SEPTEMBER 4, OR THREE MONTHS
AFTER THE DAY JUNE 4
Chief Inspector Trygve Nilsen looked forward to spending the weekend with his wife and children at the hytte that he had bought earlier that summer at a foreclosure. He gave a five-minute presentation to his superiors. Then he barely paid any attention to what the other police chief inspectors discussed during their weekly meeting with their boss the Police Commissioner for the Oslo district.
The only words in Trygve Nilsen’s ears during the meeting with other chief inspectors that morning were those of the realtor from the nearby town of Dovre:
“It’s a steal I tell you! A steal!. . The family put a second and a third mortgage on their farm when Citibank offered them a ‘great way’ to cut down their debt on Citibank credit cards.
“The poor fools believed them.
“Of course that was in the old days before the crash in oh-eight. No way you’d get any Norwegian bankers lending on a second or third mortgage up here in Oppland County. Only real dumb American banks based in London. . or greedy banks from Spain. That’s Euro-Union craziness for you. Anyway. . you’re getting a real deal.”
Nilsen looked forward to driving the 200 miles up north to his hyyte and 12-acre farm in his brand new Jaguar XJ. Life was very good after the 2008 financial crash if you had a government job. He had just gotten a huge pay raise and he spent a lot of time at work thinking about all of the additional perks and benefits and promotions that would keep coming his way as a Politiforstebetjent or Police Chief Inspector in the Oslo district.
“Nilsen,” said his boss Ivar Thorsen at the end of the meeting while the conference room emptied out. “A word.”
“Yes sir?”
Nilsen barely listened to his boss because all he could think about was the lovely traditional country cabin in the meadow and its rustic simplicity and how impressive it would look when he added a fresh coat of red paint that coming weekend.
“Nilsen did you hear me?”
“Sorry sir. . I just have a lot on my plate. . very difficult investigations sir.”
“As I said. . there’s one you need to pay close attention to. . ”
“Yes sir. Which one?”
“The one with the boy.”
“The Karl Haugen boy? Any reason in pArcticular sir?”
“Ja! I was playing bridge yesterday with Politioverbetjent Brudelie. . Police Superintendent Brudelie. And he told me that. . ”
“Oh yes. . how interesting,” said Nilsen from time to time while cringing inside. He hated the constant name-dropping that his boss used to show off about how close he was socially to the top brass in the Norwegian Police Service.
“So Nilsen. . the long and short of it is that you need to call several press conferences. . go for maximum coverage in television and radio and newspapers and magazines.”
“Issue the usual press releases? Give the ususal interviews and exclusives and off the record background?”
“Ja. Make sure that you show in big graphs and charts how many officers and how many hours and how many resources we are dedicating to protect the little children at Grindbakken Skole. The school angle always gets parents interested and nervous. They always fall for it. Make big maps and then cross out in color markers all of the areas where your team has searched. You must make absolutely sure that it appears that you and your team are doing a lot of work on the case. . and spending a lot of money. . make sure that you put a lot of emphasis on how budget constraints are preventing you and your investigative team from doing everything possible.”
“But why the boy? Any reason in pArcticular sir?”
“Ja. The Minister of Justice wants the Prime Minister and the storting. . the parliament to approve a nine percent increase to our budget for the coming fiscal year. A cute little boy is after all the perfect poster boy when lobbying for a budget increase for the police.”
“I see.”
“Nilsen. . do you know those folks at the Ministry of the Environment?”
“No. What about them?”
“They got a twelve percent increase to their budget when they showed pictures and video of those cute seal puppies choking and dying in Russian solvents and pollutants in the Arctic.”
“Don’t worry boss. I know exactly what to do.”