Maria Irene Schelderup took a deep breath. Then she continued with determination.
‘And I suppose that that was the very reason why he betrayed her nearly twenty years later with another, even younger woman. History repeated itself in a way that must have been deeply unpleasant for my mother.’
I was staring at her intensely – and noticed that she liked it.
‘Did your father have a new lover in his later years?’
She was obviously relishing the situation and permitted herself to smile before continuing.
‘Oh, so you hadn’t heard yet… I thought it was something that we all knew, but never talked about. Mother must know, though we have never discussed it. It is perhaps less certain that my half-brothers or aunt know, as they do not live here. But I would have thought that they knew too. My father’s history of relationships with his secretaries is well known, after all, and then last year he announced that she was going to be given her own room here on the ground floor.’
Finally I got the picture.
‘So you maintain that, despite the forty-year age difference, your father and his secretary Synnøve Jensen were having a sexual relationship. Is that something you know or just think?’
She flashed a self-assured smile before carrying on.
‘Something I know. My bedroom is directly above hers. The walls are quite thin, and my father was physically strong and active, despite getting on in years. His secretary was also surprisingly vocal in bed, when you consider how meek she is otherwise.’
We sat in silence for a few seconds. I studied the young Maria Irene Schelderup’s face for any sign of emotion. I expected some anger towards her father for his obvious betrayal of her mother. But I could detect nothing, not even when she carried on talking, not in her face, her voice or her body language.
‘So, the situation with the secretary is also an unknown now. If she has been left a substantial sum in his will, then it is possible that he promised it to her and so she also has a possible motive.’
I had to agree with her, but swiftly added: ‘In other words, soon your conclusion will be that everyone has a motive – except you, who only maybe has one?’
She smiled her predator smile again.
‘Your words. I suppose what I am saying in as many words is that everyone around that table has a possible motive. There was some old stuff between my father and his sister Magdalena, and the Wendelboes, and even Mr Herlofsen. Something to do with the war that was never mentioned, which I therefore know nothing about. You will have to ask those who were there about that. Depending on the content of the will, I may also have a motive, in which case I still maintain that I did not avail myself of the opportunity.’
