The Snowman ( PDFDrive )

‘The boy rang the bell at about a quarter past one,’ Skarre said, looking down at his notes. ‘Police
were phoned at one thirty.’
‘My husband and I went back with Jonas and searched the house first,’ Ebba Bendiksen explained.
‘Where did you look?’ Harry asked.
‘In the cellar. In the bathrooms. In the garage. Everywhere. It’s very odd that anyone would do a
runner like that.’
‘Do a runner?’
‘Disappear. Go missing. The policeman I spoke to on the phone asked if we could take care of
Jonas, and said we should ring everyone Birte knew and who she might be staying with. And then
wait until early today to find out if Birte had gone to work. In eight out of ten cases, he explained,
the missing person reappeared after a few hours. We tried to get hold of Filip –’
‘The husband,’ Skarre interjected. ‘He was in Bergen lecturing. He’s a professor of something or
other.’
‘Physics,’ Ebba Bendiksen smiled. ‘However, his mobile was switched off. And we didn’t know the
name of the hotel where he was staying.’
‘He was contacted in Bergen this morning,’ Skarre said. ‘He should be here soon.’
‘Yes, thank God,’ Ebba said. ‘So when we rang Birte’s workplace this morning and she hadn’t
turned up at the customary time, we rang you back.’
Skarre nodded in confirmation. Harry signalled that Skarre could continue his conversation with
Ebba Bendiksen, went over to the TV and sat down on the floor beside the boy. On the screen, a
wolf was lighting the fuse on a stick of dynamite.
‘Hello, Jonas. My name’s Harry. Did the other policeman tell you that things like this almost
always turn out fine? People disappear and then they turn up of their own accord?’
The boy shook his head.
‘But they do,’ Harry said. ‘If you had to guess, where do you think your mother would be now?’
The boy shrugged. ‘I don’t know where she is.’
‘I know you don’t know, Jonas. None of us does right now. But what’s the first place that would
occur to you if she wasn’t here or at work? Don’t think about whether it’s likely or not.’
The boy didn’t answer, just stared at the wolf desperately trying to throw away the stick of
dynamite that had got stuck to his hand.
‘Is there a cabin or something like that where you go?’
Jonas shook his head.