Authors: Karin Fossum
Gunder saw the headline as he took the newspaper out of his mailbox. For a while he stood staring into space. He didn't feel anything, merely exhaustion. There's so much noise, he thought. Perhaps we should all shut down and go to bed once and for all. He dragged himself back to the house and sat down to read.
Mode at the gas station took his time with the customers that day, as everyone had an opinion about the case. The community was soon divided into two camps, those who thought Gøran was innocent and those who condemned him out of hand. There was also a modest don't-know contingent who shrugged and looked away. Smart enough to shut up and with enough foresight to know that there would have to be a verdict one day.
Preparations were made at the police station for the first interrogation. Gøran walked with his head held high. He remembered his mother's face in the window. His father, completely silent, his black eyes filled with doubt. His father had never been good with words. His mother cried like a baby. The inspector walked ahead of him, silent and gray like a wall. It was all very strange, Gøran thought. It all seemed so unreal. However, the police officers were friendly enough. No one was going to beat him up, he was sure of that. A horde of journalists followed them down the corridor. He didn't hide from them. Walked calmly with firm steps. Your lawyer is on his way; he's in a taxi with the case documents on his lap, they said. He'll argue your case. It's important that you trust him.
Why did they say that? Gøran tried to work out what was the clever or the right thing to do in this unreal situation. What had they found that had caused him to be brought here? They walked along, a purposeful and busy group of people. From time to time they would stop when someone leaped out from an office with even more papers. Then he would stand still and wait. Started walking again when they did. His mouth felt dry.
What kind of room were they heading to? A bare room with a blinding light? Would he be sitting with just one other person or would there be witnesses present? He had seen so many films. Fragments of images flashed by: men shouting and banging their fists on the table, exhaustion, no food, no sleep, the same questions for hours. Once more. Let's start at the beginning. What happened, Gøran?
His knees threatened to buckle. He turned and looked back. More police officers. I bet they're busy, he thought. Phones were ringing. Soon the whole country would know what had happened. It would be discussed in the news on the radio and on TV. When that night's programs were over, it would remain in the news headline box under the test pattern. Gøran didn't know that at this very moment three officers were in his room turning his drawers and wardrobe inside out. Every single article of clothing, every single pair of boots and shoes were carried off in white plastic bags. His whole life disappeared out through the door of his childhood home. His mother had run around to the back of the house, where she stood by the trunk of an oak tree, looking as though she was praying. His father stood like a soldier, glowering at them all as they passed. They were in the basement going through the laundry basket. They went through the mail in the kitchen even though he never received any letters. Apart from his paycheck on the first of every month.
Gøran tried to identify his lawyer but didn't know what he looked like. When he finally turned up, Gøran lost all hope. A frail man with tufts of gray hair and glasses with old-fashioned frames. A drab gray suit. A bulging briefcase under his arm. He looked as though he had too much to do and probably didn't get enough to eat or enough sleep. Clearly he never had time to work out—as he pulled off his jacket his biceps were even smaller than Ulla's, Gøran thought. They were given a room to themselves. Gøran tried to relax.
"Are you all right, given the circumstances?" the lawyer asked, opening a folder.
"Yes," Gøran said.
"Do you need anything? Food? A drink?"
"A Coke would be nice."
The lawyer popped his head out into the corridor and sent for a Coke.
"Nice and cold," he added.
"My name's Robert Friis," he said. "Call me Robert."
His handshake was dry and businesslike.
"Now before we start, you've denied any involvement in the murder of Poona Bai. Am I right?"
"What's that?" Gøran said, not catching the foreign name.
"The woman found dead at Hvitemoen was Indian. Her name was Poona Bai."
"I'm innocent," Gøran said quickly.
"Do you know anything about the murder at all, such as who might have done it?"
"No."
"Have you otherwise been near the crime scene on another occasion and possibly left behind personal belongings or other such items?"
Gøran ran his hand over his forehead. "No," he said.
Friis kept looking directly into his eyes.
"Then it is my job to prevent you from being convicted," he said briskly. "That's why it's of the utmost importance that you tell me everything and that you hide from me nothing that the prosecutor can spring on me later."
Gøran gave him an uncertain look. "I have nothing to hide," he said.
"That's good," Friis said. "However, there may be things you don't remember right at this moment, which may come back to you later. Be sure to tell me those things as soon as you
remember them. You are entitled to speak to me whenever you want. Make sure you do that. Naturally I'm working on other cases, but I will do whatever is necessary for you."
"I told them everything already," he said.
"Good," Friis said.
Gøran's Coke arrived. It was cold and it pricked his tongue.
"Then I need to ask you if you understand the seriousness of the situation. You're charged with murder. With particularly aggravating circumstances."
"Yes," Gøran said. He hesitated slightly. Nothing like this had happened to him before, so he was stumbling into unknown territory.
"Aggravating circumstances means that you might receive an additional punishment of up to two years for the battery of the deceased. Such acts make the police especially angry. They will now petition that you be remanded in custody, and while you are on remand they will obtain as much evidence as they can to bring a case against you. Meanwhile, you'll stay here with restraints on correspondence and visits."
"I have to stay here?" Gøran stammered. He had imagined that they would interview him, perhaps for hours, but he had hoped that he would be allowed to leave later in the day. Einar's Café would be packed with people. He had to go there and be with them. Listen to what they said. He was stricken by some sort of panic. He drank his Coke nervously.
"They'll try to wear you down," Friis said. "Remember that. Always count to three before you answer any questions."
Gøran looked at him blankly.
"They want you to lose control. It's important that you don't. Even though you might be worn out, tired, even exhausted. Do you lose control easily?"
"I can take a lot," Gøran said, leaning forward demonstratively across the table. Friis could see the powerful arms. He took note of them.
"I'm not talking about physical strength," he said. "Rather about what goes on up here." He pointed to his own head. "The officer who'll be interrogating you isn't allowed to hit you. And he won't. I know him. However, he will be doing everything else not covered by the law to force a confession out of you. That's his only aim. A confession. Not whether you're guilty or not."
Gøran gave Friis a horrified look. "I've nothing to fear," he said, but his voice broke at the end of the sentence and he gripped his glass of Coke so tightly that it looked as if it might crack. "After all, I've an alibi," he added. "She's reliable, too. Unless she pulls out. That's why I don't understand why I'm here at all."
"You're speaking of Lillian Sunde?" Friis said gravely.
"Yes," Gøran said, surprised at how much they all knew in such a short space of time.
"She denies that you were at her house," Friis said. Gøran's eyes widened. His face drained of color. With a jolt he got up from the chair and banged his fists on the table.
"For fuck's sake!" he screamed. "What a bitch! Bring her here and then I'll tell you what's really going on here. I've known that woman for over a year and then she goes and—"
Friis got up and pushed Gøran back onto his chair. A shocked silence followed.
"You forgot to count," he said quietly. "One outburst like that in court and you'll be branded a killer. Do you understand the seriousness?"
Gøran breathed heavily. He clutched the edge of the table with both hands. "I was with Lillian," he whispered. "If she says I wasn't, then she's lying. If you only knew what I know about her! What she likes and doesn't like. How she wants it! What she looks like. All over. I know!"
"She has much to lose," Friis said. "Her own reputation, for example."
"She never had one," Gøran said angrily. A tear ran treacherously down his cheek.
"It might be hard for people to understand why you were going out with Ulla Mørk while also visiting Lillian at her house over a period of a whole year."
"But it's not a crime," Gøran said.
"Indeed it isn't. But people need to understand who you are and how you think and act. At least you need to be able to explain it if they ask, and they most certainly will ask. So you can start by explaining it to me."
Gøran looked at Friis in surprise. It was blindingly obvious. Two women were better than one. Besides, they were different. Ulla looked good next to him but always wanted to be in control. Something was always not right for her. Lillian was always up for it. Lillian didn't need him to hold her hand or take her to restaurants. Ulla was high-maintenance; she needed pleasing before she would give him what he needed. This burning desire that all men had was the real reason they had girlfriends at all.
"A girlfriend means more than just sex, doesn't she?"
Gøran looked at him, somewhat exasperated. "You fall out of love," he said wearily. "Often quite quickly."
"What about love?" Friis said.
Gøran smiled incredulously.
"Gøran," Friis said sternly, "there will be adults on the jury who'll assume that you and Ulla were a couple. And all that entails. Just because you have never experienced love does not mean it doesn't exist."
Gøran glared despondently at the table.
"The jury needs to hear that you love Ulla. And that Lillian was an affair that you wish you'd never ever started. However, it was the worst possible bad luck that you happened to be there on the evening of the 20th. That's what you've told the police, and you have to stick to that."
"Of course," Gøran said. "Because it's true."
"Ulla broke up with you after you'd been to the gym. Outside Adonis. And you went straight to Lillian's. Am I right?"
"Yes," Gøran said. "I called her first."
"Were you angry with Ulla?"
"More annoyed. She kept breaking up with me. I didn't really know what to think. Fucking women, they say one thing and—"
"Calm down, Gøran, calm down!"
He crumpled once again. "I didn't kill that woman at Hvitemoen. My head feels all messed up, I feel dizzy when they ask me about times and dates, but I'm sure of this one thing: I did not kill that woman! I didn't see a living soul," he said. He felt dizzy. It was a rare and strange feeling for him.
"Konrad Sejer is heading the interrogation," Friis said. "He'll be here soon to fetch you. You'll be spending quite a lot of time with him. The first few days he'll probably spend building trust between you."
"The first few days?"
"Don't forget to breathe. Don't give them anything, Gøran. Play your cards calmly and with dignity. If you lose control, he'll attack you at once. He looks kind and mild-mannered, but he's out to get you. He believes you killed this woman. That you smashed her head out of pure fury because something else in your life, something she wasn't a part of, had gone wrong. You don't like being rejected, do you?"
"Well, I don't suppose you'd fucking like it, either," Gøran flared up. Then he closed his eyes. "I spent loads of money on Ulla. Went wherever she wanted to go, bought her presents. Paid for everything, the movies and the café, though she earns her own money. And then all of a sudden she can't be bothered anymore."
"Well, we don't send bills to our ex-lovers, do we?"
"I would if I could!" he said angrily. "Were you fond of her?"
Gøran remembered to count to three. "You get used to people. After such a long time."
Friis looked out of the window as though hoping that someone there might be able to help him.
"Yes. Used to. You were used to her being there for you. When she left, you felt deserted. Am I right?"
"I still had Lillian."
"Did you want to hit someone?"
"I've never hit Ulla," he shouted. "Not ever. Has she said so?"
"No. But the police will claim that you hit someone else in an attempt to relieve your aggression. That you happened to meet Poona and that you destroyed her. Alone in a foreign country. Small and delicate." Friis took out his notebook and his pen. "Let's go through that day, the 20th, from when you got up in the morning till you went to bed that night. Every hour of the day. I need a full account. Take your time, and don't leave anything out."
"I thought this was what the police did?"
"They'll do that as well. And let me add: It is essential that the two stories add up. Do you understand me?"
"I was with Lillian," Gøran said.
***
Is it my fault? Linda thought. It didn't trouble her too much. They could lock up Gøran, or Nudel or Mode, or anyone, she didn't care. She went to bed saying she had a bad migraine; her mom couldn't make her go to school. She lay staring at the spider in the ceiling and had practically stopped eating. She felt wonderfully light and weak, almost dreamy. Her mom got in her truck and left. She didn't know that Linda got up then and rode to Gunwald's shop to buy the papers. They still wrote about the case, especially since Gøran's arrest. But Gøran had not done it. The man in the outhouse was much taller. His voice was different, too. So they would have to let him go. Perhaps he wanted to take revenge on her for what she had said about the car. But she didn't even have the strength to be afraid. She fantasized during the long hours she spent in bed. In her mind she had been kidnapped by a cruel and cynical criminal. She was kept hostage in a sinister house, while Jacob crept in through the back door with a loaded gun and freed her, risking his own life in the process. There were several variations of this fantasy. Sometimes Jacob was shot and then she would put his head in her lap and wipe the blood from his temple. Sometimes she herself was shot. Then he would call out her name over and over. Cradle her. Put his hand on her heart and call out, trying to reach her. The variations were endless and she never tired of it. She wondered if Jacob had his own gun or whether they were all kept at the station and had to be signed in and out. If it was possible to get a weapon for self-defense. You could never be too careful. And when Gøran came out ... She closed her eyes. Her neck ached. Her back, too—she had been lying down too long. She almost enjoyed this aching, liked being tormented by something. She lay very still and suffered for her great love.