'No.'
'Can we come down to the station?'
'Most probably.'
It might have been staged, the thought came to him. They might have been in on it together. Maybe she was his girlfriend. A fake hostage. Two people inside the bank 30 seconds after opening, how likely was that? Criminals were getting so damned inventive.
The small groups of pedestrians were gradually dispersing, but a few people were lingering, perhaps hoping they would be asked to give statements. There was nothing more to see. The man was gone. It was all over in seconds. A few people couldn't help but think how easy it was. With a fast car and knowledge of the local area someone could cover a lot of territory in only half an hour.
The boy with the badger hair put on his sunglasses. 'You've got the whole thing on video, haven't you?'
'Let's hope so,' Sejer muttered. He'd had mixed experiences with video surveillance. He turned round as a squad car drove into the square. Goren Soot jumped out, bringing a frown to Sejer's face, and right after him came Karlsen, which caused him to breathe a sigh of relief.
'We've got a hostage situation. A young woman. And the gun is loaded. He fired a shot inside the bank.'
Karlsen stared at the boy's badger hair.
'Take these two in so they can give a statement. They saw the robber and the car. Run in and get the videotape as fast as you can. We've got to find out who the hostage is. Set up a roadblock at E18 and E76. Use our private radio band. It's a small white car, possibly French.'
'Did he get much?' Karlsen peered in through the bank door.
'Don't know yet. How many men can we scrape together?'
'Not many. I sent Skarre to talk to Officer Gurvin, four officers are away taking courses, and another four are on holiday.'
'We'll have to ask for reinforcements. The only thing we can focus on right now is the hostage.'
'Let's hope he opens the car door and dumps her on the road.'
'We can always hope,' Sejer said grimly. 'Let's have a talk with the teller.'
The two young men had to wait in the back seat of the squad car, and they didn't mind in the least. Sejer and Karlsen went inside the bank where the teller was sitting on one of the chairs near the window. With her was the bank manager, who had been inside the vault and had no idea what was going on until he'd heard the shot, and then he didn't dare venture out until he heard the sirens.
Sejer quietly observed the young woman teller who had just been robbed. She was as white as a sheet, with beads of sweat on her forehead, but she wasn't hurt. All she had done was raise her hand to pick up several bundles of notes from a shelf and place them on the counter. Yet it was obvious that from now on her life would never be the same. She might think about making her will. Not that she had much to bequeath in all likelihood, but it was the kind of thing she'd think should be taken care of while there was still time. He sat down next to her and spoke gently.
'Are you all right?'
She began to sob.
'Yes,' she said as firmly as she could manage. 'I'm OK. But when I think about that girl he took with him… You should have heard what he said. I don't dare think about what he's going to do with her.'
'Now, now,' Sejer said. 'Let's not jump ahead of ourselves. He took her along to gain free passage out to the car. Have you ever seen her before?'
'Never.'
'Can you tell me what he said when he was standing at the counter?'
'I can tell you exactly what he said,' she replied. 'I'll never forget it. He went up to her from behind. First he put his arm around her neck and pulled her away from the counter, then he shoved her to the floor and put his foot on her head. And then he screamed at me, 'If you hesitate for even a second I'm going to blow her brains all over the floor!' Then he fired a shot. At the ceiling, I mean. The ceiling tiles exploded and flew in all directions. My hair is full of plaster.'
She wiped the sweat from her forehead on the sleeve of her blouse, and he paused for a moment to watch Karlsen, who was unfastening the camera from the ceiling and taking out the videotape.
'He spoke Norwegian?'
'Yes.'
'Without an accent?'
'That's right. He had a high voice. Maybe a little hoarse.'
'The girl, did she say anything at all?'
'Not a word. She was scared to death. And he was the type of man who knew what he was doing; Full of contempt for everybody. I'm sure he's committed a robbery before.'
'We'll see,' Sejer interrupted her as he took the tape. 'I hope you won't mind coming down to the station to have a look at the tape.'
'I need to make a phone call.'
'We can arrange that.'
Karlsen looked at her. 'Can you estimate how much money you gave him?'
'Gave him?' she cried, staring at him as if he were crazy. 'What kind of thing is that to say? I didn't
Sejer blinked and looked up at the ceiling.
'I'm sorry,' Karlsen said. 'I meant could you estimate how much he got away with?'
'Today is Friday,' she said, still sounding insulted. 'I had put about a hundred thousand in the till.'
Sejer stared out of the open door. 'Let's talk to the people outside who saw them. There were several witnesses. We might at least get a usable description.'
He sighed heavily as he said this. He had seen the man himself, from a distance of hardly more than a metre. How much would he be able to remember?
'The car was white, and it looked new. It was really small,' she added. 'I didn't see anything else special about it. It was unlocked, and the keys must have been inside because he drove off almost before the door was closed. Right across the square, between two flower boxes and out on to the road.'
'Chances are it was stolen, and he has his own car parked elsewhere. He could be dangerous. It must have been sheer impulse to take a hostage. If that's what he did, that is. He probably wasn't counting on a customer coming in here so soon after opening. And… Did she enter the bank from the other door?'
'Yes.'
Sejer looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling and frowned. 'He's a fast thinker. Or desperate.'
Another squad car drove up to the front of the bank, and two forensic technicians in overalls came inside. The first thing they did was to squint up at the hole made by the bullet in the ceiling.
'I wonder how many rounds he has,' said one of the technicians.
'I don't dare think about that,' said Sejer gloomily. 'But no question he's a tough character. First he takes a hostage, and then he fires his gun in the middle of the morning rush hour.'
'Very effective,' said the technician. 'Everybody freezes. He was only thinking about one thing – doing the robbery fast. No dawdling, full speed ahead. Was he wearing gloves?'
The teller nodded. 'Thin gloves.'
Sejer cursed himself for not lingering inside the bank and foiling the robber's plans. But the man would only have waited and come back another day. He took another look at the teller. Her eyes had taken on that particular gleam that meant she'd been shaken out of the life she'd taken for granted. He understood, and yet he didn't.
'OK,' he said. 'We've got a lot to do. Let's get moving.'
He was breathing hard. He leaned forward in his seat, as if wanting to urge the car out of the city. He had been planning this for a long time, had run through the robbery in his mind over and over, picturing all the details and how it would go. But he had been wrong. Everything had gone at such a dizzying speed. He had the money, that's what was supposed to happen, and yet things weren't right. There was someone sitting in the passenger seat next
