Page 65 of Whispers at Dusk
There was something about him as a youth...
She looked up and stared at Mason.
“Oh, my God!” she breathed.
“What?”
“Mason, we know him! We interviewed him! He was in Norway, and we talked to this man already!”
Nine
Mason had seen something in the pictures, too—specifically in the picture of the high school student. Something in the shape of the face...
But Della pointed out exactly what he should have seen.
“Sven!” she exclaimed. “In Norway, at Bruger’s, he was going by Sven. He spoke Norwegian, and English like an Englishman rather than an American,” she continued, shaking her head. “Mason! He was the one who directed us to the couple we nailed for murder in Norway!”
As she spoke, they were joined by Bisset, Lapierre, and Taylor. Each man studied the picture of the young killer thoughtfully.
“We need to reach Wilhelm right away,” Lapierre said tensely.
“Indeed,” Taylor agreed.
Mason nodded and said, “He can get over to Bruger’s—verify the bartender was new to Bruger’s—and then he needs to let Tomaso and Maryanne know the master they were serving was the one who led us right to them,” Mason said.
“You think he may already have a job here?” Robertson asked. “Evie’s Euro-American pub has only been open a few weeks. They would have hired bartenders recently.”
“Possibly, but Sven was in Norway when we took down Tomaso and Maryanne,” Della said. “I don’t think even he could have gotten a new job in a new country so quickly. What was his real name?” she murmured, frowned, and checked the notes on her phone.
“Stephan Dante,” Mason said. “And through his visits he’s used the names James Miller, Herbert Shaw, and William Franklin. Wilhelm can find out what name he used to enter Norway. And,” he said, looking over at Robertson, “we need to get footage from Kirkwall Airport—see who came in during the last forty-eight hours.”
“On it,” Robertson said, rising. “Going through all the video will, however, take hours—”
“A mountain of searching, yes. But we’ll get our tech department on it, too,” Mason assured him. “If the authorities can coordinate—”
“I’m on it,” Bisset said, stepping away to put through calls.
“Angela found the similarities and ran facial recognition programs—apparently, this man’s disguises gave her a hell of a runaround—but she’s the best. If he came through the airport, he had to have been caught on video. And she will find out how and when.”
“If he arrived at the airport,” Della said grimly. “Vikings traveled here from Norway all the time via their longboats.”
“Unless he’s Njord—the Norse god of the sea—I don’t think he’d have time,” Edmund Taylor said, grimacing.
“Okay, you have a point,” Della told him, offering him a weak smile.
“We don’t even know for sure it is him, or that he’s left Norway,” Lapierre said, adding, “I’m trying to be the voice of reason and caution.”
“Easily solved,” Mason said. He already had his phone in his hand and he hit a few keys. “I was going to call Wilhelm to find out if he’s working, but...thought to call and ask at the pub first. Except—”
“Wilhelm will have the authority to ask questions about the man,” Della finished for him.
“I’ve got this,” Bisset said. “Surveillance footage from Kirkwall already in motion across the world, and I’m ringing Wilhelm.”
Mason and the others nodded and waited.
In a minute, Bisset had Wilhelm on the line, but before he could begin to explain, Wilhelm apparently went into a long tirade.
“Yes, we have come to the same conclusion,” Bisset said, grimacing at the others. “We need you to find out if Sven left Norway even as we questioned the two who committed murder there—”
