Jo Nesbo - The Redeemer

'I've been talking to Toril Li,' he said instead. 'She reported back on Karlsen's statement. Have you got anything to add?'

'We found the bullet in the front of the building, to the right of the door. The ballistics guys are checking it out now, but I'm pretty sure it will match the bullets in Egertorget, Jon's flat and outside the Hostel. This is Stankic.'

'What makes you so sure?'

'A couple driving by stopped when they saw Halvorsen lying on the pavement. They said they saw someone resembling a beggar crossing the street in front of them. The girl said he slipped on the pavement a bit further down. We checked the place. My colleague, Bjorn Holm, found a foreign coin buried so deep in the snow that at first we thought it must have been there for a few days. He didn't know where it was from, either, as all we could see was Republika Hrvatska and five kune. So he checked.'

'Thanks, I know the answer,' Harry said. 'So it is Stankic.'

'We've taken samples of the vomit on the ice to make sure. The pathologists are checking the DNA against hairs we found on the pillow in his hostel room. We get the results tomorrow, I hope.'

'Then we know we have DNA at any rate.'

'Well, funnily enough, a pool of vomit is not the ideal place to get DNA. Surface cells from the mucous membranes are scattered when there is such a volume of sick. And under the open sky-'

'-they are exposed to pollution from innumerable other DNA sources. I know all that, but at least we have something to go on now. What are you doing at the moment?'

Beate sighed. 'I've received a rather strange text message from the Veterinary Institute and have to ring up and find out what they mean.'

'The Veterinary Institute?'

'Yes, we found some half-digested bits of meat in the vomit, so we sent them for DNA analysis. The idea was they would check them against the meat archive which the Agricultural High School in As uses to trace meat to its place of origin and the producer. If it has any special qualities perhaps we can link it to an eating house in Oslo. It's a shot in the dark, but if Stankic has found a bolt-hole in the last twenty-four hours he must be moving as little as possible. And if he has eaten somewhere close by it's probable he would go there again.'

'Well, why not? What was the text message?'

'In which case it must be a Chinese restaurant. Bit cryptic.'

'Mm. Call back when you know any more. And…'

'Yes?'

Harry could hear that what he was going to say would sound ridiculous: Halvorsen was a toughie; they could do the most extraordinary things nowadays and everything would be fine.

'Nothing.'

After Beate had rung off, Harry addressed himself to the table and the bottles. Eeny, meeny… Mo was the bottle of Johnnie Walker. Harry held the miniature with one hand and unscrewed – or to be more precise – twisted the top with the other. He felt like Gulliver. Trapped in a foreign land with pygmy bottles. He breathed in the familiar, sweet smell from the narrow opening. It was just a mouthful, but his body was already alarmed by the prospect of a toxic attack and was on full alert. Harry dreaded the inevitable first fit of puking, but knew this would not stop him. On the TV Knut Hamsun said he was tired and could not write any more.

Harry inhaled as though preparing for a long and deep dive.

The telephone rang.

Harry hesitated. The telephone went quiet after one ring.

He was raising the bottle when the telephone rang again. And went quiet.

He realised they were calling from reception.

He put the bottle down on the bedside table and waited. When there was a third ring, he picked up the receiver.

'Mr Hansen?'

'Yes.'

'There is somebody in the lobby for you.'

Harry stared at the gentleman in the red jacket on the label. 'Say I'm on my way.'

'Yes, sir.'

Harry held the bottle with three fingers. Then he leaned back and emptied the contents down his throat. Four seconds later he was bent over the toilet bowl throwing up his airline lunch.

The receptionist pointed to the suite of furniture by the piano where a small, grey-haired woman with a shawl over her shoulders was sitting erect in a chair. She observed Harry with calm, brown eyes as he walked towards her. He stopped in front of the table on which there was a small battery-powered radio. Excited voices were commenting on a sports event, perhaps a football match. The sound merged with a potpourri of classic film muzak that the pianist behind her was concocting as his fingers glided across the keys.

'Doctor Zhivago,' she said in English with a nod in the direction of the pianist. 'Nice, isn't it, Mr Hansen?'

Her pronunciation and intonation were precise. She smirked as if she had said something amusing and signalled with a discreet but firm flick of the hand that he should sit down.

'Do you like music?' Harry asked.

'Doesn't everyone? I used to teach music.' She leaned forward and turned up the volume of the radio.

'Are you frightened we're being monitored?'

She sat back in her chair. 'What do you want, Hansen?'

Harry repeated the story of his son and the man outside the school, while the bile burned in his throat and the pack of hounds in his stomach snapped and howled for more.

'How did you find me?' she asked.

'I was tipped off by a person from Vukovar.'

'Where do you come from?'

Harry swallowed. His tongue felt dry and swollen. 'Copenhagen.'

She studied him. Harry waited. He felt a drop of sweat roll down between his shoulder blades and another forming on his top lip. To hell with this. He needed his medicine. Now.

'I don't believe you,' she said at length.

'OK,' Harry said, getting up. 'I have to go.'

'Wait!' The small woman's voice was firm and she motioned for him to sit down again. 'This does not mean that I don't have eyes in my head,' she said.

Harry sat down.

'I can see hatred,' she said. 'And grief. And I can smell booze. I believe the bit about your dead son.' She evinced a brief smile. 'What is it you want done?'

Harry tried to collect himself. 'How much does it cost? And how quickly can it be done?'

'That depends, but you won't find any professional operatives more reasonable than us. We start at five thousand euros plus expenses.'

'OK. Next week?'

'That… may be rather short notice.'

The woman had hesitated for only a fraction of a second, but it had been enough. Enough for him to know. And now he could see that she knew he knew. The voices on the radio were screaming with excitement and the crowd in the background was cheering. Someone had scored.

'Aren't you sure your operative will return in time?' Harry said.

She looked at him long and hard. 'You're still a policeman, aren't you.'

Harry nodded. 'I'm an inspector in Oslo.'

The skin around her eyes recoiled.

'But I'm no danger to you,' Harry said. 'Croatia is not under my jurisdiction, and no one knows I'm here. Neither the Croatian police nor my own bosses.'

'So what do you want?'

'To strike a deal.'

'About what?' She leaned across the table and turned down the volume on the radio.

'Your operative in exchange for my target.'

'What do you mean?'

'A swap. Your man for Jon Karlsen. If he gives up his hunt for Karlsen we'll let him go.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'All of you protecting one man against an operative, Mr Hansen? And you're frightened?'

'We're frightened of a bloodbath. Your operative has already taken the lives of two people and stabbed one of my colleagues.'

'Has…' She paused. 'That can't be right.'

'There will be more dead bodies if you don't call him back. And one of them will be his.'

She closed her eyes. Sat like that for some time. Then she breathed in. 'If he's killed one of your colleagues you'll be out for revenge. How can I rely on you to keep your part of the deal?'