Jo Nesbo - The Son

‘You’ve got a stun grenade?’

‘By-product of the raid at the Ila Centre.’

She handed Simon his Peerless handcuffs and the grenade. ‘Has he given us permission to go in?’

‘He has been informed,’ Simon said, putting on the bulletproof vest.

Kari cocked the shotgun and loaded it with cartridges with swift, familiar movements.

‘Grouse hunting since I was nine,’ she said by way of explanation, having noticed Simon’s look. ‘But I prefer rifles. How do we do this?’

‘On three,’ Simon said.

‘I mean, how do we approach-’

‘Three,’ Simon said and opened the car door.

The Bismarck Hotel was located in the centre of Oslo, that much was true. The small hotel lay in the middle of Kvadraturen where the city had been founded, at the point where the drugs market met the red-light district. And true to its location, it rented out rooms by the hour with towels that were stiff from boil washing. The rooms hadn’t been redecorated since the hotel was taken over by its current owner sixteen years ago, but the beds had to be replaced every two years as a result of wear and tear.

So when Ola, who was the owner’s son and had worked in reception since he was sixteen years old, looked up from his PC at 03.02 a.m. and saw a man standing in front of the counter, it was natural for Ola to assume that the man was in the wrong place. Not only was he wearing a nice suit and carrying two briefcases and a red sports bag, but he was without a female or male companion. The man, however, insisted on paying up front for a room for one week, and accepted the towel with an almost humble thank-you before he disappeared up to the second floor. Ola went back to reading Aftenposten ’s web page about a wave of murders in Oslo, speculations as to whether a gang war had broken out and how it might be connected to the killer who had absconded from Staten. He studied the photo for a while. Then he clicked on another page.

Simon stopped in front of the steps leading to the house and gestured to Kari to have her weapon ready and watch the first-floor windows. Then he walked up the three steps and tapped a knuckle softly against the door. He whispered ‘Police’. Looked at Kari to assure himself that she could testify that he had followed the correct, official procedure. Another tap. He whispered ‘Police’ again. Then he grabbed the barrel of his pistol and leaned to the side to smash the glass in the window next to the door. He had the stun grenade ready in his other hand. He had a plan. Of course he had a plan. Kind of. As they say, the element of surprise is everything. Putting all his eggs in one basket. He always had. And that, as the young psychologist had explained, was his disease. Research proved that people constantly exaggerated the likelihood of something improbable happening to them, such as dying in a plane crash, their child being raped or abducted on their way to school, or that the horse on which you bet your wife’s savings would stay the distance for the first time in its racing career. The psychologist had said that there was something in Simon’s subconscious that was stronger than common sense, that it was a matter of identifying and starting a dialogue with this sick, crazy tyrant who terrorised and ruined his life. That he had to ask himself if there was something more important in his life. More important than the tyrant. Something he loved more than gambling. And there was. It was Else. And he had done it. He had talked to the beast, tamed it. He hadn’t relapsed once. Not until now.

He took a deep breath. He was about to bash the pistol against the glass when the door opened.

Simon spun round with the pistol in front of him, but he wasn’t as quick as he once was. Not even close. He wouldn’t have had a chance if the man in the doorway had been armed.

‘Hello,’ was all the man said.

‘Good evening,’ Simon said, trying to regain his composure. ‘Police.’

‘How can I help you?’ The man opened the door fully. He was dressed. Tight jeans. T-shirt. Bare feet. Nowhere to conceal a pistol.

Simon stuffed the stun grenade into his pocket and held out his warrant card. ‘I’ll have to ask you to come outside and stand up against this wall. Now.’

The man calmly shrugged his shoulders and did as he was told.

‘Apart from the girls, how many people are in the house?’ Simon asked while a quick frisking confirmed that the man was unarmed.

‘Girls? I’m the only one here. What do you want?’

‘Show me where they are,’ Simon said, handcuffed the man, shoved him in front of him and indicated to Kari to follow. The man said something.

‘What?’ Simon said.

‘I’m telling your colleague that she’s welcome to come in as well. I’ve got nothing to hide.’

Simon remained standing behind the man. Stared at his neck. Saw his skin twitch slightly, like on a nervous horse.

‘Kari?’ Simon called out.

‘Yes?’

‘I want you to stay outside. I’m going in alone.’

‘OK.’

Simon put a hand on the man’s shoulder. ‘Start walking and no sudden movements, I’ve got my pistol against your back.’

‘What are-’

‘Accept that for the time being I regard you as a criminal and I might shoot you; you can always get an unreserved apology afterwards.’

Without further protest the man entered the hallway. Simon automatically looked out for any evidence of what to expect inside. Four pairs of shoes on the floor. The man didn’t live alone. A plastic bowl of water and a rug by the door to the kitchen.

‘What happened to your dog?’ Simon asked.

‘What dog?’

‘Do you drink from that bowl?’

The man made no reply.

‘Dogs tend to bark when strangers approach the house. So either it’s a rubbish guard dog or-’

‘It’s at the kennel. Where are we going?’

Simon looked around. There were no bars on the windows, the front door had a single lock with a turnkey on the inside. They weren’t being held here.

‘The basement,’ Simon said.

The man shrugged and continued down the hallway. And Simon knew that he had hit the jackpot when he saw the man unlock the door to the basement. The door had two locks.

Simon recognised the smell as soon as they walked down the stairs and it confirmed his suspicions. That people were being kept there. Lots of people. He gripped the pistol more tightly.

But no one was there.

‘What do you use these for?’ asked Simon as they passed some lock-ups, which were separated by steel mesh rather than walls.

‘Not much,’ the man said. ‘The dog lives here. And I store mattresses, as you can see.’

The smell was even more pungent now. The girls must have been kept here until very recently. Dammit, they were too late. But surely they would be able to pull DNA from the mattresses. Though what did that prove? That someone had been in contact with a mattress which was now in a basement. It would be more unusual if they didn’t find DNA on old mattresses. They had nothing. Only an unauthorised raid. Damn, damn.

Simon noticed a small trainer with no laces lying on the floor near a door.

‘Where does that door lead to?’

‘Only to the driveway.’

Only . He was trying to play down the significance of the door. Just like he had stressed how much he wanted Kari to come inside the house.

Simon opened it and found himself looking straight at the side of a white van parked on the tarmac that had been laid between this house and the fence to the neighbouring house.

‘What do you use the van for?’ Simon asked.

‘I’m an electrician,’ the man said.

Simon took a few steps back. Crouched down and picked up the trainer from the basement floor. Size 5, possibly. Smaller than Else’s shoes. He stuck his hand inside. It was still warm. It could be no more than a few minutes since the owner had lost it. At that moment he heard a sound. Muffled, trapped, but unmistakable. A yelp. Simon stared at the van and was about to stand up again when he received a kick to his side and fell as he heard the man scream: ‘Drive! Drive!’