Ю Несбё - The Kingdom

They looked quizzically at me.

‘Why not?’ asked Carl.

‘The plan isn’t a hundred per cent complete yet,’ I said. ‘But this didn’t happen today, the Dane lived a little longer.’

‘Why?’

‘Don’t worry about the Dane,’ I said. ‘I reckon an enforcer keeps it to himself where and when he’s on the job, so we’re probably the only ones who know he was here today. So if he is found dead then it’s our story that gives the time of death. Our problem now is Willumsen.’

‘Yes, because he’s bound to know his enforcer was here,’ said Carl. ‘And he could tell the police.’

‘I don’t think so,’ I said.

There was a short silence.

‘Exactly,’ said Shannon. ‘Because then he would have to tell the police he was the one who hired the enforcer.’

‘Of course,’ said Carl. ‘Right, Roy?’

I didn’t answer. Took a long, noisy slurp of my coffee. Put the mug down.

‘Forget the Dane,’ I said. ‘Willumsen is the problem because of course he won’t stop trying to get back what you owe him just because the Dane is gone.’

Shannon made a face. ‘And he’s willing to kill. Do you think his enforcer really meant that, Roy?’

‘I only heard it through the stovepipe hole,’ I said. ‘Ask Carl who was sitting right in front of him.’

‘I… I think so,’ said Carl. ‘But I was so shit-scared I would’ve believed anything. Roy’s the one of the three of us who understands how a… how the brain works.’

He so nearly said it. A killer’s brain.

Again it was me they looked to.

‘Yes, he would have killed you,’ I said, and looked at Shannon.

Her pupils expanded and she nodded her head slowly, Os-style.

‘And then it would’ve been your turn, Carl,’ I said.

Carl looked down at his hands. ‘I think I need a drink,’ he said.

‘No!’ I said. Took a breath and calmed myself. ‘I need you sober. And I need a towing rope and a driver who’s done this before. Shannon, can you go down and spread more sand on the corner?’

‘Yes.’ She reached out a hand towards me and I stiffened because for a moment I thought she was going to stroke my cheek; but she just rested it on my shoulder. ‘Thank you.’

Carl, sitting there, suddenly seemed to wake up. ‘Yes, of course, thank you! Thank you!’ He leaned across the table and grabbed my hand. ‘You saved Shannon and me, and here I am moaning and complaining as though this was your problem.’

‘It is my problem,’ I said. And wasn’t far off saying something very high-flown, like we were a family, and we were in a war together; but decided that could wait. After all, no more than half an hour ago I’d been in bed fucking my sister-in-law.

‘Dan’s really banging on the big bass drum in his editorial today,’ said Carl from the kitchen as I stood in the hallway getting dressed and wondering what kind of boots would be best if there was ice on the rock face. ‘He thinks Voss Gilbert and the council are populist and spineless. That the tradition was established during the time when Jo Aas was chairman, only it was a bit less obvious back then.’

‘He wants to get beaten up,’ I said, choosing Dad’s old Norwegian welt boots.

‘Does anybody want to get beaten up?’ said Carl, but by that time I was already halfway out the door.

I crossed to the barn where Shannon was shovelling sand into one of the zinc buckets.

‘Do you and Rita Willumsen still go ice-bathing three days a week?’ I asked.

‘Yes.’

‘And there’s just you two?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can anyone see you?’

‘It’s seven o’clock in the morning, and dark, so… no.’

‘When is the next time?’

‘Tomorrow.’

I scratched my chin.

‘What are you thinking?’ she asked.

I watched the sand trickling though the bullet hole in the bucket. ‘I’m thinking about how you can kill her.’

Later that evening, after I’d gone through the plan with Carl and Shannon for the sixth time, and Carl had nodded and we had both looked at Shannon, she set her conditions.

‘If I’m to be part of this, and if we succeed, then the hotel has to be rebuilt using my original drawings,’ she said. ‘Down to the smallest detail.’

‘Fine,’ said Carl after a few moments’ thought. ‘I’ll do the best I can.’

‘You won’t have to,’ said Shannon. ‘Because I’ll be in charge of the building, not you.’

‘Now listen—’

‘This isn’t a gambit, it’s an ultimatum,’ she said.

Carl could probably see as well as I could that she meant it. He turned to me. I shrugged, as if to say I couldn’t help him here.

He sighed. ‘Fine, Opgard men don’t bargain. If this works out well the job is yours, but I hope I can contribute.’

‘Oh, I’m sure we’ll keep you busy,’ said Shannon.

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Then let’s run through the plan one more time.’

IT WAS SEVEN O’CLOCK IN the morning and still dark out.

I crept through the darkened bedroom, listening to the steady breathing from the double bed. Stopped when the floor creaked. Stood still and listened. No interruption to the rhythm. The only light came from the moon through a gap in the curtains. I carried on, put my knees against the mattress and slid carefully towards the one sleeping. This side of the bed was still warm from the other who had been lying here. And I couldn’t help myself, I pressed my face against the sheet and inhaled the scent of woman, and at once – as though from a film projector – the images of me and her were there. Naked and sweating from lovemaking, but hungry for more, always.

‘Good morning, darling,’ I whispered.

And rested the barrel of the gun on the sleeper’s temple.

The breathing stopped. There were a couple of loud, angry snores. And then he opened his eyes.

‘You sleep quietly for such a fat man,’ I said.

Willum Willumsen blinked a couple of times in the semi-darkness as though to make sure he wasn’t still dreaming.

‘What’s this?’ he asked, his voice hoarse.

‘It’s the hammer,’ I said. ‘The end. Death.’

‘What are you doing, Roy? How did you get in?’

‘Basement door,’ I said.

‘That’s locked,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ was all I said.

He sat upright in the bed. ‘Roy, Roy, Roy. I don’t want to harm you. Get the hell out and I swear I’ll forget this.’

I hit him on the bridge of the nose with the barrel of the pistol. The skin broke and he began to bleed.

‘Don’t move your hands from the duvet,’ I said. ‘Let the blood run.’

Willumsen swallowed. ‘Is that thing there a pistol?’

‘Correct.’

‘I get it. So this is a kind of repeat of what happened last time?’

‘Yes. The difference being that we parted company alive back then.’

‘And now?’

‘Now I wouldn’t be too sure about that. You threatened to kill my family.’

‘That’s a consequence of defaulting on a debt that big, Roy.’

‘Yes, and this is the consequence of setting in motion the consequence of defaulting on a debt that big.’

‘You think I should allow my creditors to ruin me without doing anything? D’you really think so?’ There was more indignation than fear in his voice, and I really had to admire Willum Willumsen for the speed with which he was able to grasp the reality of the situation, as people say.

‘I don’t have any particular thoughts on that, Willumsen. You do what you have to do, I do what I have to do.’

‘If you think this is the way to save Carl then you’re mistaken. Poul will get the job done no matter what, the contract can’t be cancelled because I have no way of getting in touch with him now.’