Jo Nesbo - The Thirst

‘A perfect symbiosis,’ Oleg said.

‘Like the hyena and the vulture,’ Jesus whispered. ‘The vulture shows the hyena where to go by hovering over the wounded prey, and the hyena kills it. Food for both of them.’

‘So Valentin kills Elise Hermansen, Ewa Dolmen and Penelope Rasch,’ Oleg said. ‘But Marte Ruud? Did Lenny Hell know her?’

‘No, that was Valentin’s own work. And that was directed at me. He’d read in the papers that I had called him a wretched pervert, so he took someone who was close to me.’

‘Just because you called him a pervert?’ Jesus wrinkled his nose.

‘Narcissists love being loved,’ Harry said. ‘Or hated. Other people’s fear confirms and inflates their self-image. What they find insulting is to be ignored or belittled.’

‘The same thing happened when Smith insulted Valentin in the podcast,’ Oleg said. ‘Valentin saw red and set off at once to his farm to kill him. Do you think Valentin became psychotic? I mean, he’d managed to control himself for so long, and the first murders were cold, calculated acts. Whereas Smith and Marte Ruud were spontaneous reactions.’

‘Maybe,’ Harry said. ‘Or maybe he was just full of the self-confidence serial killers often get when their first murders are successful, making them think they can walk on water.’

‘But why did Lenny Hell commit suicide?’ Jesus asked.

‘Well,’ Harry said. ‘Suggestions?’

‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Oleg said. ‘Lenny had planned the murder of women who had let him down and therefore deserved it, but now he was standing there with Marte Ruud’s and Mehmet Kalak’s blood on his hands. Two innocent people who had nothing to do with this. His conscience woke up. He couldn’t live with what he had caused to happen.’

‘Nope,’ Jesus said. ‘Lenny planned to kill himself right from the start, once the whole thing was over. These were the three women he wanted to kill, Elise, Ewa and Penelope.’

‘I doubt that,’ Harry said. ‘There were more women mentioned in Hell’s notes, and other replica keys.’

‘OK, what if he didn’t kill himself?’ Oleg said. ‘What if Valentin murdered him? They could have fallen out about the murders of Mehmet and Marte. Seeing as Lenny saw them as innocent victims. So maybe Lenny wanted to turn himself in to the police, and Valentin found out about that.’

‘Unless Valentin just got fed up with Lenny,’ Jesus said. ‘It’s not that unusual for hyenas to eat a vulture if it gets too close.’

‘The only fingerprints on the bolt gun are Lenny Hell’s,’ Harry said. ‘Obviously it’s possible that Valentin killed Lenny and tried to make it look like suicide. But why go to the trouble? The police have enough evidence against Valentin to put him away for life. And if Valentin was concerned about covering his tracks, he wouldn’t have left Marte Ruud in the cellar, or the computer and files that proved that he and Hell were working together upstairs.’

‘OK,’ Jesus said. ‘I agree with Oleg about the first part. Lenny Hell realised what he had allowed to happen and decided he couldn’t live with himself.’

‘You should never underestimate the first thing you think,’ Harry said. ‘That’s usually based on more information than you’re actually aware of. And the simplest solution is often the right one.’

‘But there’s one thing I don’t understand,’ Oleg said. ‘Lenny and Valentin didn’t want to be seen together, fine. But why such a complicated system of handing things over? Couldn’t they just have met in one of their homes?’

Harry shook his head. ‘It was important to Lenny to keep his identity hidden from Valentin, seeing as the risk of Valentin being arrested was still pretty high.’

Jesus nodded. ‘And he was worried that Valentin would lead the police to him in order to get a reduced sentence.’

‘And Valentin definitely didn’t want to let Lenny know where he lived,’ Harry said. ‘One of the reasons Valentin was able to stay hidden for so long was that he was very careful about that.’

‘So the case is solved, no loose ends,’ Oleg said. ‘Hell committed suicide and Valentin kidnapped Marte Ruud. But have you got evidence to show that he was the one who killed her?’

‘Crime Squad thinks so.’

‘Because?’

‘Because they found Valentin’s DNA at Schrøder’s, and Marte’s blood in the boot of his car, and because they found the bullet she was shot in the stomach with. It had drilled its way into the brick wall in Hell’s cellar, and the angle in comparison to the position of the body showed that she was shot before she was hanged. The bullet came from the same Ruger Redhawk revolver Valentin had with him when he was planning to shoot Smith.’

‘But you don’t agree,’ Oleg said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. ‘Don’t I?’

‘When you say “Crime Squad thinks so”, that means you think otherwise.’

‘Hm.’

‘So what do you think?’ Oleg asked.

Harry ran one hand over his face. ‘I’m not sure it’s all that important who put her out of her misery. Because in this instance that’s exactly what it was. An act of deliverance. The mattress in the cage was teeming with DNA. Blood, sweat, semen, vomit. Some hers, some Lenny Hell’s.’

‘Oh God,’ Jesus said. ‘You mean Hell abused her too?’

‘There could even have been more of them.’

‘More than Valentin and Hell?’

‘There’s a water pipe above the stairs to the cellar. It’s impossible not to hit it if you don’t know it’s there. So I asked Bjørn Holm, our senior criminal forensics officer, to send me a list of everyone whose DNA was found on that pipe. Anything too old degrades, but he found seven unique profiles. As usual, we’d taken DNA samples from everyone working at the scene, and found matches for the local sheriff, his colleague, Bjørn, Smith and me, plus another member of crime-scene unit we didn’t manage to warn in time. But we couldn’t identify the seventh profile.’

‘So it wasn’t Valentin Gjertsen or Lenny Hell?’

‘No. All we know is that it’s a man, and he isn’t related to Lenny Hell.’

‘Could have been someone working there?’ Oleg said. ‘An electrician, a plumber, someone like that?’

‘True,’ Harry said, and his gaze fell on the copy of Dagbladet that lay open in front of him, and a portrait of Bellman, who was about to take over as Justice Minister. He read the caption again: ‘ I’m particularly pleased that the persistence and tireless work of the police enabled us to find Marte Ruud. The family and the police both deserved that. And that makes it easier for me to leave my post as Police Chief .’

‘I have to go now, guys.’

They left Police College together and just as they were about to go their separate ways in front of Chateau Neuf Harry remembered the invitation.

‘Hallstein’s finished his vampirist dissertation, and the disputation is on Friday. We’ve been invited.’

‘Disputation?’

‘Oral exam with all your family and friends dressed up to the nines in the room,’ Jesus said. ‘Hard not to screw up.’

‘Your mum and I are going,’ Harry said. ‘I don’t know if you feel like it, or have time? Ståle’s one of his opponents.’

‘Wow!’ Oleg said. ‘Hope it’s not too early. I’m going to Ullevål on Friday.’

Harry frowned. ‘What for?’

‘It’s just Dr Steffens, he wants another blood sample. He says he’s researching a rare blood disorder called systemic mastocytosis, and that if that’s what Mum had, then her blood repaired itself.’

‘Mastocytosis?’

‘It’s caused by a genetic defect called c-kit mutation. It’s not hereditary, but Steffens is hoping that the substance in the blood that may help to repair it might be. So he wants some of my blood to compare it to Mum’s.’