Gabriel Mørk was sitting in his office in Mariboesgate, unable to decide what kind of mood he was in. How had they even considered that he might have been involved in this?
‘Gabriel?’ said a voice by the door, interrupting his train of thought.
‘Yes?’
‘Can you spare a few minutes?’ It was Ludvig Grønlie. ‘I could do with a fresh pair of eyes.’
‘Sure,’ the young hacker said, and followed the older police officer down the corridor and into his office.
The offices were practically deserted now, had been so all day. The only other staff member left was Ylva, who was chewing gum in front of her screen. Everyone else was down at Grønland.
‘What is it?’ Gabriel asked, and took up position behind Grønlie’s chair as Grønlie sat down.
‘This film I’ve got,’ Ludvig said.
‘Right.’
‘From the Natural History Museum. Did you know about that?’
‘About what?’ Gabriel said.
‘Evidently not.’ Grønlie smiled.
The older investigator double-clicked on an icon on his desktop and a black-and-white film appeared on his screen.
The film showed a group of people entering something that could be a gallery or a museum.
‘What are we looking at?’
‘The Botanical Gardens in Tøyen. Hurumlandet Nurseries’ school trip. To the Natural History Museum.’
‘Go on?’ Gabriel said.
The video was jerky and blurred. Clearly, surveillance-camera footage. A group of people were met by a man with fluffy white hair and shown up some steps.
‘So far so good,’ Ludvig said, clicking further on.
Gabriel peered at the screen.
‘Then suddenly, what do you think? Take a look at this.’
Grønlie turned to Gabriel as the group on the film entered a room with animals in different display cabinets.
‘Bit odd, isn’t it?’
‘What is?’ Gabriel said.
‘Let’s go back a bit,’ Ludvig said, moving the cursor on the screen. ‘Here,’ he said, pressing the stop button. ‘Do you see it now?’
Gabriel looked at the image but shook his head. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Let’s print it out,’ the older investigator said, pressing a key on the keyboard.
Gabriel followed Grønlie into the incident room via the printer.
Ludvig put up the picture he had just printed out next to the others already hanging there. ‘Pretty much everyone is on the CCTV photo, am I right?’ He turned to Gabriel while he pointed at the print-out.
‘Helene Eriksen. Paulus Monsen. Isabella Jung.’
Mørk followed Ludvig’s finger across the picture and nodded.
‘So who is this?’
Ludvig indicated a face on the picture. A face Gabriel did not recognize. A young man in a shirt, with round glasses, who, in contrast to the rest of the group, did not look at the animals on display but had his eyes fixed firmly at the camera.
‘I don’t think he’s on our list,’ Gabriel said.
‘Well, that’s odd,’ Grønlie said.
‘Look, we have everyone here, don’t we? The teachers, Helene Eriksen, Monsen, the girls – but this lad?’
Gabriel looked up at the picture gallery which Ludvig had made earlier of all the residents, all the teachers, but he could not see this new face anywhere.
‘And why is he looking straight at the camera?’
‘That is weird,’ Gabriel said.
‘Yes, isn’t it? A school trip? Everyone is looking at the animals, no matter how bored they might be, but this guy is looking at the camera as if he—’
‘Is checking out where it is,’ Gabriel said.
‘Now, I might just be suspicious by nature, so that was why I needed a fresh pair of eyes. Does this help us?’
Gabriel continued to study the new picture on the wall. The eyes behind the glasses, looking up at him, almost surprised, while the attention of the rest of the group was directed at whatever the white-haired guy was pointing at.
‘Wow,’ he said, not taking his eyes off the young man in the shirt.
‘He’s not on our wall, is he? I mean, you can’t see him, can you?’
Again Grønlie gestured towards the photographs showing every face at Hurumlandet Nurseries.
‘Definitely not.’
‘So I’m not losing my marbles? Starting to miss things?’ Ludvig smiled at him.
‘Why on earth is he looking at the camera?’ Gabriel asked.
‘Because he wants to know where it is.’
‘Definitely,’ Gabriel said, and continued to stare, almost mesmerized, at the unfamiliar face that was looking back at him.
A young man in a white shirt with round glasses.
‘I’m calling Mia,’ Grønlie said, running back to his office to fetch his phone.