‘Initial inbreeding isn’t necessarily so unfortunate, it can, on the contrary, yield excellent results. It is through persistent inbreeding that family defects arise. I had noticed there were some distinguishing features that I and Uncle Fredric shared. Small things, like the way we both put our middle finger to the corner of our mouth when thinking. And larger things, like us both having an exceptionally high IQ. But it was only when I began to immerse myself in animals and breeding that I suspected there was a connection and sent in both our DNA for testing. I’d harboured thoughts of revenge long before that. I was going to humiliate my stepfather the way he’d humiliated me. And he was indirectly responsible for the death of my mother. But now I realised the two of them were to blame, Uncle Fredric had also left my mother and me in the lurch. So, I gave him a box of chocolates for Christmas. Uncle Fredric loves chocolates. I’d injected a subspecies of Angiostrongylus cantonensis into them, a rat lungworm that is especially fond of human brains and which is only to be found in the slime of the Mount Kaputar slug. The result is a slow, agonising death with increasing dementia. But I can see I’m boring you. So let’s cut to the chase. I spent years developing my own subspecies of Toxoplasma gondii, and once it was ready the plan also began to form. The first and biggest problem proved to be getting close enough to Markus Røed to plant the parasite in him. Wealthy people are so much less accessible, so much harder to get close to, as a journalist you’d know all about that, when you’re trying to get a few words out of rock stars, right? The solution cropped up more or less by accident. I’m not the kind of person who goes out on the town much, but I’d got wind of a party being held on the rooftop where Røed lives. Up there...’ Prim pointed out the window. ‘And at the same time, through my job, I happened to come across a batch of green cocaine that I realised I could skim. You’re familiar with the expression? Yes, so I mixed it with my gondii friends. Not much, just enough to be sure it would have the desired effect once Røed consumed it. The plan was to wait for a couple of days after the party and then visit him again. That would be enough for him to get a scent of me, of the primary host, and be unable to reject me. On the contrary, he’d have done exactly what I asked of him, because from then on, he’d only have had one thought on his mind. Having me. I may no longer have had that little boy’s arse he wanted, but no one with gondii in their brain can resist the primary host.’
The Aune group was once more gathered round the bed in room 618.
Harry had explained to them how the case now appeared in a fresh light.
‘But that can’t be bloody right,’ Øystein exclaimed. ‘Bertine had a bit of Selmer’s skin between her teeth. So where did that come from? Maybe she screwed him earlier on the day she went missing?’
Harry shook his head. ‘The Greenhorn planted it. Just like he planted Røed’s saliva on Susanne’s breast.’
‘How?’ Truls asked.
‘I don’t know. But he must have. He did it to mislead us. And it worked.’
‘Fine in theory,’ Øystein said. ‘But running around planting DNA. Who the fuck does that?’
‘Mm.’ Harry looked thoughtfully at Øystein.
