard a car starting up. Possibly an old car, possibly with one cylinder out. The sound came from the main road.'
'There's a turning place there. Lots of cars stop.'
'I realise that. Let's release him. He's not going to run away.'
'After what you've told us, he might well be a killer. Someone who killed his own father in cold blood. It doesn't look good for him, Konrad.'
'But he loved Annie, he really did, in his own strange way. Even though she never gave him much encouragement.'
'He probably got impatient and lost control. And if he blew his father's head off, that shows there's plenty of explosive material inside that young man.'
'If he really did kill his father – and we don't know that for sure – it must have been because he believed he had no choice. His whole family was being destroyed, after years of abuse and neglect. And he'd been stabbed in
