In the Darkness Read Online Free Page A

face and hands, over the car and the ground. It’s a bugger that he moved the car.’
    ‘At any rate, it must have been done in the heat of the moment,’ Karlsen maintained. ‘It’s no normal execution. Must have been an argument.’
    ‘Perhaps they couldn’t agree on a price,’ quipped Skarre.
    ‘People who decide to kill using a knife often get a nasty shock,’ said Sejer. ‘It’s a lot harder than they think. But let’s assume it actually was premeditated, and at the opportune moment he pulls out his knife, for example just as Einarsson is standing with his back to him, bending over the engine.’
    He narrowed his eyes as if conjuring up the scene. ‘The killer had to strike from behind, so he couldn’t easily get at what he wanted. It’s much harder to reach vital organs from behind. And maybe it took quite a number of stabs before Einarsson finally collapsed. It must have been a terrifying experience, he’s stabbing and stabbing, his victim goes on screaming, that makes him panic and he’s unable to stop. That’s what happens. In his imagination it’ll be one or two lunges. But how often has the killer been content with that in all the many knife murders we’ve dealt with? Off the top of my head I can recall one instance with seventeen stab wounds, and another with thirty-three.’
    ‘But they knew each other, do we agree on that?’
    ‘Knew and knew. They had some kind of relationship, yes.’ Sejer seated himself and put the ruler away in the drawer. ‘Well, we’ll have to begin at the beginning again. We must find out who wanted to buy that car. Use the list from October and begin at the top. It might be one of his workmates.’
    ‘The same people?’ Soot looked at him dubiously. ‘Are we going to ask the same questions all over again?’
    ‘What do you mean?’ Sejer raised an eyebrow.
    ‘I mean that we ought to be finding new people. The answers will be the same as last time. I mean, nothing’s really changed.’
    ‘Hasn’t it? Perhaps you’ve not been listening all that carefully, but we’ve actually found the victim now. Stuck like a pig. And you say nothing’s changed?’
    He fought to hold back a note of arrogance. ‘I mean, we’re not going to get different answers because of that.’
    ‘That,’ said Sejer holding back an even larger one, ‘remains to be seen, doesn’t it?’
    Karlsen closed the file with a little snap.
    *
    Sejer replaced Einarsson’s folder in the filing cabinet. He filed it next to the Durban case, and thought that now they could keep each other company. Maja Durban and Egil Einarsson. Both were dead, but no one knew why. Then he leant back in his chair and placed his long legs on the desk, patted his backside and fished out his wallet. Jammed in between his driving and skydiving licences he found the picture of his grandson, Matteus. He had just turned four, he could recognise most makes of car and had already had his first fight, which he’d lost grievously. It had been a bit of a surprise, that time he’d gone to Fornebu Airport to pick up his daughter Ingrid and son-in-law Erik, who’d been in Somalia for three years. She as a nurse, he as a Red Cross doctor. She’d been standing at the top of the aircraft steps, tanned golden all over and with her hair bleached by the sun. For one wild second it had been like seeing Elise, that first time they’d met. She carried the little boy on her arm. He was four months old at the time, chocolate brown, with crinkly hair and the darkest eyes he’d ever seen. The Somalis were a beautiful race, he thought. And he gazed at the photo for a while before replacing it. It was quiet in the Portakabins now, and in most of the large adjacent building. He pushed two fingers into his shirtsleeve and scratched his elbow. The skin flaked off. Underneath there was new, pink skin which also flaked off. He pulled his jacket off the chair back and locked up, then he paid a lightning visit to Mrs Brenningen on the