The Snowman ( PDFDrive )

wasn’t sending false signals. Or real ones.
The lift doors finally slid open, and her hips sashayed down the corridor.
‘Reception in five,’ Harry said.
‘What’s the timetable?’ he asked when they were sitting in the lobby six minutes later.
Katrine leaned forward from the deep armchair and flicked through her leather-bound diary. She
had changed into an elegant grey suit, which meant she immediately blended in with the hotel’s
business clientele.
‘You meet Knut Müller-Nilsen, the head of the Missing Persons and Violent Crime Unit.’
‘You’re not coming with me?’
‘I’d have to say hello and chat to everyone, and the whole day would be wasted. In fact, it would be
good if you didn’t mention my name at all. They’d just be pissed off I hadn’t dropped by. I’m
heading for Øyjordsveien to have a word with the last witness to see Rafto.’
‘Mm. And where was that?’
‘By the docks. The witness saw him leave his car and walk into Nordnes Park. No one returned for
the car, and the area was gone through with a fine-tooth comb without yielding a thing.’
‘Then what do we do?’ Harry ran his thumb and middle finger along his jaw, thinking he should
have shaved before making a trip out of town.
‘You go through the old reports with the detectives who were on the case and are still at the station.
Get up to speed. Try to see it from a different angle.’
‘No,’ Harry said.
Katrine looked up from her diary.
‘The detectives at the time drew their own conclusions and will just defend them,’ Harry explained.
‘I prefer to read the reports in peace and quiet in Oslo. And to spend my time here getting to know
Gert Rafto a bit better. Can we see his possessions anywhere?’
Katrine shook her head. ‘His family gave everything he owned to the Salvation Army. It wasn’t a
great deal apparently. Some furniture and clothes.’
‘What about where he lived or stayed?’
‘He lived alone in a flat in Sandviken after his divorce, but it was sold ages ago.’
‘Mm. And there’s no childhood home, country cottage or cabin that’s still in the family?’
Katrine hesitated. ‘The reports mentioned a little cabin in the police summer-house quarter, on the
island of Finnøy in Fedje. The cabins stay in the family in such cases, so maybe we can see it. I’ve
got Rafto’s wife’s telephone number. I’ll give her a ring.’