Where Roses Never Die by Staalesen Gunnar

Author:Staalesen, Gunnar [Staalesen, Gunnar]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Norway
ISBN: 9781910633106
Publisher: Orenda Books Ltd
Published: 2016-04-29T14:00:00+00:00

24

The house stood on a slope down to a stony beach. It was a white construction, probably from the 1930s, perhaps even older. A narrow road led down to an empty garage to the west. Through the open door I glimpsed various garden tools: spades, rakes, hoes, lawnmowers and something resembling a shredder. The area around the house was in astonishingly good order and I noticed several flowerbeds decoratively framed with boulders from the beach below. Along the north-eastern façade of the house there was a large bed where last year’s rose bushes still hadn’t lost their leaves and gleamed yellow and green.

I went up the steps to the door in the middle of one long side of the house. There wasn’t a bell here either and I resorted to the same method as at Liv Grethe Heggvoll and her mother’s: I knocked hard on the door.

From inside I heard nothing until the door burst open and a tall, thin man was standing in the doorway. He was wearing dark-blue jeans, a red-and-black checked shirt hanging loose outside his trousers with a white vest visible at the neck. His dark hair was specked with silver, and short everywhere, down to the scalp. The way he chewed his lower lip gave you the impression his mouth was slightly askew. His eyes were dark and tense, as though he wasn’t expecting any good to come of this visit.

‘Jesper Janevik?’

He nodded. ‘I know who you are. My … Liv Grethe rang to say you were on your way.’

‘Well … May I come in?’

He didn’t move. I looked down. He had only thick socks on his feet, which perhaps explained the lack of sound before he opened the door.

‘I don’t think we have anything to talk about.’

‘Yes, we do, quite definitely. I’ve been commissioned to…’

‘I know what this is about. But I’ve got nothing to say about that case. I had nothing to do with it and … it’s much too long ago.’

‘Not long enough for some. For her mother above all.’

Again he chewed his lip, as though he were taking an exam, I was the examiner and I had just asked a difficult question. ‘But why should I bother about that? I was dragged into this case as an innocent bystander. I’ve got nothing to say, I tell you.’

‘Yes, I hear what…’ I looked around. It wasn’t raining, but the sky was grey and white, and there was a touch of late winter in the air. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to let me in?’

‘Yes. Absolutely.’

‘Then we’d better have the conversation on the steps.’

‘I don’t want that either.’ He started to close the door.

I jammed my foot in the door. ‘This is childish, Janevik. I assume you don’t want the police on your back again?’

His eyes narrowed. ‘With what justification, might I ask?’

‘You have to admit that not even being willing to answer questions twenty-five years on is suspicious.’

He stared at me. He was standing in his house and was also close on ten centimetres taller than me.

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