Hans Lahlum - The Human Flies

It struck me as somewhat comical that ‘the young Miss Sundqvist’ was patently at least six years older than the young Miss Borchmann herself. However, Sara nodded in agreement and looked at me with pleading eyes. I tried to give a friendly nod in return and sat down with forced calm in my usual place on the opposite side of the table. It must be said that my spontaneous feeling on seeing Sara was one of excited joy. However, this was soon replaced by one of growing unease. For all manner of reasons, I did not want Sara to discover just how much of the investigation’s success was thanks to Patricia. However, the damage was already done, as she had been present during yesterday’s drama.

And there was more drama in store, as I had to start by telling them about Andreas Gullestad’s suicide. I then put the letter and map that he had left down on the table. Patricia seemed to be neither particularly surprised nor disappointed by this news. Sara, on the other hand, reacted with great emotion when she read the letter and burst into tears. Despite all the crimes he had committed, she would always be grateful to Deerfoot, who had competed with death when he skied over the mountains to save her life. I suddenly felt a great sympathy for Sara and reluctantly also had to admit that I felt a slight ambivalence towards the now deceased Andreas Gullestad.

Patricia appeared to be in far better and lighter humour than the evening before. ‘So, what else is there that we still have to discuss regarding the successful conclusion of this case?’ she asked playfully, when lunch was on the table. We raised our glasses to each other and to the fact that the dramatic murder investigation of the past ten days was finally over.

Once Sara had dried her tears, she had a number of easier and more complex questions. I was delighted that in her answers, Patricia always highlighted my efforts as far as possible. Inspired by this, I myself sought to answer more and more of her questions. I was slightly annoyed by the fact that I had several questions I dearly wanted to ask Patricia but could not ask when Sara was present as they would reveal my own inadequacies. However, I did get indirect answers to some of them.

In reply to Sara’s question as to when we had started to suspect Andreas Gullestad, Patricia said that he had quickly become of interest when Konrad Jensen was murdered. When my discovery in Konrad Jensen’s flat showed that he could not have written the suicide note, the number of suspects was narrowed down following a critical comparison of the two murders. All the residents in 25 Krebs’ Street could in theory have murdered Harald Olesen, but only four of the neighbours would have had the opportunity to throw away the blue raincoat after the murder: the caretaker’s wife, Andreas Gullestad, Karen Lund and Sara Sundqvist. And of them, Sara was the least likely murderer, largely because it was not probable that she would have got into Konrad Jensen’s flat. It was hard to imagine a situation in which the terrified Konrad Jensen, with his deep suspicion of the Jews, would let her in.

Of the three remaining, Andreas Gullestad was clearly the most likely murderer, as soon as the initial ‘D’ in the diary had been linked to the story of Deerfoot. The picture became clear when my trip to Sweden revealed that Deerfoot had been very young during the war – and when it became obvious that this Deerfoot had an intense hatred for Harald Olesen as a result of something he experienced during the war. Gullestad’s weekend in Gjøvik fitted in well with the theory that he was then able to write the suicide note and get a new gun with which to kill Konrad Jensen. The last pieces fell into place when Sara’s statement confirmed that the man in the blue raincoat had visited Harald Olesen on the evening of the murder and walked with Deerfoot’s characteristically light step. Up until that point, there were other possible explanations that had to be tested, even though they appeared to be less and less probable.

In retrospect, Andreas Gullestad had always been a realistic option with both a motive and the opportunity. It did, however, require that you were far-sighted enough not to be misled into believing that simply because someone is in a wheelchair, they cannot move around without it. The fact that none of the other parties involved in the case were particularly light on their feet made it natural to focus on the one person who had never been seen walking. It was also interesting that Andreas Gullestad could remember the day on which he had seen the man in the blue raincoat, especially when the caretaker’s wife also claimed to have seen such a man in the building. But this in no way disproved that Andreas Gullestad could himself have been the man in the blue raincoat.

I nodded in agreement with her reasoning, and to my relief saw that Sara was impressed, but did not ask any more specific questions. She swiftly moved from asking about the investigation to apologizing for her own offences. Sara was almost in tears when she leaned over the table towards me and asked me to forgive her for holding back important information in the case. Even though everything was over between her and Kristian Lund after the murder of Harald Olesen, she had felt obliged to keep their agreement until he broke it himself. She was also terribly afraid that she would herself be suspected of the murder, as she had been up to see Harald Olesen shortly before he was murdered, but could not prove that he was alive when she left. She realized now that giving in to Kristian Lund’s emotional blackmail and agreeing to cover for him was a hysterical response to female anxiety. She could only put her hand on her heart and apologize for this unforgivable blunder. I noticed a twitch in the corner of Patricia’s mouth and saw that she was swallowing hard, which indicated that she was trying to control a fit of laughter, so I sent her such a threatening look that she managed to pull herself together.

At twenty to two, lunch was suddenly over. Patricia was quiet and reflective and answered only with single-syllable words, which became increasingly evident to Sara and me. Patricia then asked Sara abruptly if she had any more questions. As the answer was no, she told Sara that they were finished with lunch, then. Patricia said that she was starting to feel very tired and that there were a couple of strictly confidential things that she had to discuss with the detective inspector. This all seemed very impolite to me, given that she was the one who had invited Sara there herself. However, Sara took it well. She thanked Patricia effusively for the lunch, said that she had to get ready for an important meeting later in the afternoon, then followed Benedikte out without protest. I felt a stab of jealousy and wondered who it was she was going to meet later on.

‘She is a beautiful and charming young lady who undoubtedly has not had an easy life,’ I said, slightly exercised, when the door had been closed behind Sara.

Patricia looked at me with a crooked smile and chuckled.

‘What you say is absolutely true. But what I say is also true: she is a good actress and a crafty player. What she said about Kristian Lund blackmailing her was such an out-and-out lie that her nose almost started to grow. From what I have understood, she initiated the agreement with Kristian Lund herself and covered for him to very end, even though she thought he was the murderer. It is clear that she has changed her allegiances drastically since then, but three days into the investigation, she told you openly that she hoped to keep him. And by the way, she has just drawn out the lunch for forty minutes longer than I suggested to her yesterday. You never know where you are with ladies like her, until you find yourself lying on top of them!’