Burned

The thought makes him speed up and he decides to make a detour on his way to the office. The area between Gronlandsleiret and Urtegata can seem a little inhospitable, regardless of the time of day, so he walks up Brugata, mingles with people at the bus station and jumps on the number 17 tram when it arrives a few minutes later. He rides it up Trondheimsvei and gets off at the Rimi supermarket, follows Herslebsgate until the large yellow building at the top of Urtegata is once more in sight. Cars zoom past him in both directions; it is the height of the rush-hour, and if anyone wants to kill him or kidnap him, it would be impossible to do it here. With one million witnesses and no clear escape routes, Henning can feel safe. Or relatively safe.

Perhaps I’m just paranoid, he thinks, perhaps I’ve been out of the game too long to know that this is completely normal, that nothing is going to happen? But there was something about the way Brogeland spoke which got his attention. Brogeland was worried. He knows about this gang. And as Nora said: they’re not nice people.

He catches himself wondering how this is all going to end. If they are trying to kill him — as Brogeland hinted — because he can place Yasser Shah in Tariq Marhoni’s flat, they won’t stop until they have succeeded.

Chapter 48

Henning needs to check a couple of things. When he arrives at the office, he is thinking about them and practically collides with Kare Hjeltland at the coffee machine. Kare is about to step aside, when he sees who it is.

‘Henning.’

‘Hi, Kare,’ Henning replies. Kare gazes at him as if he were Elvis.

‘How are you? Bloody hell. Bloody hell, you must have been scared shitless?’

Henning reluctantly agrees that he was a little scared, yes, he probably was.

‘What the hell happened?’

Henning takes a step back and hopes that Kare won’t notice. While he gives him the abbreviated version, he checks the room. Gundersen isn’t there. But he spots Heidi. And he can see that Heidi has spotted him.

‘Listen, I didn’t manage to get back to the staff meeting,’ he says. ‘I heard Sture was going to say a few words?’

‘Yes, a lot of fun that was, he-he. Same old story. You were lucky, you had a good reason for getting away, away, AWAY!’

Kare grins from ear to ear, once his tic has died down.

‘What did he say?’

‘Nothing we haven’t heard before. Bad times, you lot need to generate more pages and do it faster, if we’re to avoid cuts and boo fucking hoo.’

Kare laughs and smiles — for a long time. Heidi would probably enjoy cutting me right now, Henning thinks. But he’ll cross that bridge when he gets to it.

He excuses himself by saying he needs a word with Heidi before he goes home for the day. Kare understands and slaps him hard on the shoulder, three times. Then he is off again. Henning decides to strike first.

‘Hello, Heidi,’ he says. She turns her head.

‘Why the hell — ’

‘Bad times, slowdown in the advertising market, we need to deliver more pages, cuts.’

He sits down without looking at her. He feels her eyes on him and is reminded of the North Pole.

‘That’s right, isn’t it?’

He turns on his computer. Heidi clears her throat.

‘Where have you been?’

‘Working. Is Iver around?’

Heidi doesn’t reply immediately.

‘Er, no. He has gone home.’

He is still not making eye contact with her and tries to remain unaffected by the unpleasant silence which envelops them. Heidi doesn’t move. When Henning finally looks up, he is surprised by the expression in her eyes. She looks like she has had a puncture and there is no sight of a bus stop for miles.

‘I’m close to breaking a really good story,’ he says in a milder voice and tells her about his meetings with Yngve Foldvik and Tore Benjaminsen, tells her that the police will soon eliminate Mahmoud Marhoni as a suspect, and that from now on, the focus of the investigation will be on Henriette Hagerup’s closest circle of friends. He doesn’t mention his sources, but Heidi nods all the same and doesn’t pressure him.

‘Sounds very good,’ she says. ‘Will it be an exclusive?’

‘Yes.’

‘Great.’

The sting in her voice has gone. Perhaps I’ve finally broken her, Henning thinks. Perhaps I have won The Battle. Or perhaps she is like Anette Skoppum. Perhaps she is one of those people who keep trying, only to get deeply upset when they fail.

Ten minutes later, Heidi goes home. She even calls out ‘take care!’ He says ‘you too’. Then his thoughts return to the three things he has come to check. He starts with Spot the Difference Productions.

Neat name. He guesses that whoever set up the company was fed up with continuity errors in films and their manifesto is never to make such howlers themselves. He looks forward to the newspaper headlines the day Spot the Difference Productions actually make some. They must be tempting fate.