They all turned to the door, where two nurses were standing.
‘We think it’s nice that Ståle gets so many visitors, but we can’t allow him and Jibran to be disturbed by—’
‘Apologies, Kari,’ Aune said. ‘Things can get a little heated when inheritance settlements are being discussed, you know. Don’t you think, Jibran?’
Jibran looked up and removed his headphones. ‘What?’
‘Are we disturbing you?’
‘Not at all.’
Aune smiled to the older nurse.
‘Well, in that case...’ she said, her lips pursed, as she looked reprovingly at Truls, Øystein and Harry before closing the door behind her.
Katrine looked down at the bodies of Susanne and Bertine. As always, it struck her how forsaken corpses looked when laid out like this, how it could make you believe in the existence of a soul. Something she definitely didn’t believe in, but — which was after all the incentive behind all religions and mysticism — hoped for. The two women were naked, their skin shades of white, blue, and also black, due mainly to blood and bodily fluids having sunk to the lowest-lying parts of the body. Decomposition had set in, and Bertine’s lack of a head reinforced the feeling they were looking at statues, lifeless objects given form by something living. There were seven living people in the autopsy room: Katrine and the pathologist, Skarre from Crime Squad, Sung-min Larsen, a female detective from Kripos, Alexandra Sturdza and another post-mortem technician.
‘We haven’t found any signs of violence or a struggle prior to death,’ the pathologist said. ‘Causes of death. Susanne received a cut across the throat, severing her carotid artery. Bertine was probably strangled. I say probably because many of the indications we would have found if we had her head are absent. But the marks on the lower part of her neck indicate asphyxiation with a strap or cord resulting in hypoxia. There were no traces of any substances in their blood or urine to suggest they were drugged. Congealed spit and mucus was found on one of the victim’s nipples.’
She pointed to the body of Susanne.
‘It has, as far as I know, already been analysed...’
‘Yes,’ Alexandra said.
‘Beyond that, we haven’t found DNA material on the victims. As there is a suspicion of rape, we’ve paid particular attention to looking for traces of that. There are no marks from fingers holding tightly on the arms, legs or throat, no bite marks or suction marks. No wounds or bruising to the wrists or ankles. One victim has no head, so we can’t say anything about her auricle.’
‘Pardon?’ the female detective from Kripos said.
‘The outer ear,’ Alexandra said. ‘Wounding is common there with victims of violence.’
‘Or possible petechiae,’ the pathologist said, pointing at Susanne’s head. ‘The first victim didn’t exhibit it.’
‘Small, discoloured spots around the eyes or the palate,’ Alexandra explained.
‘Neither victim has visible injury to their labia minora,’ the pathologist continued.
‘The inner pudenda,’ Alexandra translated.
‘Nor were there any scratch marks from fingernails on the neck or grazing to the knees, hips or back. Otherwise, there are microscopic marks in Bertine’s vagina, but they’re of an order that may just have well occurred due to consensual sex. In short, there is no physical evidence on either of them pointing to rape.’
‘Which isn’t to say that rape
The look the pathologist gave Alexandra made Katrine suspect she might be having words with her younger colleague about role understanding after they had left.
‘So, no injuries,’ Katrine said. ‘And no semen. What then makes you so sure they both had intercourse?’
‘Prophylactic,’ said the other post-mortem technician, Helge something-or-other, a sweet guy who hadn’t said anything so far, and who Katrine had instinctively understood was at the bottom of the pecking order out of the three.
‘A condom?’ Skarre said.
‘Yes,’ Helge replied. ‘When we don’t find semen, we look for signs of a condom. Primarily traces of nonoxynol-9, the substance in the lubricant, but evidently this was a type without lubricant. Instead, we found traces from the fine powder on the condom which prevents the latex from sticking to itself. The composition of the powder is unique to every manufacturer. The powder on this brand — Bodyful — was the same for Susanne and Bertine.’
‘Is that a common powder?’ Sung-min asked.
‘Neither common nor uncommon,’ Helge said. ‘Of course, it’s entirely possible they didn’t have intercourse with the same man, but...’
‘I see,’ Sung-min said. ‘Thanks.’
‘Based on these findings, is there any way to tell when intercourse occurred?’ Katrine asked.
‘No,’ the pathologist said firmly. ‘Everything we’ve told you, minus the details about the condom powder, you can find in the report we placed in the case file on BL96 just before you arrived. OK?’
The ensuing pause was interrupted by Helge, his voice more cautious now.
