Twenty-Four
Monday 5th October
‘Oliver Lund? It’s Sara Pearson from the London office of CSH. You advised me on a case last year?’ I said, clutching my phone tightly and hiding behind a tree. I’d had a sleepless night and couldn’t sit back and do nothing while Tore’s world fell apart. Especially when it was all my fault.
‘Hei, Sara. Yes, of course I remember you. How are things over there? I hear it’s hard going?’
‘I’m not in work at the moment, but everything was fine a few weeks ago.’
‘Ah, well that makes sense. It’s going down with you out of office.’ He chuckled. ‘I heard you were very impressive in court on the Danny Jackson case.’
I flushed with pride. I had been particularly excellent that week. ‘Thank you. He’s back in Mauritius now and probably on the rum already, if I know him.’
‘It’s hard in these fraud cases for people to understand that we are there to focus on the law and not on the crime – that’s what they pay us for.’
‘To game the system in their favour. Well, we certainly did a good job for Danny.’
‘Absolutely. Now what can I do for you? Is everything OK?’
‘Not really, no. I’m on holiday near Bergen, at a retreat called Firefly Forest and a legal situation has come up. I was hoping to pick your brains on local property law.’
‘Of course. Tell me the problem.’
‘It’s an ownership question that needs digging into, but the scenario is this: a covenant agreement was struck years ago between the ancestors of the Nilsens who run the retreat, and the ancestors of the Bakkens who own the land it’s built on. The agreement states that they each bring their half to the party – the land plus the work efforts – and as long as the retreat makes enough money to wash its face and supports the people who find their way there, the two families share any profits and the legacy of good. In perpetuity.’
‘Makes sense,’ Oliver said. ‘I’ve heard of similar situations and it’s fairly straightforward if there is a covenant in place.’
‘The complication is that there’s an interested buyer who is speaking directly with the Bakkens about a possible sale, which will of course affect the Nilsens’ livelihoods and business.’
‘Hmm. These old agreements can get messy. It often depends on who is trying to break it and why. Do you know what this buyer wants to do with the land?’
‘Yes,’ I said, miserably. ‘He wants to chop the trees down and build houses.’
‘Residential?’ Oliver asked.
‘I don’t think so. More likely to be holiday homes.’
‘Which could be argued as good or bad. I’d need to understand the details and read the proposal. Have you got anything you can send me?’
‘Yes!’ I lied, desperate to secure his help. ‘I’ll email everything across. The signal is terrible here, so it’ll be later today once I get into the office. Is that OK?’
‘Sure. No rush my side. Send it on when you can and I’ll take a look.’
‘Thank you, Oliver, I really appreciate it.’
The good news was I had him on side, the bad news was I had nothing to send him other than the few snatches of conversation I’d overheard from Mark. The farmhouse door flew open and an angry Jonas marched down the path, followed by Henrik, who was trying to calm him down.
‘That asshole is not leaving until he tells us everything,’ Jonas said. ‘Filip sent a text to say he’ll be at the jetty in ten minutes. As ifMr Pearsonthought he could book a private speedboat and disappear without us knowing. We need to straighten out a few things before we see him off the premises.’
‘Pappadoesn’t want any bad publicity, remember, so try and keep it civil.’
Jonas laughed. ‘No chance, bro. He lost the right to civil when he tried to steal our home. Screwing us behind our backs while we walked him over hot coals.’
‘I get it, but let’s stay focused on what we need from him. And that’s the proposal and plans.’
‘Which I will help myself to, while you hold him down.’
They walked out of earshot.Shitttt, this was an actual nightmare. Maybe I could influence the situation somehow. Get Mark to see sense and talk his client out of it. I tiptoed out of my phone signal nook and followed them down to the water, hiding tree to tree as they walked through the forest and down to the jetty. Filip was heading straight towards us in his speedboat while Mark paced anxiously, his bags packed next to him. I hurried the rest of the way to bear witness to Jonas and Henrik seeing Mark ‘off the premises’ and presumably throwing him in the sea. For the courts.
