Killing Moon

‘Have you seen War Remains, Johan? No? Fucking great VR game, but you can’t shoot anyone in it. This here is a sort of copy the developer wants me to invest in...’ Røed nodded in the direction of the TV screen while he lifted a carafe and poured whiskey into two crystal rocks glasses. ‘They’re trying to retain the magic of War Remains, but make it so you can — what would you say? — influence the course of history. After all, that’s what we want, right?’

‘I’m driving,’ Krohn said, raising a palm to the glass Røed was holding out to him.

Røed looked at Krohn for a moment as if he didn’t understand the objection. Then he sneezed powerfully, sank down onto a leather Barcelona chair, and placed both glasses on the table in front of him.

‘Whose apartment is this?’ Krohn asked, as he settled into one of the other chairs. And immediately regretted the question. As a lawyer it was often safest not knowing more than you needed to.

‘Mine,’ Røed replied. ‘I use it as... you know, a retreat.’

Markus Røed’s shrug and scampish smile told Krohn the rest. He’d had other clients with similar apartments. And during an extramarital liaison, which had fortunately come to an end when he realised what he was in danger of losing, he had himself considered buying what a colleague called a bachelor pad for non-bachelors.

‘So what happens now?’ Røed asked.

‘Now Susanne has been identified, and murder has been established as the cause, the investigation will enter a new phase. You need to be prepared to be called in for fresh interviews.’

‘In other words, there’ll be even more focus on me.’

‘Unless the police find something at the crime scene that rules you out. We can always hope for that.’

‘I thought you might say something like that. But I can’t just sit here hoping any longer, Johan. You do know Barbell Properties has lost three big contracts in the last fortnight? They offered some flimsy excuses, about waiting for higher bids and so on — no one dares say right out that it’s down to these articles in Dagbladet about me and the girls, that they don’t want to be associated with a possible murder, or are afraid I’ll be put away and Barbell Properties will go under. If I sit idly by hoping that a gang of public-sector, underpaid knucklehead cops will get the job done, then Barbell Properties might go bust long before they’ve turned up something that gets me off the hook. We need to be proactive, Johan. We need to show the public that I’m innocent. Or at least that I believe it serves my interest for the truth to come out.’

‘So?’

‘We need to hire our own investigators. First-rate ones. In the best-case scenario they find the killer. But failing that, it still shows the public that I’m actually trying to uncover the truth.’

Johan Krohn nodded. ‘Let me play devil’s advocate here, no pun intended.’

‘Go on,’ Røed said, and sneezed.

‘Firstly, the best detectives are already working for Kripos, as they pay better than the Crime Squad. And even if they were to say yes to quitting a secure career to take on a short-term assignment like this, they’d still have to give three months’ notice, plus they’d have an obligation of confidentiality covering what they know about these missing persons cases. Which in effect renders them useless to us. Secondly, the optics would be pretty bad. An investigation being bankrolled by a millionaire? You’d be doing yourself a disservice. Should your investigators uncover so-called facts that clear you, this information would automatically be questioned, something which would not have happened if the police had uncovered the same facts.’

‘Ah.’ Røed smiled, wiping his nose with a tissue. ‘I love value for money. You’re good, you’ve pointed out the problems. And now you’re going to show me that you’re the best and tell me how we solve those problems.’

Johan Krohn straightened up in his chair. ‘Thank you for the vote of confidence, but there’s the rub.’

‘Meaning?’

‘You mentioned finding the best, and there is one person who is perhaps the best. His previous results certainly point to it.’

‘But?’

‘But he’s no longer on the force.’

‘From what you’ve told me that ought to be an advantage.’

‘What I mean is that he’s no longer in the police for the wrong reasons.’

‘Which are?’

‘Where do I begin? Disloyalty. Gross negligence in the line of duty. Intoxicated on the job, clearly an alcoholic. Several cases of violence. Substance abuse. He’s responsible, although not convicted, for the death of at least one colleague. In short, he’s probably got more crimes on his conscience than most of the criminals he’s hauled in. Plus, he’s supposed to be a nightmare to work with.’

‘That’s a lot. So why are you bringing him up if he’s so impossible?’

‘Because he’s the best. And because he could be useful with regard to the second part of what you were saying, about showing the public you’re trying to unearth the truth.’

‘OK...?’