Harry Hole Oslo Sequence 10 - Police

frightened. He doesn’t mention anything about a torn dress. On the contrary, he says she appeared to be both dressed and unhurt. And he admits to studying her very closely.’ He turned to Silje Gravseng. ‘A compliment to you, I assume . . .’
    She sat as still as before, but her cheeks had coloured up and her eyes were blinking non-stop.
    ‘As you can see, Harry Hole went over to him a maximum of one minute, so sixty seconds, after frøken Gravseng had passed him. Hole stayed with the witness until I arrived and took Hole to Krimteknisk, which is –’ Folkestad motioned with his hand – ‘on the next page, there, yes.’
    Krohn read it, and slumped back in his chair.
    ‘The report says that Hole has none of the things you would expect a man who has just committed rape to have. No skin under the nails, no genital secretions or pubic hairs from other persons on his hands or his genitals. And this gives the lie to frøken Gravseng’s statement about scratching and penetration. Furthermore, there are no marks on Hole’s body to suggest she had been fighting him at all. The only suggestion of contact is two hairs on his clothes, but they are no more than one would expect after she had leaned across him, see page three.’
    Krohn flicked through without looking up. His eyes danced down the page, his lips forming a profanity after three seconds, and Harry knew the myth was true: no one in Norwegian justice circles could read an A4 document faster than Johan Krohn.
    ‘Finally,’ Folkestad said, ‘if you look at the volume of Hole’s ejaculate only half an hour after the alleged rape, it shows four millimetres. A second ejaculation within the same half an hour would produce less than ten per cent of that. In short, unless Harry Hole’s testicles are made of something very special he did not have an ejaculation at the time frøken Gravseng claims.’
    In the ensuing silence Harry could hear a car horn outside, shouting, then laughter and swearing. The traffic was at a standstill.
    ‘It’s not exactly complicated,’ Folkestad said, tentatively smiling into his beard. ‘So if you’ve done your calculations and—’
    The hydraulic snort of brakes being released. And then the bang as Silje Gravseng got up from her chair immediately followed by the bang of the door as she left the room.
    Krohn sat with his head lowered for some time. When he raised it again, his gaze was directed at Harry.
    ‘I apologise,’ he said. ‘As a defence counsel we have to accept that our clients lie to save their skins. But this . . . I should have read the situation better.’
    Harry shrugged. ‘You don’t know her, do you?’
    ‘No,’ Krohn said. ‘But I know you. Should know you after so many years, Hole. I’ll get her to sign your agreement.’
    ‘And if she won’t?’
    ‘I’ll explain to her the consequences of making a false accusation. And an official expulsion from PHS. She’s not stupid, you know.’
    ‘I know,’ Harry said, getting up with a sigh. ‘I know.’
    Outside, the traffic had started again.
    Harry and Arnold Folkestad walked up Karl Johans gate.
    ‘Thank you,’ Harry said. ‘But I’m still wondering how you grasped everything so quickly.’
    ‘I have some experience of OCD,’ Arnold smiled.
    ‘Sorry?’
    ‘Obsessive compulsive disorder. When a person with that predisposition has made a decision, she stops at nothing. Action is in itself more important than the consequences.’
    ‘I know what OCD is. I have a psychologist pal who has accused me of being halfway there myself. What I meant was, how did you twig so fast that we needed a witness and that we had to get ourselves to Krimteknisk?’
    Arnold Folkestad chuckled. ‘I don’t know if I can tell you that, Harry.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘What I can tell you is that I was involved in a case where two policemen were about to be reported by someone they’d beaten senseless. But by doing something similar to what we’ve just done they got one over on him. One of them burnt the evidence that counted against them. And what was left wasn’t enough, so the man’s lawyer advised him to drop the charge because they wouldn’t get anywhere. I reckoned the same would happen here.’
    ‘Now you’re making it sound as if I really did rape her, Arnold.’
    ‘Sorry.’ Arnold laughed. ‘I had been half expecting that something like this would happen. The girl’s a ticking time bomb. Our psychological tests should have disqualified her