the face. I have no doubt that he would have been acquitted.'
'Quite possibly. But the fact remains that he might be capable of murder. Not everyone is. What do you think, Skarre?'
Skarre was chewing on his pen and shaking his head.
'I picture an older murderer,' he said.
'Why is that?'
'She was in extremely good physical shape. Annie weighed 65 kilos, and most of it was muscle. Halvor is only 63 kilos, so they were about the same weight. If Halvor really did shove her into the water, he would have encountered enough resistance so that Annie would have been marked by some outward signs of a struggle – such as cuts and scratches. But all indications are that the killer was bigger than she was and probably much heavier. From what I've seen, I believe that Annie was physically superior to Halvor. I don't mean that he couldn't have done it, but I think it would have been very difficult for him.'
Sejer nodded silently.
'OK. That sounds reasonable enough. But then we're left with nothing. Have we found any other persons close to Annie who might have a motive?' Holthemann said.
'Halvor doesn't have any apparent motive either.'
'He had the bag, along with a strong emotional attachment. I'm the one who has to take the responsibility here, even though I don't particularly like it, Konrad. What about Axel Bjork? Bitter and alcoholic, with a dangerous temper? Did you find anything there?'
'We have no evidence that Bjork was in Lundeby on the day in question.'
'I see. From the report, you both seem more interested in the death of a two-year-old boy.' Now he smiled, though not in an obviously scornful way.
'Not in the boy himself. More in Annie's reaction to the death. We've tried to work out the reason for the change in her personality; it might have something to do with the boy, or possibly the fact that she was ill. I was hoping to find something there.'
'Such as what?'
'I don't know. That's what is so difficult about this case; we have no idea what kind of man we're looking for.'
'An executioner, maybe. He held her head underwater until she died,' Holthemann said harshly. 'There wasn't a scratch on her.'
'That's why I think they were sitting on the shore, side by side, talking. Completely at ease. Maybe he had some kind of hold over her. Suddenly he puts his hand at the back of her neck and throws her down on her stomach in the water. All in the blink of an eye. But the idea may have occurred to him earlier, maybe while they were in the car, or on the motorcycle.'
'He must have been wet and muddy,' Skarre said.
'No one saw a motorcycle on Kolleveien?'
'Only a car, going fast. But the owner of Horgen's Shop saw a motorcycle. He didn't see Annie. Johnas didn't see her get on the motorcycle either. He let her out, saw the motorcycle, and thought that she seemed to be heading towards it.'
'Do you have any other new leads?'
'Magne Johnas.'
'What about him?'
'Not much, actually. He looks full of anabolic steroids, and he had his eye on Annie for a while. She wasn't interested. Maybe he's the type who won't stand for that. He also went to Lundeby occasionally, to visit old friends, and he drives a motorcycle. He seems to have taken up with Solvi instead. We can't rule him out, at any rate.'
Holthemann nodded. 'What about Raymond and his father? Isn't it true that Raymond was away from home for a long time?'
'He went to the shop, and when he came back he says he sat down for a while and watched Ragnhild sleeping.'
'Rock-solid alibi, Konrad,' Holthemann said. 'It's my understanding that he's impulsive and muscle-bound in an adolescent way, with the mental age of a five-year-old.'
'Exactly. And there aren't many five-year-old murderers.'
Holthemann shook his head. 'But he's interested in girls, isn't he?'
'Yes. But I don't think he would know what to do with them.'
'There's no knowing whether you're right. On the other hand, you have good instincts. But there's one thing you do have to realise.' He lifted an admonishing finger and pointed at Sejer. 'You are
Sejer threw back his head and laughed so heartily that Holthemann jumped to his feet.
'Is there something I missed?' He stuck a finger under his glasses and rubbed his eye, then he blinked and continued.
'All right,' he said. 'If something doesn't happen soon, I'm going to have to charge Halvor. Why, for instance, would the murderer take Annie's school bag home with him?'
'If they arrived by car, they must have got out at the turning place, and then the bag would have been left in the car,' Sejer said. 'Afterwards it may have been too awkward to go back and throw it in the water.'
'Sounds reasonable.'
'One question,' Sejer said, catching his eye. 'If the fingerprint on Annie's belt buckle doesn't belong to Halvor, shouldn't we let him go?'
'Let me think about that.'
Sejer went over to the map on the wall, where the road from Krystallen was highlighted with red, traced via the roundabout, down to Horgen's Shop, and up Kolleveien to the lake. Several little green magnets marked the locations along the way where Annie had been seen. The magnets looked like the green man on the 'walk' sign of a traffic light. One was placed outside her house in Krystallen, one at the intersection of Gneisveien, where she crossed the street and took a detour, one was at the roundabout where she was seen by a woman as she got into Johnas's car. One was at Horgen's Shop. Johnas's car and the motorcycle outside the shop were also indicated. Sejer plucked off one of the Annie magnets, the one near the grocery shop, and put it in his pocket.
'Who was really the closest to her?' he said. 'Was Halvor? What are the chances that someone managed to pick her up in that short space of time, from the moment she walked from Johnas's car to the shop, until she was found? The motorcyclist has not come forward. No one saw her get on the motorcycle.'
'But she was going to meet someone, wasn't she?'
'She was going to Anette's house.'
'That's what she told Mrs Holland. Maybe she had another rendezvous,' Holthemann said.
'Then she had to take the risk that Anette might call and ask where she was.'
'Annie knew Anette wouldn't call.'
'I suppose that's true. But what if she never got out of Johnas's car? What if it's that simple?' He stood up and took a few steps as his thoughts whirled. 'All this time we've only had Johnas's word that she did.'
'As far as I know, he's a respectable businessman with his own gallery and an impeccable reputation. Also he was grateful to Annie for regularly freeing him from a difficult child.'
'Exactly. She knew him. And he had good feelings towards her.'
He closed his eyes. 'Maybe she was mistaken.'
'What are you saying?' Holthemann leaned forward.
'I'm wondering whether she might have made a mistake,' he repeated.
'Oh, sure. She went off all alone with a murderer to some desolate spot.'
'Yes, that too. But before that. She underestimated him. Thought she was safe.'
'I doubt he was wearing a warning sign round his neck,' Holthemann said. 'But even if she did know him, if she was as careful as you say, they must have been quite close.'
'Maybe they shared a secret,' Sejer said.
'A bed, for example?'
Sejer put the Annie magnet back in place and turned around with a doubtful look.
'It wouldn't be the first time,' Holthemann said, smiling. 'Some young girls have a thing for older men. Have
