Thomas Enger: Pierced

‘If Tore knew who torched my flat, he might have tried to use that knowledge as leverage against that man or whoever that man works for. People who are in the same line of business as he used to be in and who might be coerced into helping him.’

‘Tore would never have threatened anyone,’ Nansen says, shaking her head. ‘Not any more.’

‘Are you sure about that, Veronica? Prison is hell, and it’s even worse if you’re innocent. I don’t have a problem believing that Tore was desperate — especially since his appeal was about to be heard. I can easily imagine that the person or persons who were responsible for the death of my son didn’t want that information to come out.’

Nansen looks at him before she bows her head. ‘And now we’ll never know what it was,’ she says.

‘No,’ Henning sighs. ‘I don’t suppose we will.’

Special offers from supermarkets, requests from estate agents looking for a property just like his, furniture sales — Henning fails to catch all the junk mail that spills from his mailbox as he opens it. He bends down, picks it up and flicks through his post with lukewarm interest. But he freezes when he sees the name Erling Ophus and his address in Leirsund written on the back of an A4 envelope.

The police report, Henning thinks.

He runs up the stairs as quickly as he can and opens his brand-new front door. Once he has sat down on the sofa, he tears open the envelope and pulls out two sheets. He reads:

Venue and Fire Investigation Report

Commissioning party: Chief Inspector Tom Arne Sveen, E-section, Oslo Police Station.

Remit: Location investigation following a fire at 23 Markveien, Oslo, at approximately 20.35.

Date of request: Tuesday 12 September 2007 at 08.10.

Investigators: The scene of the fire was examined by Engineering Inspector Rune Olsen, Oslo Electricity Board, Fire Chief Nicolai Juve, Oslo Fire Service, and Chief Inspector Tom Arne Sveen who prepared this report at 10.00 on 12 September 2007.

Conclusion

After examining the scene of the fire and considering other information relating to this incident, it is my opinion that:

• the fire originated in the hallway behind the front door of the second-floor flat belonging to HENNING JUUL, but that

• the cause of the fire remains unknown.

Location of the fire

23 Markveien is an apartment block containing thirteen flats and a full basement. The flat on the second floor is accessed through a communal front door.

Additional information

The door to the second-floor flat was unlocked. The communal front door at street level was also open.

Investigation of the scene of the fire

The fire started in the hallway behind the front door to the left when viewed from the landing outside. There is most damage to the surface of the internal west-facing wall. Here the internal wall has completely burned away and there is substantial damage to the back of the external wall.

The wall between the hallway and the stairwell was badly damaged as the internal wall had been destroyed, but the fire damage was considerably less on the back of the panel.

Having removed debris from the floor in the hallway near the stairwell, we noticed that the floor covering (linoleum) and chipboard flooring were badly charred and there were some burn marks to the surface of the underlying wooden floor. This damaged area extended across the whole floor, all the way to the walls.

Samples taken

A section of partly charred woodwork was taken from the internal west wall.

Examination of material

This sample will be sent to Kripos to be tested for accelerants.

Observations

The photo shows that the fire started low, in the hallway right inside the front door leading to the flat. The damage was relatively major and the fire spread to large parts of the flat.

The open kitchen window caused the fire to spread quickly.

The front door showed no signs of forced entry.

Chief Inspector Tom Arne Sveen

Henning puts down the report. So the kitchen window was open, he thinks, though he can’t remember why. Perhaps they had been frying eggs, Jonas and him, and needed to air the room. If only they had eaten crispbread instead.

He looks inside the envelope and discovers a yellow Post-it note that must have fallen off the report. He takes it out. The note says Ring me when you have read the report, and Ophus’s initials and mobile number are written below the message. Henning rings him immediately and introduces himself when Ophus answers.

‘Oh, hi,’ Ophus says. ‘It’s you, is it? You’ve got the report, I gather?’

‘Yes.’

‘I didn’t get the chance to send you the photographs, and they wouldn’t have been very helpful either, as photocopies. Black and white, you know. Everything looks like soot.’

‘Hm.’

‘But I wanted to ask you about your front door. I remember us talking about how you always locked it, but that you couldn’t remember if you had locked it that day. Is that right?’

‘Yes,’ Henning replies, intrigued.

‘The report says that your front door was unlocked and that there was no sign of forced entry.’

‘I can only imagine that I didn’t lock it.’

‘Yes, that was what you said. But something puzzled me when I took a closer look at the photographs of your door. Had you attached something to it? A picture or a piece of paper, something like that?’

‘No. Or… I don’t remember. I don’t think so. We always stuck things on the fridge. Oh, yes, I put up a picture Jonas had made at nursery, a picture of him and me, but that was on the outside of the door.’

‘And you’re quite sure that you never stuck anything to the inside?’

‘Quite. I certainly never had before. What’s on your mind, Ophus?’

There is a short silence.

‘There was a drawing pin stuck to the inside of your door. Like the door itself, it was badly burned. And that’s why I wanted to know if you had stuck anything there.’

‘I can’t imagine.’

‘But if you’re right that someone was trying to frighten you, it might be that this person stuck a note to the back of your door which you were supposed to see as you left. That sounds plausible to me,’ Ophus says, keenly.

Yes, it does, Henning thinks and tries to visualise the scene. He closes his eyes. When he opens them again it’s like he is back in the dream. He is awake, but he isn’t waving his arms in front of him to clear the smoke. This time the smoke stands still. The flames sting and burn his face. There is a beam of light in the smoke, an opening he can peer through. The light grows stronger and brighter with every second, and suddenly a picture emerges. For a brief, gripping moment he observes himself looking at the door while the flames lick the walls and consume him with intense heat. He is about to take a step back in the run-up to jumping through the wall of flames, but he pauses. And that’s when he notices a piece of paper on the door. A standard white A4

sheet. And now he sees that there is writing on it: FIRST AND LAST WARNING.

That evening, Henning sits in front of his laptop for hours waiting for 6tiermes7 to log on. It is nearly midnight before he gets a response.

Henning immediately brings up the warning note.

6tiermes7: And you didn’t notice anything? You didn’t hear anyone enter?

MakkaPakka: No. I was woken up by Jonas’s screaming.

6tiermes7: Do you think it could have been someone looking for Rasmus Bjelland?

MakkaPakka: No idea. Right now I just don’t know.

6tiermes7: I haven’t found any updated info on Bjelland, by the way. It’s not going to be easy if he has got himself a new identity.