Story 20 in the 100 SSSS-fic challenge, this time inspired by the word "Fortitude"
"So, tell me exactly what happened."
Emil put his pen to the paper, and looked at Tuuri. She wrapped her hands around the cup of tea Polisinspektör Sigrun had given her and bit her lower lip.
"I was just going to work. When I rounded the corner the braid came into my view and I looked up to see where it came from. That's... That's when I saw his body..."
"And you didn't touch anything?"
"N-no! I ran away from the scene as fast as I could!"
"Okay, okay", Emil raised his hands to show he meant no harm. "Was there any detail you noticed, anything that didn't seem... right?"
"It was a body tied up in the middle of the street. Everything was wrong with it! Why did this happen? Why here? We've never had anything like this happen here before..."
Emil looked towards Sigrun, who came out from the street where the body was. She noticed Tuuri's upset eyes and came up to them.
"Is my partner treating you right?"
Tuuri nodded and Sigrun patted her shoulder.
"He can be a bit stupid sometimes, but don't worry, the two of us will have this murder solved in no time. Do you know the person?"
Tuuri swallowed. Emil had already asked her, but she might as well repeat it to Sigrun.
"Everyone knew him. He was the town's bard, telling stories and entertaining people. His name is... was... Reynir. His parents own a farm outside the city and he used to help them herd the sheep."
"Can you think of someone who'd want to hurt him?" Emil asked, taking a tighter grip around his pen.
Tuuri shook her head, took a sip from the tea.
"Everyone enjoyed his company. He was always so cheerfull... I can't... Why would anyone want to do this to anyone?"
Emil looked at Sigrun, who laid an arm on Tuuri's shoulder and handed her a card.
"Thank you for your help. If you think of anything more that can be of interest for the investigation, feel free to contact us." Tuuri made a move to grab the card, but Sigrun pulled it back. "Wait, let me add my private number, in case you just need to talk."
Sigrun quickly noted her number down, then handed the card to Tuuri. Tuuri accepted it, thanked the officer and put the card in her pocket. Emil looked confused at Sigrun, but put his notebook back into his pocket and followed her to the alley. Emil got tangled up in the braid, almost fell over, but Sigrun caught him and pulled him free of the red hair that had him caught. She pointed above them and Emil looked up.
The body hung from the buildings with thick wires, tied to his torso, his wrists and his ankles. A few of the other policemen were currently trying to get the body down, but had problems with the wires.
"Steel wires", Sigrun explained. "They won't get them off without special equipment."
Emil looked at the body again. It hung around 3 meters off the ground, with the braid just at the right height for anyone to walk into it. The blue robe was a bit bloody, but not as much as he thought when he heard about the murdered body.
"Do we know how he died?"
"Not yet, we haven't been able to come close enough to examine the body."
The wires were fastened at the top of the buildings and Emil and Sigrun climbed up using the ladder that had been put up. Sigrun crouched next to Polisassistent Torbjörn to ask how they were doing and Emil leaned out over the edge of the building. They were about 8 meter off the ground and he let his eyes trail along the wire to Reynir's body. He noticed a board at Reynir's back and averted his eyes again. Sigrun came up to him, to see what he was looking at, and turned him away from the edge when she saw it.
"Isn't it enough to murder someone? Is it necessary to go through all this trouble to humiliate him?"
She patted his back.
"I don't know how murderers think, but there must be some reason. There always is. And if we can figure out the reason we'll be able to catch the murderer." She gestured out towards the city. "It's not like we have many possible culprits."
"Only like 2.000 people", Emil said. "It'll take us about a year to interrogate all of them."
"We'll find out more when we get the body down, and that'll help us narrow down the number of suspects. Don't worry, we'll get this solved."
"We're going to get some better tools, you should head back to the station. I think Kriminalkommissarie Madsen might need you for some other cases." Torbjörn put his hands at his sides. "It's not like you can do anything here anyway. Taru, you coming?"
Taru got up from the roof, dried her hands on her pants and followed Torbjörn down the ladder. Sigrun and Emil looked at each other before taking Torbjörn's advice. Sigrun was first down the ladder, and Emil stopped halfway down, tried to notice anything else about the body, but nothing. A sound caused him to turn towards the roof again and he could see a slender figure diving behind the edge and the shadow quickly moving away. He continued down.
"I think there was someone up there..."
"Think it's the culprit?"
Emil shook his head and they started walking towards the car.
"Nah, he was kinda thin, I guess it'd require someone large and strong to do this", Emil gestured towards the wires. "But I wonder what they were doing here..."
"We'll find it out. You gonna let me drive this time?"
"Pff, after last time? No way, you almost did us in." He dangled the keys infront of her. "I'll be doing the driving until you get a driver's licence."
"I get it, I'll try to get time for it next month."
Both of them settled down inside the car, Emil started it up and they drove through the city to the station. Kriminalkommissarie Madsen looked at them as they entered.
"Good thing you're back. We have a reported theft that needs looking into. You've met Mister Andersen before so I think you're the best suited for the job. He's waiting for you at home. Hurry along now."
"Yeah, yeah, we're just getting a cup of coffee before we head to uncle Trond", Sigrun said and walked past him. Mikkel made a move to grab her, but she evaded skillfully. "No use trying to solve crimes on low energy levels anyway. Emil, you coming?"
Emil looked at Mikkel, who looked sternly after Sigrun, and then hurried after his partner. She gave him a cup and they quickly chugged it down before leaving the station again. Trond lived a bit outside of the city, in a large mansion, together with a butler and a maid. All his relatives had moved away from the city a long time ago, and while he was bitter over it he also said it gave him more freedom.
The butler opened the door before Sigrun even knocked and led the two of them through the house into the study from which Trond took care of his business. The butler presented them when they entered, but Trond didn't turn towards them and they waited patiently by the door for him to say something.
"I assume Kriminalkommissarie Madsen sent you for the report I made."
"Yes", Emil said, taking his notebook and pen out of the pocket again. "We're going to need to ask you some questions..."
Trond slowly and dramatically turned around, looked at them.
"I will be frank with you. I want this to be treated discreetly. No one is to know about what has happened except the four of us. Nothing is to be leaked to the news, to other colleagues, to friends or to family. Is it understood?"
Sigrun and Emil nodded and Trond leaned back in the chair.
"I noticed it when I came back from town yesterday. Someone had opened the safe. There are only two people who know the combination: Me and my butler. I certainly didn't open it and I know my butler didn't do it either. He was out of town to visit his sick mother, he came back this morning."
"We're going to need to talk to your butler", Sigrun said, leaning forward, "but for now, can you show us the safe?"
"It's right here", Trond motioned towards one of the paintings on the wall and got up from the chair. "It's a Rosengren, sturdy and hard to break into. It can be done, of course, like with any other safe, there is nothing that's really stealth-proof."
He moved the painting and revealed the safe. Emil and Sigrun came closer.
"Problem is, it hadn't been forced opened. That would have left marks and it would have stayed open. Someone figured out the code, opened it and closed it again in hope that I wouldn't notice what had been done."
Sigrun looked closer, tried to spot anything that showed that the safe had been broken open, but nothing and she moved back again. Emil turned towards Trond.
"Are you sure you and your butler are the only ones who know the code?"
"Of course I am!" Trond moved the painting back and settled down at the desk again. "I'm old, not senile. I'd be stupid to give the code away to anyone who wanders by."
"Was your maid at home yesterday? Would she have heard anyone entering?"
"She was in her own room the whole day, working on something for her children. You can ask her yourself."
"Did anyone knew both you and your butler would be gone yesterday?"
Trond let out a sigh.
"Of course not. I'm not in the habit of telling people what I plan for the day, and only the three of us knew my butler would be gone."
Emil looked at his notebook, scratched his head with the pen.
"What was it that got stolen?"
"Now he's asking the real questions!" Trond said, turned to Sigrun. "You'd think any thief would take money, or securities, but... The only thing that got stolen was a tobacco pipe I've inherited from my late father. Even the diamonds got left alone."
"That is certainly... a thief with special tastes", Sigrun said and looked thoughtfully out the window. Emil jolted the information down and turned to Trond again.
"What kind of pipe was it?"
"Home made. My grandfather made it for my father when he was young."
"Why would anyone want to steal a tobacco pipe?" Emil scratched his head again.
"A thief with a bad sense of humour." Trond leaned back in the chair. "You may leave now, the butler and the maid will answer any questions you may have."
He turned the chair around again and the door opened up. Sigrun laid a hand on Emil's back, leading the younger police out of the room. The butler led them downstairs where the maid was waiting and Emil and Sigrun settled down at the table, the butler placing himself on the other side, next to the maid.
"We want to know what you were doing yesterday", Sigrun said. "Don't leave out any details."
"Well..." the maid started. "I woke up at 5, in order to prepare breakfast. Mister Andersen wants breakfast served at 6 sharp. So I went to the bathroom, got dressed..."
"Whoa", Sigrun interrupted, "okay, maybe we don't need all details."
"For breakfast I made his usual cup of coffee, an open faced smoked salmon sandwich, as well as omelette with smoked salmon. While he was eating I cleaned his study, sweeping the floor, opening the windows and dusting the shelves so it was fresh for him to come in there after breakfast. After that I took care of the bedroom, hung the bedclothes in the garden to air, watered the plants. I have asked him to get another maid, there's too much to do only for me, but he never listens!"
Sigrun stretched over the table and patted the maid's shoulder. The maid took a deep breath and continued.
"I enjoy working with Mister Andersen, it's not that. I can take care of most work at my own pace and whatever order I chose, as long as he gets breakfast on time and his study clean in the morning. Anyway, I took care of the dishes while the bedclothes was airing, and then made the bed. After that I sweeped the rest of the floors in the house. I was going to prepare lunch after that, but he called me in and told me he was going to go to the town for lunch, so I did the rest of my cleaning duties instead. He left at noon, told me I woulnd't need to prepare dinner either, and I retired back into my room. I'm working on a sewing project for my children, their birthday is coming up soon. They're twins, you see."
"Do they live here as well?"
The maid shook her head at Emil's question.
"Mister Andersen is not very fond of children. They live with my mother in the city. It's much closer to the school that way."
"When did Trond return from the city?"
"Around seven. He yelled at me for not opening the door for him, but I hadn't heard the car stop by the door. He went into his study and I started closing all the windows in the house when he called for me. He asked me if I had let someone into his study, but I told him I had been busy with my project the whole afternoon. No one had even passed the house, or at least not rung the door bell. I would have heard that."
She looked at the butler, who nodded encouraging, and she continued.
"He told me to leave again and I finished the rest of my daily duties, laid out the clothes he would need for today, set the table for breakfast, and then went into my own chamber again. It was already nine, so I worked for one more hour before going to bed."
Sigrun nodded, turned to the butler.
"And you?"
"I was at my mother's residence yesterday. I arrived there at the evening before. If you want to ask her yourself I can call her up for you."
"No need, we'll be contacting her ourselves. When exactly did you arrive?"
"At seven in the evening."
"Did you ever leave your mother's residence?"
"Not until it was time to head back home. At 6 just this morning."
"Alright", Sigrun got up and Emil quickly followed her lead. "We will contact you if there's anything else we need to ask, and if you figure out anything that can help with the investigation, just call this number. "
Sigrun handed the butler one of her cards, and he took the card, put it in his pocket and led Emil and Sigrun to the door, opening it for them and closing it behind them. Emil scratched his head, but followed Sigrun to the car.
"They're lying", she said.
"Buh?"
She motioned for him to get in the car and he did so, started the engine and drove back towards the city.
"All three of them are lying. I don't know about what though... and why."
"You think the butler did it?"
"Hard to say." She put her hands behind her head and leaned back. "I guess he could have told the maid what the combination was."
"Should we have looked for fingerprints?"
"Wouldn't have given us anything. Both Trond and the butler wore gloves, and the maid said she cleans the study every morning. If she's guilty she would have made sure to wipe it clean and I'm certain she did that anyway. There wasn't dust anywhere in the study. It's just..."
Sigrun looked back at the road and Emil looked at the house in the rearview mirror and nodded.
"Yeah, I know what you mean... Something didn't add up. And... why did he keep the pipe in the safe?"
Sigrun shrugged. Emil parked the car outside the police station, but neither of them got out, both looking through the window, letting their minds wander. After about ten minutes someone knocked on the roof and Mikkel's face appeared.
"The two of you sleeping on the job? What did Mister Andersen say?"
Emil was about to answer but Sigrun grabbed his arm and shook her head. Emil shut his mouth again and Sigrun got out, rested her arm against the roof.
"Not much, but don't worry, we'll have it solved in no time."
"I most certainly hope so. Mister Andersen is a highly esteemed member of our society and it would be bad news for the force if we could not help him."
"Yeah, I hear ya. Don't worry your sideburns, Madsen, we'll have this case solved before you know it."
Mikkel looked at her, then shook his head and walked back inside. Emil opened the door, got out and looked at Sigrun. She smiled towards him.
"Uncle Trond told us not to tell anyone, I assume that means even our boss."
"...uncle?"
"Old friend to the family. He doesn't like it when I call him uncle though. He's the one who got me into the police to begin with."
Sigrun slapped her forehead.
"Shoot, I should have asked him about the murder! Come on, we've got work to do."
She hurried after Mikkel, leaving Emil to lock up the car. He looked after her, but a sound made him shift his gaze to the roof of the station. A thin figure looked at him, then dived behind the edge and disappeared. Emil hurried to the fire escape, climbed up it and looked around. Nothing. He let out a sigh and climbed down again, and almost landed on Torbjörn when he slid the last few meters.
"Emil, there you are! I've been looking for you!" Torbjörn laid an arm around Emil's shoulders. "We managed to get the body down, Siv is performing an autopsy on it now. From what I could see the cause of death was a blunt object to the head, but the autopsy will give us more details."
Torbjörn led Emil through the station, down to the lower floors of the building. Emil's eyes fell on some plastic bags spread out over one of the tables.
"Is this...?"
Torbjörn nodded and Emil broke free of Torbjörn's grip to look closer at the items. There was the blue jacket, Emil could see the blood stains easier now that he could look closer. It was far from enough to indicate head trauma as Torbjörn had described it, but the murderer could have put the jacket on after the deed was done. There was a wallet, an ID card and... Emil picked up the last object. A tobacco pipe.
Emil bit his lower lip, looked closer at the pipe. It seemed old, handmade. Could it be the one stolen from Trond Andersen?
"Sigrun!" he called when he saw his partner approaching. "You've seen this before?"
She came up to him, looked at the pipe and shook her head. Torbjörn looked between the two of them, then patted Emil on the shoulder.
"Didn't think you were interested in the history of smoking. That one is a fine pipe indeed." He carefully took the bag from Emil. "Yes, I remember my granddad had one of these. Only 100 were ever made, most have been destroyed by time. It seems kind of weird that a shepherd would have one... They're very expensive, you know."
"Of course they are", Emil muttered, looking at Sigrun.
"I think Mikkel have one of these as well, I saw one on his desk yesterday", Torbjörn added. "He might be able to tell you more about them."
"Of course he have", Emil muttered and looked meaningly at Sigrun. Sigrun lifted her hands, gesturing that she didn't want a fight to break out, at least not there. Torbjörn looked between the two of them, then grabbed Emil again.
"But that was not what we came down here for! Come on, I bet Siv is dying to tell you about the body!" He stopped for a second. "Maybe dying isn't the most appropriate word to use, but you know what I mean." He started walking again, and stopped once more. "Oh, Emil. I know you've seen dead bodies before but, well... the toilet is there if you need to throw up or something. It isn't pretty."
"How bad can it be?" Sigrun said, but instantly regretted her choice of word when she opened the door to Siv's workroom.
Siv stood with her hands down the corpse's stomach, fishing up whatever was in there. She looked up when she heard the door open and pulled her hands out, spilling blood and gutjuices over her working clothes. She took off the gloves, hurried to Sigrun and shook her hand.
"Welcome, sorry I'm not quite done yet."
Siv threw the gloves into the trashbin and offered Sigrun and Emil clean ones before putting on new ones herself. She pressed some buttons on the computer while Sigrun curiously leaned over the corpse and Emil made sure to look in the other direction.
"This is hopeless, nothing ever works..." Siv said and punched the computer.
"So, what are you doing with the body?" Sigrun asked, leaning a little bit closer.
Siv gave the computer another punch before turning back to Sigrun and the corpse, letting out a sigh as the computer sprung to life.
"Well", she started as she walked up to Sigrun, "I guess Torbjörn explained that for the moment we suspect head trauma to be the cause of death, but if you look here..." She turned Reynir's head to the side. "...not very much blood, is there?"
Emil couldn't look away any longer and both he and Sigrun nodded at her words. Siv's fingers dug in the red hair, pulled it away as much as she could, and Emil and Sigrun walked closer to see what she wanted to show them.
"Of course, head trauma can kill you without there being much blood, but not with this kind of damage."
The back of Reynir's head had been smashed in and Emil got greener in the face. Sigrun pointed to something in the middle of the damaged area.
"What's that?"
"Oh, that..." Siv let go of Reynir's head again and walked to the other table, lifting a large nail and a board. "He had been nailed to this. Or... this was nailed to him. One nail in the head, one between his shoulder blades and one close to the tailbone." She put the objects on the table again. "I can't believe anyone would do something like that..."
She walked over to the computer again, pulling off her gloves and trashing them before she started looking through the files. The door creeked a little as Torbjörn and Emil snuck out and Sigrun continued cautiously poking the body while waiting for Siv.
"As you can see here..."
Sigrun turned around and looked at the x-rays Siv was showing on the computer.
"...he has been subjected to a lot of violence. His wrists are broken, meaning he might have been tied up in a really bad position at some point. Several of his ribs have been cracked, as well as his left thigh and upper right arm. What's weird is that most of these seems to have been done post mortum."
"So... What was it that actually killed him?"
Siv shrugged and put on a new pair of gloves.
"I will be sending some samples to my colleagues to see if there's any substance in his body that shouldn't normally be there. I will let you know when I hear from them."
She gently pushed Sigrun aside and continued digging around in the body. Sigrun waited for a few seconds to see if Siv was going to add anything more, but nothing. She waved before leaving the room to look for her partner. Emil was sitting at a desk just outside, his face hidden in his arms. Torbjörn greeted her when he saw her and patted Emil's back to let him know she was done.
"You alright, buddy?"
Emil nodded but didn't lift his head from the desk.
"...what'd you found out?"
His voice sounded muffled coming through his arms, but Sigrun pulled out a chair and settled down, backwards of course, on it. She thought for a moment how she was going to address the subject without upsetting her younger workmate, then decided to just be blunt with it.
"Not much. There had been a lot of violence, so someone really had it in for him. Siv couldn't tell much, but she wasn't quite done with the autopsy either. You heard about the board, but whoever did it also broke most of his ribs and some other bones in his body."
He moved his head a little so he could look at her.
"...why?"
Sigrun shrugged.
"Hel if I know, but it's our job to figure it out. Siv's only supposed to tell us how he died. You feel like going for a cup of coffee?"
Emil smiled slightly at the mention of coffee and nodded. Sigrun got up from the chair and patted his back, leading the way back to the car. She stood there for a few seconds, seemingly considering something, before turning to Emil.
"It's not far, how about we walk? You don't look like you should get behind the wheel anyway."
Emil rolled his eyes, but agreed to her suggestion. The sun was slowly setting, the autumn wind rustling the trees and shaking off the leaves. Emil kicked one of the piles, sending red and yellow leaves over both him and Sigrun. The two colleagues looked at eachother, laughed, and she picked up an armful of leaves and dropped them over him, a couple of them getting stuck inside his collar. Emil twisted a little, tried to get them away from there, but slipped on some wet leaves and landed face first on the grass. Sigrun kneeled beside him, waited for him to move.
"You feel better?"
"Yeah, thanks."
She brushed the leaves off him and helped him to his feet again, and he stood on his toes and stretched to get a leaf that had gotten stuck in her hair, before pulling his fingers through her hair to get the strands to lay as they should again. She ruffled his hair and started walking again, causing him to huff, quickly fix his own hair and hurry after her.
The cashier waved at them as they entered the coffee shop and Sigrun hurried up to her. Emil looked around for a free table, noticing the one they usually sat at being occupied and took one closer to the cash register. Sigrun joined him soon after, and the cashier brought their coffee just a minute later.
"A new tough case, eh?" she asked and settled down at the table. "Don't worry, I won't ask about it, I know the deal. And I haven't heard anything in case you wonder. Everyone know this is where the pigs come to drink..."
Sigrun and Emil smiled faintly at the word pigs.
"...so they keep quiet in here. If I had heard something, it would probably have to do with the Rat Shack in the ghetto. But," she got up again, "I haven't heard anything."
Emil looked after her as she walked away and Sigrun sipped her coffee in silence for a couple of seconds.
"You wanna ask her out? Or are you thinking about the shack?"
Emil shook his head.
"Should we ask Mikkel about the pipe?"
"The pipe?"
"Yes, the one they found on the body, you know. Torbjörn said Mikkel had one as well. Only 100 ever made... You think that's the type of pipe Mister Andersen had?" Sigrun made a move to answer but Emil continued before she was able to. "But why wouldn't he tell us then? Why would he say his grandfather had made it? Unless his grandfather made all 100 of them... Hey, if he's friend to your family, you know if there's a pipemaker in his family?"
"Not that I've heard off..."
"This whole thing is just weird. First the body, and then the pipe, and... then the pipe again?"
"We're not sure it's the same pipe."
"...should we ask him?"
Sigrun leaned back, put her cup down and looked at the ceiling.
"...No. Not yet at least. We should go back and ask for more details. I can do that, you can ask Mikkel about the pipe if you want to. And you said you saw someone on the roof of the murder site, didn't you?"
Emil nodded.
"We should try and find out who that was. Maybe they saw something."
"And the Rat Shack?" Emil asked and grabbed his cup. "Should we check that out?"
Sigrun shook her head.
"Not yet. We don't really have any lead there, and if the shack has anything to do with it it's better to wait and lure them into a false sense of security." She grabbed her cup again and finihed it off. "You ready for the next round, little viking?"
Emil quickly chugged down his coffee, nodded and got up from the table. Sigrun smiled, led him outside and they started the walk back towards the station.
"...ey, Sigrun..." Emil started when they were almost back. "How are you getting to mister Andersen's house?"
She stopped, looked at Emil.
"I guess I didn't think that through, did I? Feel like letting me use the car?"
"Pf, no, I don't want another homicide on the menu, especially not commited by you. I can drive you there."
"Then you'd have to drive back, and then come and pick me up again."
"I can wait in the parking lot, unless you want me to come along. We are partners."
"Waste of time. Don't worry, I'll just run over there."
"Sigrun", Emil laughed, "it's outside the city, not even you can run that far. You won't be there until nightfall. I'll drive you, I can talk to Mikkel tomorrow morning."
The two of them stopped by the car and looked at each other over it. Sigrun leaned towards the car's roof.
"You sure?"
"Yes, Sigrun, I'm sure. Kriminalkommissarie Madsen will probably still be here in the morning, I'll just come in a little earlier tomorrow. Get in the car already."
She grinned and did as he told her and he took the wheel and started the car. As it sprung to life he turned towards his partner, grinning.
"But you should really fix that licence, it's about time, don't you think?"
She punched his shoulder but grinned back.
"I told you, I'll do it when I have time."
The car gently rolled out of the parking lot and Sigrun started fiddling with the radio, searching for a station she enjoyed. Emil ignored her fiddling, only because he had removed all buttons for the radio just so that she wouldn't be able to change station.
"How can you even listen to this? What is this even?"
"ABBA."
Sigrun crossed her arms over her chest, muttering about the Swede being a disgrace to the proud people of the nord.
"You have icelanders in your family or what?"
"I just prefer Swedish music to that Norwegian crap you listen to."
The discussion faded, neither of them actually interested in following it up. Emil hummed along to the music, quietly and out of tune, and after a couple of songs Sigrun hummed along as well. Emil parked outside the gates to mister Andersen's residence and leaned back.
"I'll wait for you here."
Sigrun nodded and exited the car. She took a deep breath before going through the gate. She ignored the main entrance and walked along a tiny path that lead to the kitchen entrance. Trond was family, almost, and family didn't took the main entrance. She knocked on the door three times, glacing at her watch as she waited for it to open. It was almost four, meaning she wouldn't be able to stay for long. Trond never wanted company after dinner at five. The maid opened the door this time and Sigrun greeted her, pulled off her shoes and jacket and hurried to the study. She knocked one, two-three-four times before entering the door without waiting for an answer. Trond didn't look up from his papers, so she settled down on the floor infront of the desk.
Trond continued writing for a couple of minutes, made a quick call ("Yes, no, I don't care, just get it done.") before turning to Sigrun. His face lit up a little when he saw her without her uniform and she beamed back towards him.
"So what brings you here? I'm old and probably too boring for you to hang out with."
"Nah, you're cool and all, uncle Trond. I just wondered if you could tell me about your grandparents."
"You usually don't care about history", Trond noted as he got up from the chair. "You always say 'looking back only leads to ambushes, opportunities is in the future', so why now?"
"Well, this is different! They're your history, and it felt like they were important to you. Uncle Trond, you're important to me, so I want to know what's important for you!"
He took a photo album of the shelf and settled down again, looking at Sigrun over his glasses. She continued beaming towards him and he motioned for her to take the chair and settle down beside him. She did so and he opened the album, showing her pictures of two people in their thirties.
"That's them? Wow, she looks... just like me."
"She was a little shorter though. She owned a store close to the pier. That's how they met, he came there to get apples and ended up asking her out instead. They got married six months after meeting and eight months later my father was born."
Sigrun didn't bother with the math, making children outside of marriage wasn't unheard of anyway. Instead she nodded, tried to get him to continue telling her about them.
"He started working in the store with her after that. They had living space just above it, so they could keep it open even while nursing a baby. People in the harbour got upset when the store was forced to close when they got older. Their children were busy with their own lives and couldn't help them run the store, so they didn't have any other choice, but..."
Trond let out a sigh and closed the album. Sigrun looked at him.
"Did you spend a lot of time with them?"
"Not as much as I wanted to. They had a lot of work with the store and we lived on the other side of the city. I wasn't allowed to go all the way by myself and mother and father rarely had time to follow me."
There was a knock on the door and the butler peeked in.
"Sir, dinner is served. Should we set the table for one more?" he added when he noticed Sigrun.
"Nah, was just stopping by for a moment. Great seeing you, uncle Trond!"
"I do hope you won't be so long until your next visit."
Trond got up from the chair and followed Sigrun to the dining room. They parted ways there, Sigrun grabbing her jacket before leaving the same way she came. Emil was outside the vehicle when she came, his eyes peering towards a building on the other side of the road.
"Yo, Emil!"
"Hi Sigrun", he didn't look away from the building. "Did you find something out?"
"You could say that", she settled down in the car. "Need to think it through, I'll tell you tomorrow. Are you coming or do I need to drive myself?"
Emil casted a last glance towards the building, before entering the car and starting up the engine.
"I think there was someone there."
"Of course there was, people live there."
"No, not that... Someone that... didn't quite belong."
"How'd you see that from here anyway?"
Emil blushed and started driving. Electric Banana Band played from the stereo, but for once Sigrun didn't commented on it, too busy trying to figure out what Trond had just told her. Emil parked outside of the station, but neither of them got out of the car.
"...Emil, there's something going on here."
He didn't answer and she didn't say anything more. Emil turned off the stereo, stared out through the windshield. Sigrun laid a hand on his shoulder before going out, waiting for him to move as well. He did after a while, nodded towards her.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Yeah, you go get all the sleep now, city-boy. See you in the morning!"
She waved to him and hurried towards the station. He looked at the building for a while, traced the fireladder to the roof, then turned around and headed back home.