The Snowman ( PDFDrive )

‘It’s a sort of very thin, flexible blade type thing you can put inside a cow, kind of round the calf,
like a noose. And then you pull and wriggle the blade to and fro, and cut through the body.’ Holm
demonstrated with his hands. ‘Until it’s in two bits, and you can take out half the carcass. And then
as a rule the problem’s solved. As a rule. Because the blade sometimes cuts the mother too as it
goes to and fro inside her, and the mother bleeds to death. So a couple of years ago some French
farmers came up with a practical gadget which solved the problem. A looped electrical filament that
can burn through flesh. There’s a plain plastic handle with a dead thin, super-strong metal wire
attached to each end of the handle, forming a loop you can put round whatever you want to cut off.
Then you switch on the heat. The wire is white hot in fifteen seconds, and you press a button on the
handle and the loop begins to tighten and cut through the body. There’s no sideways movement and
thus less chance of cutting the mother. And if you should cut her, there are two further advantages
–’
‘Are you trying to sell us this instrument or what?’ Skarre asked with a grin, searching Harry’s eyes
for a reaction.
‘Because of the temperature the wire is perfectly sterile,’ Holm continued. ‘It doesn’t transmit
bacteria or poisoned blood from the carcass. And the heat cauterises the small arteries and restricts
the bleeding.’
‘OK,’ Harry said. ‘Do you know for certain that he used a tool like this?’
‘No,’ Holm said. ‘I could’ve tested it if I’d got hold of one, but the vet I spoke to said that electric
cutting loops haven’t been approved by the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture yet.’ He looked at
Harry with an expression of deep and heartfelt regret.
‘Well,’ Harry said, ‘if it isn’t the murder weapon, it would at least explain how he could have cut
off her head while standing in the stream. What do the rest of you think?’
‘France,’ Katrine Bratt said. ‘First the guillotine and now this.’
Skarre puckered his lips and shook his head. ‘Sounds too weird. Anyway, where did he get hold of
this loop gizmo? If it isn’t approved, I mean?’
‘We can start looking there,’ Harry said. ‘Would you check that out, Skarre?’
‘I said I don’t believe all that stuff.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t make myself clear. I meant to say: Check it out, Skarre. Anything else, Holm?’
‘No. There must’ve been masses of blood at the crime scene, but the only blood we found was in
the barn after the chickens had been slaughtered. Talking of the chickens, their body temperatures
and the room temperature showed that they were killed at approximately half past six. Bit unsure
though cos one chicken was warmer than the other two.’
‘Must’ve been feverish,’ Skarre laughed.
‘And the snowman?’ Harry asked.
‘You don’t find fingerprints on piles of snow crystals changing form from one hour to the next, but
you ought to be able to find scraps of skin, since the crystals are sharp. Possibly fibres from gloves