The Snowman ( PDFDrive )

‘Sonja Henie Room on the first. But I reckon it’s finished now, I’m afraid.’
‘Mm. Seen anything of Arve Støp?’
‘Støp went home early. What do you want with him?’
‘No. Was he alone?’
‘To all outward appearances.’
The inspector pulled up sharply and turned to him. ‘What do you mean?’
Odin Nakken angled his head. He had no idea what this was about, but he was in no doubt that there
was something.
‘A rumour was going round that he was negotiating with a pretty foxy lady. With fuck-me eyes.
Nothing we can print, more’s the pity.’
‘So?’ growled the inspector.
‘A woman answering the description left the party twenty minutes after Støp. She got into a taxi.’
Hole was soon walking back the same way he had come. Odin hung on his coat-tails.
‘And you didn’t follow her, Nakken?’
Odin Nakken ignored the sarcasm. It was water off a duck’s back. Now.
‘She wasn’t a celebrity, Hole. A celeb shagging a non-celeb is non-news, if I can put it like that.
Unless the lady decides to talk, of course. And this one’s long gone.’
‘What did she look like?’
‘Slim, dark. Good-looking.’
‘Clothes?’
‘Long black leather coat.’
‘Thanks.’ Hole jumped into the Amazon.
‘Hey,’ Nakken shouted. ‘What do I get in return?’
‘A good night’s sleep,’ Harry said. ‘The knowledge that you’ve helped to make our town a safer
place.’
Grimacing fiercely, Odin Nakken watched the old boar of a car embellished with rally stripes
accelerate away with a throaty roar of laughter. It was time to get out of this. Time to hand in his
notice. It was time to grow up.
‘Deadline,’ the photographer said. ‘We’ll have to go and write this shit up.’