The Blind Goddess

“That cough comes on whenever she lies or feels threatened,” said Hakon sotto voce. “From the information in the attache case, I made it fourteen kilos in all. And that was just Lavik’s half of the business!”

“I made it fifteen,” Hanne said with a grin.

The commissioner began speaking again.

“As for the particular circumstances surrounding the use of…”-her coughing now seemed almost a parody of itself-“the… use of… hmm… the profits from this illegal enterprise, I will hand over to the minister of justice himself.”

She heaved a sigh of relief as all eyes turned to the young minister. He looked as if he’d received news of his father’s collapse, his mother’s death, and his own bankruptcy all on the same day.

“Provisionally, and I repeat provisionally, it seems that some of these… some of these… hmm… profits, let’s call them, have been used for… irregular expenditure by our Military Intelligence Service.”

Everyone realised immediately why the minister of defence was also there. His presence, seated beyond the end of the table at the far left of the row of VIPs, almost as if not really belonging, had raised some eyebrows. But no one had had a chance to give the matter more thought.

It was hopeless now to try to stem the flood of questions. The head of the CID banged on the table again in an attempt to do so, but just looked increasingly impotent. The commissioner pulled herself together with a determined effort and, in a voice that was totally unexpected from so slight a figure, took command of the proceedings.

“One question at a time,” she declared. “We’re at your disposal for an hour. It’s up to you to get the most out of it.”

After a quarter of an hour most of them had a fairly good overview. The gang, or mafia, as everyone, including the VIPs on the panel, had now switched to calling it, had been organised on a strict “need to know” basis. The aim had evidently been that each one should know only his direct superior. The under secretary was thus safe from all of them except Olsen and Lavik. But this pair of subordinate officers had gradually felt over-confident, had gone too far, and adopted too active a role. There was reason to assume that they had taken considerable advantage of their unique opportunities to smuggle dope into prisons. The most effective payment method in the world. And enticement.

For a moment at least Fredrick Myhreng caused a hush to fall.

“Is it true there’s been illegal political surveillance?” he shouted from the third row.

The speakers on the podium glanced across at one another, but none of them replied-in fact they scarcely had the opportunity before Myhreng persisted doggedly:

“My information is that there’s rumoured to be near enough thirty kilos of hard drugs. That’s an absolute fortune! Has it all been appropriated by the Intelligence Service?”

The fellow wasn’t stupid. But nor was the commissioner. She stared at him for a moment.

“We have reason to believe that significant sums have been utilised by those in charge of certain surveillance operations, yes,” she said slowly.

The more enterprising of the crime reporters immediately tucked their heads in their jackets to speak into the neat little mobile phones in their inside pockets, exhorting their editors to summon their political commentators. Everything so far would have been of considerable interest for them, too, though they wouldn’t normally have expected to concern themselves with a press conference arranged by the police. But there could be widespread political repercussions when a politician of such eminence turned out to be a crook. Now that information about the use of the money had come out, it was only a matter of minutes before the first of the political commentators slipped in through the door and crept over to his colleague for a muffled briefing. He was gradually followed by another fourteen or fifteen of them. The hubbub from the crime reporters subsided, and some of them headed for the door after passing on the baton.

A flashy type from Dagsrevyen with the face of a forty-year-old but hair and clothes more befitting someone half his age held a giant microphone wrapped in winter fur towards the minister of defence.

“Who in the Intelligence Service was privy to this? How high up did the authorisation go?”

The minister wriggled in his chair and cast a pleading glance at his colleague from the Ministry of Justice. But no assistance was forthcoming.

“Well, it seems… As far as we can tell at present… Nobody knew where the money came from. Very few had any knowledge of the money at all. Further investigations are still in progress.”

The reporter from Dagsrevyen wasn’t going to be fobbed off so easily.

“Do you mean, Minister, that the Intelligence Service has spent many millions on one thing or another without anyone being aware of it?”

That was exactly what the minister did mean. He waved his arms and raised his voice.

“It is important to emphasise that this was not officially sanctioned. We have no evidence to suggest that many were involved, so it’s incorrect to speak of the Intelligence Service per se in this respect. We’re talking of a few guilty individuals, and it’s those few individuals who will be called to account.”

The reporter could scarcely suppress his incredulity.

“Do you mean there will be no consequences for the Service as a whole?”

When he didn’t get a response straightaway he thrust the microphone right into the minister of justice’s face so that he had to jerk his head back to avoid getting a mouthful of nylon fur.

“In view of the fact that your closest colleague has been charged with such a serious crime, shouldn’t you resign as minister of justice?”

The minister was now quite calm. He gently pushed the microphone further away, ran his fingers through his hair, and looked straight at the television camera.

“Yes, I think I should,” he said coolly and deliberately.

The reaction was instantaneous. Even the cameras were stilled.

“I am stepping down with immediate effect,” he declared, and evidently meant it literally. Without any indication that the press conference was being terminated, he picked up his papers, rose to his feet, and surveyed the assembly before squaring his shoulders and walking out.

The two police officers at the back of the hall felt sympathy for the young minister.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong,” Hakon murmured. “Only selected a bit of a rogue as a colleague.”

“Good help is hard to get these days,” said Hanne. “You’re lucky from that point of view: you’ve got me.”

She kissed him on the cheek and whispered good-bye. Hanne Wilhelmsen was off to do some late-night shopping. It was high time she bought her Christmas presents.

MONDAY 14 DECEMBER

There were only eleven days to Christmas. The weather gods were propitious, and were endeavouring for the sixth time in two months to decorate the city for the festival. Now it looked as though they might succeed. There were already twenty centimetres of snow lying on the broad expanse of grass in front of the curved grey building of police headquarters on Gronlandsleiret. The paving stones that led up to the entrance were as slippery as an ice rink, and only ten metres from the door Hakon Sand’s painful leg slithered from under him. The taxi driver had refused to tackle an ungritted slope, and Hakon was perspiring from the effort of toiling up on foot. The hill must have been constructed with malice aforethought.

He struggled to his feet again and limped into the warmth. As usual the foyer was full, and as usual the darker-hued immigrants were sitting on the left, shabby and sweaty in their garish, old-fashioned winter coats. Hakon stopped for a moment and scanned the floors above. The building was still standing at any rate. Things were much worse for the Intelligence Service.

The furore was far from abating. The newspapers were bringing out several editions a day, and there had been additional television news bulletins three days running. The immediate resignation of the minister of justice had plainly been an attempt to save the government, but it was extremely doubtful whether it would succeed. The