“Good, now you suddenly sound normal again, that’s nice. All that’s left is for you to brief me on the interview, nice and slow.”
“We’ve brought in a media consultant. She will read the questions to you and you answer verbally and she’ll write to those who are online. That will be faster than if you type yourself. Those people who get through with questions will usually be allowed to ask one or two follow-up questions so that a small dialogue develops but you and she will decide how many and for how long. Everything works more or less as it would in a radio program. Apart from a certain filter.”
“That sounds simple enough.”
“It is simple, and you will of course decide yourself which questions to answer, but the consultant will help you as best she can and she’ll warn you if she thinks you’re getting off track.”
“Excellent.”
“I’ll be the only other person in the room but I won’t get involved. It’ll only be you and her who are directly involved and I’m there mainly as a kind of backup. Is there anything you’re wondering about?”
“No, that was very thorough.”
Erik M?rk smiled. “Should I go and get the proof for our ad?”
“Yes, please.”
He stood up and left. And Stig ?ge Thorsen was left alone again.
*
A couple of hours later it was time and the online interview started well. Stig ?ge Thorsen was nervous at the first questions but after a while he and the media consultant established a good collaboration. From time to time, M?rk informed them how many people were following the event. His voice was triumphant: they had around 280,000 hits.
The media consultant read from her screen: “A follow-up: do you approve of the fact that he killed five people? Suggestion: do you approve of the fact that he killed five pedophiles?”
Stig ?ge Thorsen nodded. “Yes, I do.”
“My suggestion: I approve of his struggle against pedophilia.”
“That’s good.”
The consultant quickly typed the answer. Then the door to the room opened with a bang and all three turned. A handful of employees filtered into the room. A woman who appeared to be in charge approached M?rk and did nothing to hide the seriousness of the situation.
“Erik, you have to come with us right away. We have a big problem.”
M?rk went with her, convinced that it was the police that had come to arrest him. He was led into this office, where a young woman was waiting. The woman in charge introduced them.
“This is Anita Dahlgren. She is a student intern at the Dagbladet. Read this.”
A packet was thrust into his hands, the logo of the newspaper on the top of each page. He started to read. Already after the first two paragraphs he started to sweat and had to sit down. After he was finished, he had the presence of mind to gaze down at the text for a little longer as he tried to gather his thoughts. When he looked up and met the accusing gazes of those present, he was not completely unprepared. He took the lead and turned to the girl.
“Where did you get this? And why have you come here with them?”
Anita Dahlgren explained her sympathy for his cause. She also told him how Anni Staal had scored an unexpected interview with Detective Inspector Konrad Simonsen.
“But since you are telling us this in advance, you don’t believe this, do you?”
“I came here to give you a piece of my mind. When I heard about the interview I didn’t know what it revealed. Anni Staal has kept that to herself. But then I thought, that if I … made sure that you could see it in advance, that might be able to help you and when I got the chance I copied it. But now that I’ve read it … well, it made me angry and I still am. On my way out here I thought all kinds of things that made me want to cry, but I didn’t. That is, when I saw the place … I don’t know, it was hard to cry but I wish I could have.”
The woman broke in, “It was nice of you to come and I understand your anger. I’m angry too.”
M?rk decided to believe the girl. She was a na?ve little thing, but credible nonetheless.
“When is it coming out?”
“No idea. Tomorrow or over the weekend, I think, but I certainly hope that there’s some explanation for this or I’m not sure I support you any longer.”
The woman spoke again. She gave M?rk a hard look. “I hope so too. I don’t know what kind of wagon you’ve been hitched to but I’ll be getting off if this is true.”
He ignored her and focused on the girl. “Do you have a phone number for Anni Staal?”
The answer came hesitantly, although Anita Dahlgren was jubilant inside: “I don’t really know … of course I have it, it’s just that if you tell her that I—”
“Of course I won’t,” he interrupted. “I wouldn’t under any circumstances, but the police have concocted a bunch of lies and it’s in both her and my interest to correct it.”
The skepticism of his co-worker was only minimally altered. He continued, as persuasively as he could: “This is bullshit, nothing more or less.”
“Why would the police lie? That makes no sense.”