Where Monsters Dwell Page 12

  Vatten: I can’t see what that has to do with the present investigation.

  Singsaker: I think that it’s relevant, although not directly. But let’s not play to the gallery, here. This is the second time you have been involved in a serious case. The last time it was a disappearance. Now it’s a murder. I assume you realize that it’s important for the police to clarify whether there is some connection here or not. For your own sake, it’s also good to remove any misunderstandings.

  Vatten: I see. It’s just that I’ve made an effort to put that matter behind me.

  Singsaker: And have you managed to do that?

  Vatten: No, I certainly have not.

  Singsaker: Some things never lose their grip, I presume. I’d like to talk a bit about your bicycle.

  Vatten: My bicycle?

  Singsaker: Yes, that’s right. The day you got on the bus from Dragvoll five years ago and came home to find your wife and son missing. You rode your bicycle to work that morning, didn’t you?

  Vatten: Yes, I suppose I did.

  Singsaker: You did. I looked it up in the case file. What I don’t remember was whether we ever asked you specifically about why you didn’t ride it back.

  Vatten: I was drunk.

  Singsaker: Precisely. You got drunk after one glass of whisky. You’re hypersensitive to alcohol, isn’t that so?

  Vatten: Yes, that’s correct.

  Singsaker: So tell me, How does that work? Hypersensitive to alcohol. It’s not something you hear about every day. Teenage girls who get drunk after a bottle of beer, sure. But hypersensitive? Is that a medical diagnosis?

  Vatten: Not that I know of. But I’ve asked doctors about it, and there is a medical explanation. Or perhaps several.

  Singsaker: And what are they?

  Vatten: Apparently I lack one or more enzymes in my intestines. These enzymes prevent alcohol from being assimilated by the intestines. This makes most people react more to the third or fourth drink than they do to the first two. If you don’t have these enzymes, the alcohol goes straight into the bloodstream, starting with the very first drop. You mentioned teenage girls. Well, it’s been shown that women have fewer of these enzymes than men. So that’s why they get drunk faster. Teenage girls also tend to have a lower body weight than their older sisters.

  Singsaker: Vatten, you’re not a large man, but you’re certainly no teenage girl.

  Vatten: That’s true. In me it’s apparently the lack of these enzymes, combined with a number of other factors.

  Singsaker: Such as what?

  Vatten: Such as various physiological conditions. The biology of the brain. I honestly don’t know.

  Singsaker: So the fact that you get drunk after one glass of whisky is not something you can prove medically. Am I right?

  Vatten: If you want to take it to its logical conclusion, then yes. But don’t you think it’s odd that I would make up a story like that? It would have been easier for me to say that I’d had more than one glass and got drunk in the usual way.

  Singsaker: That’s something we can investigate, as you know perfectly well. If that’s what you claimed, where did you get the other glasses of whisky from? Your colleague? Or did you go and buy beer at the canteen in Dragvoll? We could have had those things checked.

  Vatten: I’m sure you could. But it would have been a lie. And I didn’t lie. You also found out back then that it wasn’t so important why I was sitting on that bus; the fact was that I was on the bus, and you never managed to disprove it.

  Singsaker: Are you saying that there was proof to the contrary?

  Vatten (sighs heavily): No, that’s not what I’m saying. I was sitting on that bus. Now I’ve voluntarily come in for an interview about a totally different matter. Maybe we should start talking about that instead.

  Brattberg: Yes, let’s do that. So it’s true that you were the one who found Gunn Brita Dahle dead in the book vault?

  Vatten: That’s correct. I found her, along with a colleague.

  Brattberg: And who was this colleague?

  Vatten: Siri Holm. A newly hired librarian.

  Singsaker: Why did the two of you go to the vault?

  Vatten (after a brief pause): We wanted to try out Siri’s new code.

  Singsaker: Siri’s new code?

  Vatten: Yes. As I told you at the scene, two codes are necessary to open the book vault. I have one and the librarians have the other.

  Brattberg: All the librarians?

  Vatten: No, just one trusted librarian.

  Singsaker: And this Siri Holm had just received such a code? She took it over after Gunn Brita Dahle? Dahle had already quit her job, isn’t that right?

  Vatten: That’s correct.

  Singsaker: But you said that Siri Holm was just hired. Was she supposed to take over from Dahle?

  Vatten: That’s also true.

  Singsaker: So that means it was her first day on the job?

  Vatten: Yes, officially.

  Singsaker: But perhaps she had been inside the library earlier?

  Vatten: I met her on Saturday.

  Singsaker: On Saturday. Wasn’t that also when you saw Gunn Brita Dahle?

  Vatten: That’s right; they were there together. Gunn Brita was giving her an orientation.

  Singsaker: I see. Is it normal for a newly hired employee such as Siri Holm to be entrusted with the code to the book vault?

  Vatten: No, it’s not. I don’t know why Hornemann gave it to her. But you never know what he’s going to do.

  Singsaker: Do you know exactly when Hornemann gave Siri Holm the code to the book vault?

  Vatten: I think it was Monday morning. Just before we opened it.

  Singsaker: This past Saturday, was that the first time you met Siri Holm?

  Vatten: Yes. She just graduated from library school in Oslo. She’s from eastern Norway.

  Singsaker: And you didn’t see her again until Monday morning?

  Vatten: Is that relevant?

  Brattberg: It’s important for us to map all movements throughout the weekend. We don’t yet know when the murder occurred.

  Vatten: I met her by chance on Sunday, when she was walking her dog on Kuhaugen. It turned out that she lived nearby, and she invited me home for tea.

  Singsaker: What time on Sunday was that?

  Vatten: In the morning. Maybe around twelve. I didn’t stay long.

  Singsaker: Why not, wasn’t the tea good?

  Vatten: There was nothing wrong with the tea. It was green tea.

  Singsaker: They say it’s supposed to be so healthy. Has a cleansing effect on the body. But back to Saturday. Did you drink anything that day?

  Vatten: Tea, then too. Tea and coffee.

  Singsaker: No, I mean, did you drink any alcohol?

  Vatten: I haven’t touched alcohol since that day five years ago.

  Singsaker: So when our technicians have combed through your office, they won’t find a drop of alcohol there, no empty bottles, no old spills on the floor?

  Vatten: I’m sure of it.

  Singsaker: And other places in the library, would it be possible to find any there?

  Vatten: Alcohol? I can’t answer that. It’s not common to drink on the job at the Gunnerus Library, but we don’t keep track of everything that people do.

  Singsaker: If I told you that we’ve just received a preliminary analysis of some red spots under the table outside the book vault, and that they proved to be red wine, what would you say?

  Vatten: I have nothing to say about that.

  Singsaker: Precisely. Just as I thought. There are surveillance cameras in the Gunnerus Library. Isn’t that so?

  Vatten: That’s correct. There are five cameras: one inside the book vault; one in the office wing; and one in Knudtzon Hall. Then there’s one in the reading room and one outside the main entrance.

  Singsaker: And your job is to monitor these cameras?

  Vatten: I’m in charge of the system. It doesn’t mean that I sit there and
watch everything that happens. It’s recorded and stored on DVD. Then transferred to hard drives. We retain the recordings for six months before they have to be erased. The idea is that we should be able to refer to the recordings if anything illegal occurs.

  Singsaker: Such as now?

  Vatten: Yes, such as now.

  Singsaker: So when we’re finished here, would you accompany me to the library and help me gain access to these recordings?

  Vatten: Of course. But I’m afraid there won’t be any recordings from parts of the weekend.

  Singsaker: And why not?

  Vatten: Saturday I discovered that I’d forgotten to insert a new DVD when I removed the old one on Friday. So the system recorded nothing between Friday and Saturday evening.

  Singsaker: Saturday evening. Didn’t you say you were in the library on Saturday morning?

  Vatten: I stayed there until evening. Sometimes I sit and read for a while.

  Singsaker: And when were you planning to tell us about this? You’re saying that you were in the library during a large period of the time when the murder may have been committed?

  Vatten: I was sitting in a completely different part of the library. I couldn’t have seen anything that happened in the administrative wing.

  Singsaker: Where were you sitting?

  Vatten: Up in the stacks.

  Singsaker: In the stacks?

  Vatten: Where the books are stored. I like to read. That’s how I spend my afternoons. I’m a single man. Is there anything wrong with that?

  Singsaker: Not really. But why didn’t you mention it the first time I spoke with you?

  Vatten: It was a short conversation. I just told you where I’d last seen Gunn Brita.

  Singsaker: What did you do after you left the stacks?

  Vatten: I went home.

  Singsaker: But you didn’t stop by your office first?

  Vatten: Yes, I did.

  Singsaker: What about the room outside the book vault?

  Vatten: Just my office.

  Singsaker: And then you put in a new DVD?

  Vatten: That’s right.

  Brattberg: Which means that if the murder occurred after you met Dahle in the morning, and before you stopped by your office in the evening, there would be no recording of what happened?

  Vatten: That’s correct.

  Singsaker: How convenient for the murderer.

  Vatten: I’m sorry about that, of course. But mistakes do happen.

  Singsaker: Mistakes such as someone being murdered in the book vault at the library?

  Vatten: I had nothing to do with the murder. I can assure you of that.

  Singsaker: Why is this giving me a feeling of déjà vu?

  Brattberg: We’re not going to get any further now. Singsaker, will you take Vatten with you to the library and go through the recordings? Check the new DVD that was inserted on Saturday evening. If the body is visible on the recordings in the book vault, then we’ll know more about when the murder was committed. If it’s not there, we might have the perpetrator on film. At least if what Vatten here is telling us is true.

  Singsaker: Yes, and that’s a big “if.”

  16

  They drove through town, creeping along during the afternoon rush hour back to the Gunnerus Library. They went up to Vatten’s office without speaking to anyone. He turned on his computer and logged into the program that controlled the surveillance system.

  “Why don’t you record directly to the hard drive?” Chief Inspector Singsaker asked, looking around the office.

  “The system is a bit out of date. But we do record on DVDs and transfers to a hard drive are done regularly. And the resolution is good,” said Vatten.

  A DVD drive began to hum next to the monitor. Singsaker stood there thinking about what they were doing. Maybe they would see a recording of the murder itself, which was undoubtedly the most bestial murder he’d ever investigated. Maybe they were about to see what happened. And this was only his first day back on the job after his long sick leave.

  “Saturday, 10:21 P.M.,” said Vatten, and clicked the mouse. The hum died down, and the video started playing. The vault appeared on the monitor. It was the same view Singsaker was familiar with: Gunn Brita Dahle’s mutilated body lying on the floor. And that left only one possible conclusion: “This means that she was killed before 10:21 P.M. on Saturday, when you put in the disk, right?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “So while you were still in the library?”

  “Yes, so it seems.” Vatten looked resigned.

  “The images that were recorded by this camera, can they also be viewed on this monitor?”

  “Sure. I can sit here in my office and follow along if I want to. But that’s not the point. The primary objective with the surveillance is to document what goes on.”

  “So Saturday night when you changed the DVD, the monitor wasn’t on?”

  “Of course not. Then I would have seen the body in the vault,” said Vatten.

  “I think it would be best if you come with me back to the station,” said Singsaker, placing a hand cautiously on Vatten’s shoulder.

  He sighed heavily, then ran one hand through his disheveled hair. But he said nothing.

  He’s five years older, Singsaker thought. But his hair is still just as thick, and he sighs as heavily as he did last time.

  * * *

  Brattberg, Jensen, and Singsaker had a brief meeting with police attorney Knutsen and they upgraded Vatten’s status to “suspect.” But they still didn’t have any tangible evidence against him. Even though his explanation rang false, they couldn’t put a finger on any falsehoods in what he’d said. So far all they had was that he’d been in the library during the period when Gunn Brita Dahle was killed, that he was one of very few who could have been with her inside the book vault, and that he had previously been involved in a possible murder case. One thing they could present at a court hearing was the fact that he was responsible for the surveillance system, and that there hadn’t been a DVD connected to the camera in the vault when the murder took place. The question was whether it was an honest mistake or had been done on purpose. For prosecutor Knutsen, a meticulous man who was even closer to retirement than Singsaker, the evidence wasn’t substantial enough to proceed.

  “So he’ll have to stay home from work for a day or two,” said Brattberg. “And we’ll have to ask him to give us a saliva sample before he leaves.”

  “I think we have one from the last time he was detained,” said Jensen. He had a laptop on the table in front of him, and he was frowning as he moved the mouse uncertainly.

  “Well, we’re going to get what we need from him. Complete DNA, fingerprints, and everything,” Jensen asserted.

  “Fine! We just heard a rumor from St. Olav’s that there are biological traces,” said Brattberg.

  “Which means what?”

  “Sexual contact,” she said. Her tone of voice belied what she actually felt: scorn for the sexual act as well as sympathy, sorrow, and a deeper insight into human fallibility. And Singsaker thought that this was what he liked best about his boss. The dry and matter-of-fact style that concealed a wisdom and humanity that surpassed that of most other people.

  “But it’ll take some time before we get a final autopsy report. The body arrived at Pathology less than an hour ago. A DNA analysis will take days, maybe weeks. But we can use what we have already in the next interview, to pressure him a little. At the same time we have to follow up on a number of other potential leads. Primarily the husband, Jens Dahle. And I think this Siri Holm could be interesting. She was also in the library just before the murder. But if she’s a new hire from Oslo, she’s probably not a hot lead. Jensen, you continue interviewing the staff. Try to direct the conversations so they focus on Vatten.

  “By the way, that bluff of yours, Singsaker, that the tiny red spots that Grongstad found were wine, seemed to make an impression on Vatten. And it actually turned out not to be a bluff.
We got the analysis, and it really is wine. Very fresh spots, too. Could well be from Saturday. But we’ll wait on this until the techs have had more time to work. In addition, some fingerprints were found inside the book vault. It won’t be long before we have more concrete finds to put on the table. Until then, Singsaker, you take the husband and the new librarian.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” he said in English.

  “You mean, aye aye, madam,” Gro Brattberg corrected him with a smile.

  “What are we going to do about the press?” Thorvald Jensen asked. “It’s the top story on all the news sites, and somebody even found out that we’ve been interrogating Vatten. I doubt it’s been difficult to get the others in the library to talk.”

  “We’re saying as little as possible to the media. They’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s press conference. By then we may be able to give them something more about Vatten, if we’re lucky,” she replied.

  “One more thing,” said Singsaker.

  Everybody looked at him.

  “Are there any experts on serial killers here in Norway?”

  “Why do you ask?” Brattberg snapped back. “We only have one murder.”

  “True enough,” he said. “But I’m thinking about the way the murder was committed. And of course, there’s the old Vatten case.”

  “We do have that cop in Oslo. I don’t remember his name,” said Jensen. “He solved a serial case in Australia in the nineties. I heard he’s turned into a drunk since then.”

  “Doesn’t sound that reliable, does he?”

  “It’s worth a try,” said Jensen, with his usual understated optimism.

  “No, it’s not worth a try,” said Brattberg. “It’s only on American cop shows that the police call in experts on serial killers after only one murder. That’s not how we conduct our investigations here in the real world.”

  Singsaker had known Gro Brattberg long enough to realize that the topic was not only closed, it was dead and buried. Too bad, really. He’d been looking forward to meeting the drunken detective.

  The meeting broke up. When Brattberg went out the door, Jensen turned to Singsaker.

  “It’s OK by me that Brattberg isn’t enthusiastic about perp profiles, but there’s still one thing I’d like to find out.”