The Snowman ( PDFDrive )

letting them know he was working away from the office. There was a lot of investigating left to do
on the Snowman case even though they had found the killer.
But the Chief Superintendent had made up his mind. ‘Gunnar, we’ve come to the end of the road as
far as Hole is concerned.’
‘He’s our best detective, Torleif.’
‘And the worst representative for our force. Do you want that kind of role model for our young
officers, Gunnar? The man’s an alcoholic. Everyone in-house knows he was drinking at Fenris, and
that he hasn’t turned up for work since. If we tolerate that, we’re setting a very low standard and the
damage will be practically irreparable.’
‘But dismissal? Can’t we—?’
‘No more warnings. The regulations regarding civil servants and alcohol abuse are abundantly
clear.’
This conversation was still reverberating around the POB’s head as he knocked on the Chief
Superintendent’s door once again.
‘He’s been seen,’ Hagen said.
‘Who?’
‘Hole. Li rang me to say he’d seen him go into his office and close the door behind him.’
‘Right,’ said the Chief Superintendent, getting to his feet. ‘Then let’s go and have a chat with him
straight away.’
They stomped through Crime Squad, the red zone on the sixth floor of Police HQ. And staff, as
though scenting something in the air, came to the doors of their offices, poked their heads out and
watched the two men walking side by side with stern, closed faces.
When they reached the door labelled 616, they stopped. Hagen took a deep breath.
‘Torleif ’ he began, but the Chief Superintendent had already gripped the door handle and thrust it
open.
They stood in the doorway, their eyes wide with disbelief.
‘Good God,’ whispered the Chief Superintendent.
Harry Hole, in a T-shirt, sat behind his desk with an elastic band tightened around his forearm, his
head bent forward. A syringe hung from the skin directly under the elastic band. The contents were
transparent and even from the door they could see several red dots where the needle had punctured
the milky-white arm.
‘What the hell are you doing, man?’ hissed the Chief Superintendent, pushing Hagen in front of him
and slamming the door behind them.
Harry’s head bobbed up, and he looked at them from miles away. Hagen observed that Harry was