“Better get your mouth going. I’m not going to drag every word out of you. Either you talk or we’re done here.”
The man elaborated sourly, “Allan sold videos from his stand and he had a lot of clients, especially from Jylland. He was very cautious and only did business with those he knew and always in cash. He was expensive but the quality was very high. Customers were supposed to buy three times a year or they were excluded but a lot of them came once a month. He had been in business for a long time, trading in cassette tapes before this. Those weren’t so good. I think he changed suppliers about a year or two ago. The material came from Germany, I believe, and the brothers edited it into final form.”
“Frank Ditlevsen was in on this?”
“Yes, Allan never did anything without Frank, and he was scared shitless by him. Frank was the brain. Allan was too stupid to manage that kind of enterprise on his own.”
Berg took out a copy of the Dagbladet and placed it in front of him. She smiled briefly when she saw how he shrank back.
“How many of them did you know?”
“All of them.”
“They had the same inclination toward children as you?”
“Yes.”
“They were going on a trip?”
“Three weeks in Thailand. Frank arranged it. It was incredibly cheap, under ten thousand including luxury hotel accommodations, meals, and excursions.”
“How did they find takers?”
“I don’t know. Probably from the hot-dog counter, but the whole thing was hush-hush. That goes for everything that the brothers were involved in.”
“You weren’t invited?”
“I couldn’t get the time off.”
“What about Allan Ditlevsen? Couldn’t he get the time off either?”
“He came down sick, with gallstones, so Frank must have found a replacement. I don’t know who it was, but it must have been difficult.”
“Did Frank Ditlevsen arrange the whole trip on his own?”
“I don’t think so, but that’s just a guess.”
“So guess.”
“Well, Frank had one of his old boys bring him the films from Germany and I got the impression that he was also involved in the trip but I have never seen him. Frank kept him close and Allan was not allowed to say anything. I am one of the few people who even knew he existed.”
“Old boy, what do you mean?”
“One of the ones from where they used to live. In Sj?lland, I don’t remember where.”
Berg was filled with happiness and pride. This information was giving her the most significant leads in the case so far. She kept questioning him but he did not have anything else to tell her.
“We’ll stop here. Just one more thing and then you can go. I’m just curious how it can be that none of you have stepped forward voluntarily to help us now that you know that six of … your own have been murdered. We’re trying to find the perpetrator, you know.”
The man smiled a joyless smile.
“To find our killer? You are deeply na?ve.”
He stood up and hurried away.
*
Once she was back at the hotel, Berg took a long, hot bubble bath. The evening had been incredible, both the game and the interrogation, and she could hardly stand to wait until the Countess got back. Old boy, two small words that could mean a significant breakthrough in the case.
After the bath she sat on the bed naked and took her time with her lotion. Then she glanced at her laptop and decided that it was actually a good time to engage in ten minutes of unpleasant background information. She started the video completely unprepared and paid the price. It was extreme, and she stared in terror.
The boy was young, far too young, no one could be so evil. She screamed aloud in the room, wanted to stop, couldn’t, and stared straight into hell. She cried. First, a silent weeping that turned to wailing. She folded the screen down with her foot and held her hands over her face but the images kept playing in her head and she rocked back and forth like a mental case. Her necklace became tangled in her wet hair and she struggled to get it loose, in order to focus on something else. Neither attempt was successful. Then suddenly her thoughts returned to the man in the café and an insane rage took over. High-quality. That was what the swine had called this assault. High-quality. She dried her eyes, first with her bare arm, then with a tissue from her bag, where she also had the apple from the game. She ate it, complete with seeds and all, while her rage slowly transformed into a controlled, glowing hatred.