Simonsen got to his feet but kept his gaze fixed on Clausen.
“One more thing—a minor question. How is your geometry?”
Per Clausen answered without missing a beat.
“Do you mean classic plane geometry or analytic geometry?”
“I’m not sure that I know the difference. I don’t have your expertise.”
“There is a big difference. Take good old Gauss, for example. He worked with equations and algebra as opposed to lines and circles. I have always thought that it was a bit of cheating or at least less elegant, but you have to give it to the man that it yielded results. He proved that the equilateral heptadecagon can be constructed with a compass and ruler. The first contribution in over two thousand years to the regular polygons.”
“Impressive.”
“Decidedly, but not particularly practical. I only know of a single instance where a heptadecagon has had a real-world application. Would you like to hear it?”
“Yes, very much.”
This answer was true, which it normally was not. There was so much else and so many more relevant aspects to discuss with this janitor, but Simonsen wanted very much to hear his story. The man was strangely fascinating.
Clausen explained, “In 1525, seventeen sailors in Portsmouth were convicted by the High Court of Admiralty for having whistled onboard the Mary Rose, the flagship of the English fleet. For this kind of serious offense, justice only knew one kind of punishment, and the gallows were prepared according to Gauss’s principles so that all of them could hang in symmetry. The drawings have been preserved at the National Maritime Museum in London.”
“That is a good story, exceptionally illustrative, I must say, and very convincing even though it lacks a couple of centuries to fall completely into place, but I think I followed the point. Now, get home safely and don’t forget that we have an appointment tomorrow.”
The janitor gestured in the air with one hand as if to underscore that a little slippage in time did not have to mean the world.
“A little artistic license is allowed, surely.”
They shook hands and Clausen left. He had barely made it out the door before Simonsen lit a cigarette. Berg took out a saucer from under a plant and placed it in front of him. Her boss looked so tired that she was worried for a moment.
“He was much more focused than when the Countess questioned him,” she said.
“Yes, I could imagine that.”
“What was that last bit about?”
“Hard to say. His behavior appears completely irrational, but we will probably get to the bottom of his life in the next couple of days and then we’ll see.”
“But I mean, his story with the gallows—wasn’t that a cut-and-dried way to link him to the murders in some way?”
“In a way. In addition to being extremely arrogant and demanding, I have no good reading of him, but that will change.”
“Maybe he wants to deflect our attention from something or someone else?”
“Who knows? But time is on our side, and good old-fashioned elbow grease normally yields more answers than guesses and suppositions.”
His comment struck home. Berg blushed slightly and let the subject drop, saying instead, “You promised to tell me why you wanted me to participate.”
Outwardly, Simonsen appeared more sure of the janitor than he really was. Perhaps it had been a mistake to release him. The man’s odd behavior lay outside Simonsen’s frame of reference, which was the real reason that he had let him go home. It would give him time to think it through. But as soon as Clausen was gone, doubt had started gnawing at him. He pushed the thought away.
“He has lost a daughter,” he answered. “His only child. She would have been around your age today so I thought he would have a vulnerable point and that you could possibly be … a point of departure, but I decided against it.”
Berg felt slightly ill at ease.
“I’m glad you did.”
Simonsen did not pay attention to her tone of voice.
“This isn’t a case of a stolen bike. There’s no place for that kind of sensitivity.”
“I know that, it would just have been unpleasant. Why did you decide against it?”
“He wouldn’t have taken the bait, so there was no point. Why don’t you head over and check with Troulsen to make sure the surveillance is in place. If Per Clausen so much as owns a dog, I want its stud register in ten minutes flat.”
“I’ll check. For the fourth time. But he is one hundred percent covered: local and remote surveillance, doubled-up coverage, and they are all experts. You don’t need to be the least bit nervous, Troulsen says.”
“Do it, regardless of what Poul says. Did we get a court order on his phone?”