Burned

‘There was never an empty seat at Henriette’s table. Practically everyone on the course wanted to work with her, too. I made friends with her early on. We had an awesome time together, Henry and I. We were always flirting. I had just ended a relationship when we got to know each other and we discussed it a lot. She was very supportive, compassionate and warm. She was one of those people who know how to listen. And whenever I opened up to her, she always gave me a hug. A very long hug. I opened up quite a lot over those six months,’ he says, laughing.

Henning can imagine it, can imagine her. Beautiful, gentle, open, social, flirtatious. Who wouldn’t want to be around such a ray of sunshine?

‘It was easy to mistake her warmth for something else, as an invitation and one day I went too far. I tried to kiss her and — ’

He shakes his head again.

‘Well, it turned out I had misread the signals. At first, I was furious, I felt she had led me on, trapped me in her net, only to reject me. As though that was her game, like. Cat and mouse, a prick teaser. And I spent a couple of weeks being angry with her, but I got over it. One night, when we had gone out, a group of us, we talked about it. She wanted to be my friend, she said, but nothing more. I decided I would much rather be her friend than waste a lot of energy feeling rejected and, from then on, we were great friends.’

‘Did you feel bad when she got together with Mahmoud?’

‘No, not really. I knew she didn’t fancy me. But — there’s no law against envy, is there?’

Henning nods. Tore takes a big, greedy drag of his next cigarette.

‘Do you have any idea who might have killed her?’

Tore stares at him.

‘You don’t think Mahmoud did it?’

Henning stops for a moment, unsure of how frank he should be; something tells him Tore is a bit of a gossip. So he says:

‘Well, he has been arrested, but you never know.’

‘If it wasn’t Mahmoud, then I don’t know who might have done it.’

‘Do you know if she had other Muslim friends, apart from Mahmoud?’

‘Plenty. Henriette was everyone’s friend. And everyone wanted to be friends with her.’

‘What about Anette Skoppum?’

‘What about her?’

‘She worked with Henriette sometimes — from what I’ve been told?’

Tore nods.

‘Do you know her well?’

‘No, hardly at all. She’s the total opposite of Henriette. Never says very much. I’ve heard she suffers from epilepsy but I’ve never seen her have a seizure. Rarely puts herself about. At least, not while she’s sober. But when she’s drunk — ’

‘Then she loosens up?’

‘Well, that’s one way of putting it. Do you know what she always says when she’s pissed?’

‘No?’

‘What’s the point of being a genius if nobody knows?’ Tore mimics her voice and smiles.

‘If anyone ever had a good reason for low self-esteem, then it’s her. She’s not particularly talented. And I know at least three guys who got into her knickers when she was drunk. I think she must be a lesbian.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘I’m probably being stupid. It’s just a gut feeling I have. Hasn’t that ever happened to you? You feel you intuitively know things about people?’

‘Happens all the time,’ Henning replies and flashes a smile.

‘She was certainly a big fan of Henriette, that was plain to see. But then everyone was. What a waste,’ Tore says and shakes his head again.

‘I would like to talk to Anette as well. Would you happen to have her mobile number, by any chance?’

Tore takes out his mobile. It is a shiny dark blue Sony Ericsson.

‘I think so.’

He presses some buttons and turns the mobile to Henning, who reads the eight digits and notes them down.

‘Thank you,’ he says. ‘I don’t have any more questions. Anything you would like to add?’

Tore gets up from the bench.

‘No. But I hope the police have got the right guy. I would like to — ’

He stops.

‘You would like to what?’

‘Forget it. It’s too late now, anyway.’

Tore Benjaminsen holds up a hand to Henning and starts walking towards the entrance.

‘Thanks for the chat.’

‘Likewise.’

Henning sits there and looks after him. Tore tries to act tough as he walks with his trousers hanging low. Bjorn Borg is in place today as well.

Chapter 38

He sits on the bench for a while after Tore has gone. He spends a lot of time hanging around, wearing benches out these days. And that’s fine. Very nice. No deadly nightshade here. He can’t see Anette. People come and go. Every time, Henning’s eyes seek out the red entrance steps. And every time, he is disappointed.

He decides to call her. Before he types in the number, he registers that the time is 1.30 p.m. already. He wonders what reprisals might await him if he fails to show for the fabled staff meeting, but he bets that Sture, for old times’ sake, will give him the abbreviated version later. Besides, Henning has a pretty good idea of what his boss is going to say: