Anne Holt - 1222

‘… who were in the extra carriage,’ I went on. ‘And who have been staying in the apartment on the top floor. What’s happened?’

Severin looked around. I knew exactly what he was thinking. Before he replied, he spent a couple of seconds weighing up how much he had to say in order to achieve what he wanted.

‘A small… revolution,’ he said quietly and hesitantly, as if he wanted to buy himself more time.

Nobody said anything, nobody asked anything. Everybody was looking at Severin Heger.

‘A child died,’ he said. ‘A baby.’

‘You shot a child !’

Geir took a step towards Severin. It looked as if he were intending to avenge the baby’s death right there and then.

‘No! No! The baby died last night. Quietly and peacefully. It was sleeping next to its mother, but when she woke up the baby had died. No sign of external violence, no sign of anything at all apart from… sudden infant death syndrome?’

He shrugged his shoulders; the gesture was one of resignation rather than indifference.

‘Was the baby pink?’ I asked.

‘Pink?’

‘Was she dressed in pink from top to toe?’

‘Well. Yes. When they came up to us, a whole gang of them, wanting to… I went downstairs to stop them from… I went down to talk to them.’

He swallowed hard before adding:

‘Yes. It was a girl. The mother collapsed completely. Acute psychosis, I think. It was like throwing a lighted match into a can of petrol. Panic was threatening to take over completely. Two lads – I think they’re from the Red Cross – were doing their best to get the situation under control, but we thought it was best to make a move.’

Once again he swallowed hard before repeating:

‘It was a girl.’

I didn’t even know that Sara and her mother were in the wing. To tell the truth I had hardly thought about them, at least not since the hotel lost contact with the apartments.

I remembered the faint smell of sour milk from the baby’s clothes. I could see that little face in front of me, yelling and yelling into my jumper straight after the accident, as the temperature dropped and I was afraid we were all going to die.

‘She received a hard blow to the head. When the train derailed and crashed.’

Nobody seemed to grasp what I was saying. Perhaps I had only thought it.

‘But you’re armed,’ said Geir. ‘Couldn’t you keep them away?’

‘We are armed,’ Severin nodded. ‘But so were they. Axes, hammers, kitchen knives. A drawbar for a sledge! God knows what they’d kitted themselves out with.’

‘You had guns,’ Geir insisted.

‘Yes. But we are actually very keen not to shoot anyone. The balance of terror, you know. The deterrent effect. Our guns are primarily there to maintain peace. But these people were totally desperate. They thought we had a doctor, better food, they thought we had…’

He ran one finger across his brow and shook his head almost imperceptibly.

‘They would have smashed their way through the door, I think. They kept saying we had some member of the royal family with us.’

From outside we could hear loud banging on the door.

Severin straightened up. Berit was looking increasingly sceptical. Geir glanced at the policeman with something approaching hostility. Johan was the only one who still seemed impressed that Severin had made his way from the wing to the hotel, and had got here in one piece.

‘The situation was quite simply such that I had to bring…’ He pulled up his sleeve and looked at his watch. Then he started again. ‘I need a part of the hotel where we can be alone.’

He turned to me this time.

As if there were suddenly only two people there, it was me he looked at. When I realized why, for the first time since I was shot I felt a small stab of longing for the job I had done for so long. I was reminded of an affinity between colleagues that even I had felt and once been part of, despite the fact that I had done my best to avoid it for many years.

Severin Heger trusted me. I didn’t know if he was still part of the Bergen police in what had been renamed the PST, or if he was a consultant in the growing market for private security. Since I thought I knew what kind of people he was guarding, I assumed that Severin had left Bergen and ordinary police work in favour of the more secret elements of the force. But right now we were both police officers, and he was relying on the fact that I would help him, just as he had helped me on the day I almost died.

‘He needs an isolated part of the hotel,’ I said. ‘And I think you should help him.’

‘But who is he?’

Berit looked from me to Severin.

‘Who are you? Why should I -’

‘Berit. Give him what he’s asking for.’

I was trying to remain calm.

‘Trust me. Please.’

The shadows outside were obviously tired of waiting. Someone banged on the door again, and Severin had to take a step backwards to stop them from coming in. The look he gave me was easy to interpret.

‘The top floor looking out towards Finsevann,’ I suggested quickly. ‘From room 207 onwards. Would that be OK?’

‘No,’ said Berit. ‘That’s too much. Too many rooms.’

She turned to Severin and tugged at her ponytail again. The gesture was evidently a sign that she was thinking.

‘You can have the dog room.’

‘The dog room?’ Severin repeated enquiringly.

‘Yes. How many of you are there?’

‘Four.’

‘OK. We have a room that’s been used to keep a dog in up to now. It was thoroughly cleaned this morning. It still smells of shit and maybe slightly of blood, but it is clean. It’s usually the staff dining room. You can have that room.’

‘How many entrances are there?’

‘One. One door. The window is blocked by snow.’

‘That’s no good. We need -’

‘Take it or leave it. Both you and those with you out there are welcome into this hotel on the same conditions as everyone else here. I would never have agreed to give you special treatment if Hanne hadn’t asked. I can’t offer you anything but the dog room.’

I looked at Severin and nodded imperceptibly.

‘You can lock the door,’ Berit went on. ‘It can be locked from the inside. There are several keys, but I will keep those. That means I can come in at any time. I will make sure you are provided with food and water. That’s what I can offer you.’

‘That’s probably the best solution,’ I interjected.

‘I assume you don’t want anyone to see you,’ said Berit. ‘Just as before. Therefore it would be best if you take the opportunity right away. We have gathered all the guests in a different part of the hotel. You can go down into the cellar without being seen.’

Severin realized he wasn’t going to get any further. He nodded and opened the door. Three men came in. They were wearing layer upon layer of clothing, and their faces were completely covered by goggles, scarves and hats. None of them seemed to want to take anything off. They were all carrying rucksacks, apparently just as heavy as Severin’s. If one of them had turned up carrying nothing, that would have given away the difference between him and the others. If one rucksack had been noticeably lighter than the rest, there would be reason to assume that it at least didn’t contain weapons. Given the way the four men were dressed and equipped, it was impossible to say who was doing the guarding and who was being guarded.

Severin looked enquiringly at Berit, who moved quickly towards the stairs, waving the new arrivals to follow her.

Halfway across the room he stopped dead and turned around.

‘Hanne,’ he said.

I moved over to him and allowed him to lean over me. When he began to speak his mouth was so close that the words tickled my earlobe.