The Snowman ( PDFDrive )

man the phones today; it was a Sunday and those that were on duty were out searching for Katrine
Bratt. One of their own. It was all hush-hush, but the rumours going round suggested she might be
involved in the Snowman case.
‘How did you discover she was missing?’ Helle asked, getting ready to take notes.
‘Trygve and I have just returned from a camping trip in Nordmarka today. We’ve been away for
two days. No mobile phone, just fishing rods. She wasn’t here, no messages, and, as I said on the
phone, the door was unlocked. It’s always locked, even when she’s at home. My wife is a very
anxious woman. And none of her coats has been touched. Nor her shoes. Only her slippers. In this
weather ’
‘Have you rung everyone she knows? Including the neighbours?’
‘Of course. No one has heard from her.’
Thomas Helle took notes. A feeling had already made its presence known; a feeling of recognition.
Missing wife and mother.
‘You said your wife was an anxious woman,’ he said. ‘So who might she have opened the door to?
And who might she have let in?’
He saw father and son exchange glances.
‘Not too many people,’ the father said with conviction. ‘It must have been someone she knew.’
‘Or someone she didn’t feel threatened by, maybe,’ Helle said. ‘Like a child or a woman?’
Andreas Kvale nodded.
‘Or someone with a plausible reason for coming in. Someone from the electricity board to read the
meter, for example.’
The husband hesitated. ‘Perhaps.’
‘Have you seen anything unusual around the house?’
‘Unusual? What do you mean?’
Helle bit his lower lip. Braced himself. ‘Something that may resemble a snowman?’
Andreas Kvale looked at his son, who energetically shook his head, petrified.
‘Just so that we can eliminate that from our inquiries,’ Helle said conversationally.
The son said something. In a low mumble.
‘What?’ Helle asked.
‘He said there isn’t any more snow.’
‘No, of course not.’ Helle stuffed his notepad in his jacket pocket. ‘I’ll radio the patrol cars. If she