‘Just Markus Røed.’ Katrine put the indicator on and checked the mirror again. ‘You think this guy chatted up both of them at the party and arranged to go for a walk in the woods with them?’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t know, but I can’t see how it makes sense. It’s one thing Susanne heading off with a guy she’s just met at a party for an adventure in the forest. One who’s been dealing coke into the bargain. But that Bertine a week later voluntarily accompanies a man like that, one she barely knows, into the forest at Skullerud when it’s been in the newspapers that Susanne was last seen in Skullerud? At that stage Bertine would also have been aware that the three of them had been at the same party. No, Harry, I don’t buy it.’
‘OK. So what do you think?’
‘I think we’re looking at a serial rapist.’
‘Serial killer.’
‘Absolutely. Quick murders, necrophilia. A brain cut out, a head cut off, a body hung up like a slaughtered animal. That’s what I’d call a ritual murder carried out by a serial killer.’
‘Mm.’ Harry said. ‘Why condom powder?’
‘What?’
‘In these kinds of sexual offence cases you look for lubricant, not powder, when you’re trying to identify the condom, isn’t that right?’
‘Yes, but there wasn’t any lubricant used here.’
‘Exactly. You’ve worked in Vice. Don’t serial rapists — those of them smart enough to use a condom — use lubricant?’
‘Yes, but these are criminal maniacs, Harry, they don’t have a set script, and you’re just splitting hairs.’
‘You’re right,’ Harry said. ‘But I’ve yet to see or hear anything that means we can rule out that Bertine and Susanne had consensual sex with the perpetrator right before he killed them.’
‘Apart from it being... highly unusual. No? You’re the expert on serial killers here.’
Harry rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Yeah, it’s unusual. Murder after rape isn’t so unusual, either as part of the killer’s sexual fantasy or to avoid being identified. But murder after consensual sex only occurs in exceptional cases. A narcissist could kill if he’s been humiliated in relation to the act, if he’s unable to perform, for instance.’
‘The traces of a condom indicate that he managed to perform, Harry. I’ll be right back.’
Harry nodded. They had stopped on lower Hegdehaugsveien, and he watched Katrine as she walked quickly towards the gate where children in snowsuits hung over the fence waiting to be collected.
She disappeared beyond the gate, but after a few minutes she and Gert appeared, walking hand in hand. He heard the sound of an eager child’s voice. He had been a quiet child himself, apparently.
The car door opened.
‘Hi Hawny.’ Gert leaned forward from the back seat and gave Harry a hug from behind before Katrine pulled him back into the child seat.
‘Hello, old chap,’ Harry said.
‘Old chap?’ Gert said, looking at his mother.
‘He’s messing with you,’ Katrine said.
‘You messing, Hawny!’ Gert laughed heartily, and glancing in the mirror Harry gave a start as he glimpsed something familiar. Not himself. Not his father. But his mother. He had Harry’s mother’s smile.
Katrine got in behind the wheel.
‘Schrøder’s?’ she said.
Harry shook his head. ‘I’ll get out at your place, then walk.’
‘To Schrøder’s?’
Harry didn’t answer.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ she said. ‘I want to ask you for a favour.’
‘OK?’
‘You know these cross-country skiers and people who walk to the South Pole and charge a ton of money to give talks and inspire people?’
A wave caused the Nesodden ferry to rock slightly.
Harry looked around. The passengers in the seats nearby were gazing at their phones, wearing headsets, reading books or looking out at the Oslo Fjord. On their way home from work, college, a shopping trip in town. No one looked like they were on an outing with their partner.
Harry looked down at his own phone, at the latest forensic report Truls had taken a screenshot of and mailed to all of them. He had read it while eating in the canteen at the Radium Hospital, after texting Katrine to ask if she could come and pick him up. Had he felt guilty pretending not to know about it when she told him about her visit to the Forensic Medical Institute? Not really. Besides, he hadn’t needed to act like he wasn’t aware of the information about the condom powder and necrophilia, it hadn’t been in the report. Neither had it appeared in Våge’s article. In other words, Våge’s informant was not one of those who had been present at the institute, otherwise he would have had what wasn’t in the report in his story too. But Våge had included that some of the investigators believed the murder was made to look like the work of a serial killer to hide what it actually was.
Condom powder.
Harry thought about it.
Then tapped T.
‘Yeah?’
‘Hi, Truls, it’s Harry.’
‘Yeah?’
‘I won’t take up much of your time. I’ve spoken to Katrine Bratt, and it turns out that not everything the Forensic Medical Institute has found is winding up in the reports.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah. She shared one detail with me which the investigative team at Police HQ are sure to be discussing but we don’t have.’
‘Which is?’
