The Man in the Window (31 page)

    'Stokmo Junior claims the bad blood between them is a matter of honour and goes back to the war and Jonny Stokmo's father - Harry Stokmo - who was alleged to have been swindled out of a lot of money by Jespersen. Harry Stokmo led refugees across the border during the war and he…' Gunnarstranda wriggled two index fingers to suggest quotation marks… '
received gifts
from Jews he guided over the border to Sweden. Folke Jespersen, it seems, assumed the goods were stolen because Stokmo didn't dare to put them up for sale after the war. Folke Jespersen took them and sold them, but neglected to settle up with Stokmo. Jonny found this out a short time ago - via some old receipts, etc. - and that was why he had demanded a settlement from Folke Jespersen on behalf of his deceased father.'

    'Do you believe Stokmo Junior?'

    Gunnarstranda gave a tired smile. 'Why not? If this story has any truth to it, it gives Jonny Stokmo a motive, and that gives us a handy line of enquiry. Why would Karl-Erik Stokmo invent a motive for his father? Anyway, we'll have to question Jonny again. The son's statement is not worth much more than hearsay.'

    'Right… Make a note of that,' Fristad said.

    'Of what?'

    'That we need to check the story.'

    Gunnarstranda sent him an old-fashioned look.

    'Yes?' Fristad said.

    'Do you want to do my job?'

    Fristad cleared his throat. The silence was oppressive.

    'And then?' Fristad faked a casual cough.

    Gunnarstranda took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. 'Folke Jespersen went up to his wife, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.'

    'And Stokmo?'

    'We know that night he visited a prostitute calling herself Carina. She has been checked out. Stokmo left this woman at about an hour before midnight. She had to clear up and get ready for the next customer at midnight. Stokmo claims he drove to Torshov and went to bed at about eleven in a room behind his son's workshop. He didn't see or talk to anyone. And this was a Friday.'

    'Lies, in other words.'

    'Let us say that Stokmo
may
have arrived at Thomas Heftyes gate shortly after Ingrid went to bed on her own. We can also say, with certainty, that Stokmo had no alibi for the moment of death.'

    They eyed each other. Fristad roared with laughter. 'I know what you mean. Stokmo's an interesting one, isn't he!'

    Gunnarstranda nodded.

    'And up in Folke Jespersen's flat they quarrelled over the evening meal?'

    'No.'

    'But did they quarrel after the meal?'

    'No - according to the widow, who maintains she went to bed as normal except that she was alone. She took a sleeping pill and woke up in the middle of the night not knowing what it was that awoke her.'

    'If she killed her husband, she wasn't very creative about procuring herself an alibi.'

    'Let's focus on the murder,' Gunnarstranda continued blithely. 'It's most probable that Reidar knew his killer. Either he arranged to meet him in the shop or he was in the shop for other reasons when his killer came. But as the murder appears to have been planned, the most likely scenario is that the victim arranged to meet his killer in the shop.'

    Gunnarstranda looked up. The public prosecutor was sitting quietly with closed eyes, as though he were meditating.

    'We know that Folke Jespersen was busy on the phone all afternoon and evening. Gro Hege Wyller said he received at least one call in his office, but he may have made many more before she arrived. The widow said there were several calls for him during the evening. However, we have not managed to find out who the callers were. The only person who has admitted calling is his brother Emmanuel. He says he phoned late in the evening, but Reidar didn't want to talk to him.'

    Fristad nodded to himself. His glasses fell on to his chest and he put them back. 'Anything else?'

    'According to the prospective purchaser - Kirkenær - Arvid was supposed to have rung
to remove the small cloud on the horizon.'

    'Did he?'

    'What? Ring or remove the small cloud?' Gunnarstranda asked dryly. 'No, Kirkenær said Arvid had tried to get through to his brother, but without success.'

    The two men sat facing each other, ruminating, until the policeman resumed: 'Folke Jespersen was killed by a single stab from an antique bayonet which was on display in the shop. The choice of weapon is an indication that the murder was not premeditated. Provided that the killer had not known about the bayonet and had not planned to use it. Nevertheless, we have to assume the stabbing was carried out by a strong person. The blade penetrated deep into the man's body, puncturing one lung and grazing some vital arteries - the forensics report says the killer held the victim and the bayonet until he was sure the victim was dead. So there was no struggle. The murder victim was stabbed, held tight and then let down gently onto the floor. There are no marks on the body to suggest he was dropped. He was let down gently and left where he was. The crime scene investigators made one vital point. There was not very much blood on the floor and so the assumption is that the killer's clothes must have been drenched with blood.'

    Fristad nodded and his glasses fell onto his chest.

    'Karsten Jespersen has gone through the registered items in the shop and a uniform is missing. It appears this had been sent to the shop anonymously a few days before the murder. The uniform was still in the box on the Friday when the man was killed. If Karsten Jespersen is telling the truth - we have only his word for it that this uniform exists - then there is the possibility that the killer donned the trousers and jacket, put his own soiled clothing in the box and made his escape. So, if the killer sent the uniform to have a change of clothing in the shop, it tends to suggest it
was
premeditated murder.'

    'Doesn't that seem terribly complicated?'

    'Premeditated murder is always complicated.'

    Fristad nodded. 'But wouldn't a soldier wandering around attract a lot of attention?'

    'It was very cold out. The killer could easily have hidden the uniform under a winter coat.'

    'At any rate the uniform offers a logical explanation for why no witnesses observed a man with bloodstained clothing,' Fristad said to himself. 'Has Karsten Jespersen any documentation to prove the existence of a uniform? Has he got a receipt from the post office?'

    Gunnarstranda looked up. 'Would that stand up in court?'

    Fristad splayed his arms wide in a gesture of ignorance.

    Gunnarstranda went on: 'The killer then stripped the body.'

    'And the bayonet?'

    Gunnarstranda nodded. 'As I said, it was on display in the shop - it belonged to a rifle used by an English soldier during the Napoleonic wars. We've got it, but there are no fingerprints on either it or the gun. At the time of the murder the shop was in the dark, as every other night. By the way, we have an indelible pen - the bog- standard type sold in stationers up and down the country. We assume the killer brought it with him, because it was used to write this strange message on the body. The message also indicates that the murder was planned - if a man takes a pen with him to write something on the body, it suggests premeditation. By the by, there are no prints on the pen either.'

    'And this was the famous J for Jorgen, one hundred and ninety-five?'

    'J for John. Nineteen. Five.'

    'All right, all right. We have the taxi licensing number.'

    'Let's take one thing at a time.'

    'Fine. When did the murder take place?'

    'Somewhere between eleven-thirty in the evening and three in the morning.'

    'And there were no keys in the dead man's pockets?' 'No keys. Cigarettes, yes. A lighter, coins, but no keys.'

    'I take it no one else knows this?'

    'Just you, Frølich and I know that the keys are missing.'

    'I read that the widow says there was snow on the floor when she woke up.'

    'Yes - if she's telling the truth. One possible scenario is that the killer, who still had snow sticking to the soles of his shoes, took the keys from the dead man, went upstairs, let himself into Folke Jespersen's flat, entered the bedroom and then left again.'

    'Others?'

    'My guess is that the snow on the floor was left by Folke Jespersen after an evening walk before he was killed.'

    'Why do you think that?'

    'Because the killer can hardly have had any snow on his shoes if he had changed into the uniform after wrestling with the body to get it into the shop window. In addition, the tread on the dead man's shoe soles was quite deep.'

    'But the killer took the keys, you said? Why would he do that if he didn't use them?'

    'The missing keys are a mystery. Either they have not disappeared and are still lying somewhere in the flat or the killer had something else in mind when he stole the keys.'

    'You don't think the killer was in the flat?'

    'If an intruder crept into Ingrid Jespersen's bedroom, it would only have been to see her sleeping and then to leave - or to take something she knows nothing about, something she doesn't miss, in all probability something belonging to her husband. In short, the snow on the floor makes sense if Folke Jespersen popped in to see her.'

    Fristad cleared his throat to ask a question, but Gunnarstranda was quicker: 'That's one possibility. Another is that Ingrid Jespersen made up the whole story about the snow on the floor.'

    'Why would she do that?'

    'Well, you tell me. I find it difficult to believe that she would make it up. Unless it was to give credence to the theory in our eyes that the killer pinched the keys.'

    They sent each other a look. 'On the other hand,' Fristad reasoned, 'if the widow invented this business about the snow on the floor…' He left the sentence hanging in the air.

    Gunnarstranda nodded.

    Fristad completed his reasoning: 'Then it is very probable that she invented the break-in story because she was the one who killed her husband.'

    'Your conclusion could be right, but the argumentation may be wide of the mark,' the Police Inspector concluded. 'I lean to the view that the husband left the snow on the floor.'

    The public prosecutor and the police officer eyed each across the table again. 'But what do you think, Gunnarstranda? What does your gut instinct tell you? Did the widow bump off her husband?'

    'Motive?' Gunnarstranda wondered aloud.

    'Money, sex, heat of the moment,' Fristad said. 'Young woman marries much older man. He turns down a stack of money by rejecting the offer proposed by his brothers and Kirkenær. On top of that he puts an end to his wife's bedroom romps with the lover. These two factors cause a row. The widow is not short of motives!'

    'Opportunity?' Gunnarstranda mused.

    'Of course she's the one with the opportunity to bump her old man off whenever.'

    'On her own or with help?'

    'With the lover; she holds him, the lover stabs.'

    'The lover has an alibi.'

    'Bloody hell,' Fristad whispered in a hoarse voice. 'What sort of alibi?'

    'He lives with a man - Sjur Flateby, who maintains that Strømsted was never out of his bed that night.'

    'For me, as a prosecutor, that alibi does not stand up. A partner's statement is the same as a spouse's - worthless.'

    'I agree. But it's better that the partner admits the lie in a statement to us than you destroy the man in a court of law.'

    'Does this guy know Strømsted is shagging the widow?'

    Gunnarstranda shrugged. 'He may have an inkling - as he was asked about Strømsted's movements that night.'

    'Tell the partner about the infidelity and see how long Strømsted sticks to his alibi. Although the widow may have done it on her own.'

    'Possible. But we mustn't forget the others. Jonny Stokmo hasn't got an alibi, either.'

    'What's his motive though?' Fristad asked. 'No money was taken, just this damn uniform, and we only have Karsten Jespersen's word for it that it exists. If Stokmo killed…'

    Gunnarstranda nodded. 'The problem with Stokmo is that he doesn't stand to gain from Folke Jespersen's death. He doesn't get any money and his father's name isn't cleared. If Stokmo killed Folke Jespersen he must have done it in rage or he must have had a different motive from this story about his father's besmirched honour. Problem number two: the Stokmo theory doesn't square with premeditated murder. If Stokmo planned the murder, why didn't he have a plan to clear his father's name at the same time?'

    'I see,' Fristad said heavily.

    'Furthermore, there are the two brothers,' Gunnarstranda said. 'They have no end of motives.'

    'But do they have the opportunity? I think I read in one report that they are ill, overweight and have difficulty standing up.'