Harry Hole Oslo Sequence 10 - Police

more to lose of course. Anyway, if either of them is alive and so much as moves a muscle in the electronic world, I’m on them.’
    ‘Good. Bjørn?’
    ‘I’ll go through the files of various cases Valentin and Judas have been involved in and see if I can find any links to Tryvann or Maridalen. Names that come up again and again or forensic evidence we’ve missed. I’m making a list of people who know them and may be able to help us find them. The ones I’ve spoken to so far are willing to open up about Judas Johansen. Valentin Gjertsen, on the other hand . . .’
    ‘They’re frightened?’
    Bjørn nodded.
    ‘Ståle?’
    ‘I’ll examine the Valentin and Judas cases as well, but to make a profile of each of them. I’ll write an assessment of them as potential serial killers.’
    The room went silent at once. It was the first time anyone had spoken the words.
    ‘In this case, serial killer is no more than a technical, mechanical term, not a diagnosis,’ Ståle Aune hastened to add. ‘It describes an individual who has killed more than one person and may conceivably kill again. All right?’
    ‘All right,’ Beate said. ‘As for me, I’ll go through all the visual material we have from CCTV cameras around the crime scenes. Petrol stations, all-night shops, photo booths. I’ve already seen quite a few shots of the police murders, but not everything. And there are the original murders as well.’
    ‘Enough to do then,’ Katrine said.
    ‘Enough to do,’ Beate repeated.
    The four of them stood looking at one another. Beate raised the John Fante cup and put it back behind the coffee machine.

13
    ‘ALL RIGHT?’ ULLA said, leaning back against the kitchen worktop.
    ‘Oh, yes,’ Truls said, shifting uneasily on the chair and lifting the coffee cup from the narrow worktop. He took a swig. Looked at her with the eyes she knew so well. Frightened and hungry. Embarrassed and searching. Rejecting and imploring. No and yes.
    She had immediately regretted allowing him to visit her. But she hadn’t been prepared when he had suddenly rung and asked how things were going with the house, was there anything that needed fixing? As he was suspended now, the days were long, and he had nothing to do. No, there was nothing that needed fixing, she had lied. Oh, right. What about a cup of coffee then? A little chat about old times? Ulla had said she didn’t know if . . . but Truls acted as if he hadn’t heard, said he was passing by, a coffee would be nice. And she had answered, OK, why not, drop in, Truls.
    ‘I’m still alone, as you know,’ he said. ‘Nothing new there.’
    ‘You’ll find someone. Of course you will.’ She made a show of looking at the clock, had considered saying the children had to be picked up. But even a bachelor like Truls would realise it was too early.
    ‘Maybe,’ he said. Looking into his cup. And instead of putting it down he took another swig. Like taking courage, he thought with dread.
    ‘As you probably know, I’ve always liked you, Ulla.’
    Ulla clutched the worktop.
    ‘So you know if you have a problem and you need . . . er, someone to talk to, you can always count on me.’
    Ulla blinked. Had she heard him correctly? Talk ?
    ‘Thank you, Truls,’ she said. ‘But I’ve got Mikael, haven’t I?’
    He put his cup down slowly. ‘Yes, of course. You’ve got Mikael.’
    ‘By the way, I have to start cooking dinner for him and the children.’
    ‘Yes, of course you have to. You’re in the kitchen cooking for him while he . . .’ He stopped.
    ‘He what, Truls?’
    ‘Has dinner elsewhere.’
    ‘Now I don’t understand what you mean, Truls.’
    ‘I think you do. Listen, I’m only here to help you. I have your best interests at heart, Ulla. And the children’s, of course. The children are important.’
    ‘I’m going to make them something nice. And these family meals take time, Truls, so . . .’
    ‘Ulla, there’s one thing I want to say.’
    ‘No, Truls. No, don’t say it, please.’
    ‘You’re good to Mikael. Do you know how many other women he—?’
    ‘No, Truls!’
    ‘But—’
    ‘I want you to go now, Truls. And I don’t want to see you here again for a while.’
    Ulla stood by the worktop watching Truls go out of the gate to the car parked beside the gravel drive winding between the newly built houses in Høyenhall. Mikael had said he would pull a few strings, make a few calls to the right people on the council, get the tarmac laid, but so far