was no room to tip it, as he normally did. His eyes were evasive, so Adam leant forward and pulled off his cap.
‘Did your mother not teach you that boys should take their hats off indoors?’ he asked. ‘Why did you think the man was Norwegian?’
‘He didn’t speak proper English, like. More like… with an accent.’
Gerhard was scratching his crotch furiously.
‘You should go to the doctor about that,’ Adam said. ‘Stop it.’
He got up and went over to a cabinet by the door. He picked up the last bottle of mineral water, opened it, and drank half in one go.
‘Do you know what?’ He suddenly laughed. ‘You’re so used to lying that you don’t know how to tell a story properly, even when you’ve decided on it yourself. Talk about occupational injury.’
He put the bottle down and sat on the chair again. With his hands folded behind his neck, he leant back and closed his eyes.
‘Carry on,’ he said calmly. ‘As if you were telling a fairytale to a child, if it’s at all possible for you to imagine something like that.’
‘I’ve got two nephews,’ Gerhard told him curtly. ‘I bloody know what kids are like.’
‘Good. Excellent. What are they called?’
‘Huh?’
‘What are your nephews called?’ repeated Adam, with his eyes still closed.
‘Atle and Oscar.’
‘OK, I’ll be Atle, and Ronbeck over there can be Oscar. Now tell us what happened when Uncle Gerhard got a paid job from a man he’d never met.’
Gerhard didn’t respond. He was poking at a hole in his camouflages.
‘Once upon a time,’ Adam started. ‘Come on. Once upon a time, Uncle Gerhard…’
‘… got a phone call,’ said Gerhard.
There was silence.
Adam made a circular movement with his hand.
‘… from an anonymous number,’ Gerhard continued. ‘It didn’t show up on the display screen. I answered. The man spoke English. But it was as if… as if he wasn’t English, like. He sounded kind of Norwegian… in a way.’
‘Uhuh,’ encouraged Adam.
‘There was something… weird about his language, anyway. He said that he had a really easy deal to offer and that there was loads of dosh to be had.’
‘Can you remember if he said “dosh” or something else?’
‘Money, I think. Yes. Money.’
‘And this was on…’ Adam leafed through his notes, ‘the third of May,’ he said, and looked askance at Gerhard, who gave a faint nod and continued to pull at the hole in his trousers. ‘Tuesday the third of May, in the afternoon. We’ll get a printout of your log so we can check the time.’
‘But, it’s-’
‘You can’t-’
Ronbeck and his client protested at the same time.
‘Take it easy,
The lawyer and Gerhard exchanged glances. Ronbeck nodded.
‘He said that I should keep the sixteenth and seventeenth of May clear,’ Gerhard mumbled.
‘Keep them clear?’
‘Yes. Not make any plans. Stay sober. Be in Oslo. Available, like.’
‘And you didn’t know the man who rang?’
‘No.’
‘But you still said that was fine. You would drop the biggest street party of the year because a stranger phoned and asked you to keep the day clear. Well, well.’
‘It was the money. It was a lot of bloody money.’
‘How much?’
There was a long pause. Gerhard grabbed his cap and almost by reflex was about to put it on when he changed his mind and laid it back on the table. He still didn’t say anything. He was staring at the hole in his trousers.
‘OK,’ Adam said eventually. ‘We get the amount later. What more were you told?’
‘Nothing. Just that I should wait.’
‘For what?’
‘A phone call. On the sixteenth of May.’
‘And did you get one?’
‘Yes.’
‘When?’
‘In the afternoon. Can’t remember exactly. Around four, maybe. Yes, just after four. I was going to meet some mates in Grunerlokka for a beer before the match. Valerenga versus Fredrikstad at Ulleval. The guy rang just before I went out.’
‘What did he say?’
‘Nothing really. He just wanted to know what I was up to.’
‘What you were up to?’
‘My plans for the evening, like. If I’d stick to the arrangement. That I wouldn’t drink and all that. Then he said that I had to be home by eleven at the latest. He said it would be worth it. That it would pay well. So I…’
He shrugged, and Adam could have sworn that he blushed.
‘I had a beer or three with the boys, watched the match and went home. The score was nil-nil, so there wasn’t much to celebrate anyway. Was home before eleven. And…’
His discomfort was tangible now. He scratched his shoulder under his sweater and rolled his buttocks from side to side on the chair. His right thigh was shaking noticeably and he was blinking continuously.
‘Then he rang. About eleven o’clock.’
‘What did he say?’
‘I’ve told you a thousand times. How long do we have to carry on with this?’
‘You’ve told me twice before. And I want to hear it for a third time now. What did he say?’
‘That I should be up by the clock tower at Oslo Central Station a few hours later. At four a.m. I was to stand there until a man came with a woman and then we would all go over to a car and drive away. The route would be left in the glove compartment. With half the money. And then they all lived happily ever after.’
‘Not quite yet,’ Adam stated. ‘Didn’t you think there was something odd about the job?’
‘No.’
‘You’re told to drive around southern Norway with two passengers you don’t know, and to make sure that you’re noticed by the staff at various petrol stations, but to avoid being seen on the security cameras. You don’t have to do anything else, don’t need to steal anything – just drive around. And eventually park the car in a wood near Lillehammer and take the train back to Oslo, and then forget the whole thing. And you thought that was all hunky-dory?’
‘Yep.’
‘Don’t “yep” me, Gerhard. Get a grip. Did you know either of the other two? The woman or the other man?’
‘No.’
‘Were they Norwegian?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘You don’t know?’
‘No, we didn’t speak.’
‘For four hours?’
‘Yeah. I mean, no. We didn’t say anything the whole time.’
‘I don’t believe you. That’s not possible.’
