As befitted a TV star, Tore Berg Tollersrud was allocated his own dressing room, make-up artist and make-up chair. Blix and Kovic were ushered in by a female member of the production team.
‘I have to rush back,’ she said. ‘We’re going straight back on air.’
‘Just a very quick question: how many people would you say have been in contact with Tollersrud today?’ Blix asked.
‘Oh, my goodness,’ she said. ‘Probably thirty or forty altogether.’
She waited, cooling her heels, as Blix digested this information.
‘OK,’ he said at last. ‘Thanks for your help.’
They went inside the room.
‘What are we looking for?’ Kovic asked.
‘Pills,’ Blix said. ‘Perhaps the same kind as the ones we found in Calle Seeberg’s home.’
They searched the table in front of the mirror. Nothing but make-up and a bottle of water. Blix opened the bottle and sniffed the contents. Kovic checked Tollersrud’s jacket pockets. She took out a pack of chewing gum, a tin of snuff, and a pen. A business card for a woman called Jorunn Tangen who worked at Rubicon TV. Blix examined the rubbish bin, empty. Sniffed at all the make-up paraphernalia on the table. There were no strange smells indicating that something extra had been added.
‘He’s done OK up till now,’ Kovic commented as she surveyed the room. ‘The presenter, I mean. There’s nothing to suggest he’s feeling off colour.’
Blix surveyed the small, confined space. So far everything appeared normal.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘We’ll have to grab hold of him at the next commercial break.’
They passed through the building again, until they were just behind the stage, where they were stopped by a man wearing a headset.264
‘You can’t go out there now,’ he said, making signs for them to stay quiet.
Blix turned towards a monitor to see what was happening on stage. Toralf Schanke was seated on a chair with cables attached to his head and wrists, and his back to the audience.
Tollersrud asked some preliminary questions that had verifiable answers. Name, age, family relationships. The reliability of the test increased when the answers Schanke gave tallied with reality. Then Tollersrud moved on to more difficult questions.
‘Have you ever stolen anything?’ he demanded.
Schanke considered this for a moment before replying: ‘Yes.’
Several seconds elapsed. On the TV the picture changed to a bald man sitting staring at a computer screen. The seconds ticked by. He lifted his eyes and gave a thumbs-up.
Tollersrud continued: ‘Are you and Iselin Skaar in a relationship?’
Schanke smiled and shook his head, as if he’d known this question would come up. The onscreen image shifted to a close-up of Iselin, who was watching with interest. Blix could see that his daughter’s neck was flushed.
‘No,’ Schanke answered.
Once again the focus turned to the man overseeing the lie-detector test. He raised his hand in the air as if he were a Caesar deciding whether a slave in the gladiator’s arena should live or die. Then he gave a thumbs-down.
A gasp rippled through the auditorium.
Tollersrud smiled as if he wanted to say: ‘We all knew that already.’
The camera focused on Schanke. The studio lights made his forehead glisten.
‘Is money more important to you than love?’ Tollersrud now wanted to know.
‘No,’ Schanke replied after taking a few seconds to think about it.
Zoom in on the lie detector man. His hand went up. His thumb went down. Schanke gave a fleeting smile, shamefaced. A swift shot of Iselin showed her disappointment at the result.265
Tollersrud asked a few more questions, before saying: ‘That’s all we have for you, Toralf.’
The lights turned on around him and the audience applauded. Schanke took a deep breath, relieved that it was over.
‘How was it?’ Tollersrud asked when the applause had died down.
Schanke took off the cables and looked at the presenter. ‘Bloody mortifying.’
Tollersrud gave no reply and simply nodded his head. ‘When we come back again after the adverts, it’ll be Iselin’s turn. Stay in your seats, we’ll be back soon.’
A large red light disappeared from a lamp behind the stage and Blix told one of the staff that he needed a quick word with Tollersrud.
‘That’s impossible now,’ the man said. ‘We’re in the middle of a broadcast.’
‘It’s a commercial break right now,’ Blix said. ‘It’s vital I speak to him before he goes on air again.’
The man seemed about to protest again, but instead agreed to show Blix the way. Soon they were on stage. At first Blix was blinded by all the lights. Then he managed to screw up his eyes and catch sight of the presenter, exchanging a few words with Iselin. The man from the production team approached and interrupted him. For a brief second Blix’s eyes met Iselin’s. They were wide with astonishment, as if wondering what was going on.
Tollersrud came up to him. ‘What is it?’ he asked with an edge of annoyance in his tone. ‘Why do you have to speak to me right now?’
‘It’ll only take a minute,’ Blix said. ‘But it’s important. Have you been in contact with anyone today you’ve not met before?’
‘Yes, that happens nearly every day,’ Tollersrud replied. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘We’re looking for a man who may have tried to get in touch with you,’ Blix said. ‘Has anyone unfamiliar approached you today? Given you anything, or touched you in some way?’
Tollersrud didn’t seem to understand the question.266
‘No,’ he said after giving this some thought. ‘No one.’
‘You haven’t eaten anything that tasted off? Drunk anything that had a strange taste?’
Tollersrud drew back, looking towards a table with drinks, biscuits and fruit just beyond the stage area.
‘No. Good God, no – what is all this nonsense?’
Petter Due-Eriksen appeared behind him. ‘What’s going on?’ the producer demanded.
Tollersrud, with a biscuit in his hand, pointed at Blix.
‘You’ll have to talk about this later,’ Due-Eriksen said, nudging Tollersrud in the direction of the stage.
‘One minute!’ someone shouted from the studio floor.
Blix and Kovic made themselves scarce.
‘There’s actually a good chance nothing will happen here tonight,’ Kovic said when they were alone. ‘That the perpetrator has seen us and decided to wait.’
‘I’ve been thinking that too,’ Blix said. ‘Tollersrud will have to be given protection afterwards, once the transmission is over. He’ll have to be followed closely. All the way home.’