The Snowman ( PDFDrive )

Reality seemed to dawn on Skarre and his face crumpled in horror. ‘Oh, bloody hell ’
‘Sorry,’ Hagen said. ‘Can anyone explain to me what you’re talking about?’
‘This is something we occasionally experience with suicides,’ Harry said. ‘The poor soul sucks the
air out of the barrel before shooting himself. The vacuum causes there to be less ’ He searched for
the word. ‘. soiling. What happened here is probably that Rafto was ordered to suck out the air.’
Lepsvik shook his head. ‘And a policeman like Rafto must have known exactly why.’
Hagen paled. ‘But how how on earth do you make a man suck ?’
‘Perhaps he was given a choice,’ Harry suggested. ‘There are worse ways of dying than shooting
yourself through the mouth.’ A stunned silence fell over them. And Harry let it fill the void for a
few seconds before going on.
‘So far we’ve never found the bodies. Rafto was also hidden, but he would have been found quickly
enough, had it not been for relatives shunning the cabin. This leads me to believe that Rafto was not
part of the killer’s project.’
‘And you believe this is a serial killer?’ There was no defiance in the Chief Superintendent’s tone,
just a wish to have this confirmed.
Harry nodded.
‘If Rafto is not part of this so-called project, what could the motive be?’
‘We don’t know, but when a detective is killed it’s natural to think that he’s come to represent a
threat for the killer.’
Espen Lepsvik coughed. ‘Sometimes, the way bodies are treated can tell us something about the
motive. In this case, for example, the nose has been replaced with a carrot. In other words, he’s
thumbing his nose at us.’
‘Making fun of us?’ Hagen asked.
‘Perhaps he’s telling us not to stick our noses in?’ Holm suggested tentatively.
‘Exactly!’ Hagen exclaimed. ‘A warning to others to keep their distance.’
The Chief Superintendent lowered his head and looked at Harry from the corner of his eye. ‘What
about the stitched-up mouth?’
‘A message: keep your mouth shut,’ Skarre crowed.
‘Right!’ Hagen exclaimed. ‘If Rafto was a rotten apple he and the killer were probably in cahoots in
some way, and Rafto was threatening to expose him.’
They all looked at Harry who had not responded to any of the suggestions.
‘Well?’ growled the Chief Superintendent.