‘I don’t doubt that,’ he said. ‘But I’d like to help you all the same.’

It didn’t take us long to give the door a fresh coat. I took a few steps back and looked at it. From a distance it was still possible to see the contours of the letters.

‘Fucking bastards,’ I muttered.

Knut wiped some paint off his hands with an old rag. ‘You need to paint it again tomorrow.’

‘I know,’ I said.

He came over to me and stood by my side for a few moments. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘I better get going.’ He started to walk towards his car.

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘For…’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Knut said. ‘Soon this will all be over. I’m sure the police have some solid leads they’re working on.’

69

69

For a long time Fredheim had had its own dairy factory, but after years of running at a loss, the whole thing had been bulldozed and replaced with an apartment building that consisted of four almost identical flats, all grey and square, completely free of ornament. It was basically a box of rooms. Every apartment had a west-facing balcony, so the tenants could enjoy the afternoon sun. Whether Knut Anthon Meyer did that or not, Yngve had no idea, but he knew that Knut lived on the third floor, in apartment C301.

Yngve was sitting in his car in the parking lot, where he could watch Knut’s apartment while keeping an eye on whoever entered and left the building. It was a little after one in the morning, and the lights were still on in Knut’s apartment – a flicker that changed in intensity and colour. Knut, it seemed, was watching TV.

Åse used to call them wallflowers – people who never spoke unless spoken to, who always preferred to stay in the background, so that no one would notice them or engage them in conversation. Knut, Yngve thought, was a wallflower, a man it was hard to get close to, simply because he never volunteered a ’hi’ or a ’how-are-you’, or did anything whatsoever to make your acquaintance. Even in his own taxi, Knut never engaged in small talk. He was the kind of guy who’d let you go first in a queue, even if it wasn’t your turn.

Knut had lived in Fredheim all his life. He’d never been involved in any kind of trouble. No criminal record, no financial problems, nothing. As far as Yngve knew, Knut had never even had a girlfriend until he hooked up with Susanne Tollefsen a little over a year ago. How that could have happened in the first place, was a mystery for another day.