The Leopard(81)

‘Why?’ Kaja asked, sipping water from her glass. ‘From tomorrow we’ll be working on other cases.’

‘Just for fun.’

‘Does profiling of serial killers come under your definition of fun?’

Harry sucked on a toothpick. ‘I know there’s a good answer to that, but I can’t think of it.’

‘You’re sick.’

‘So who is he?’

‘It’s still a he, first off. And still a serial killer. I don’t necessarily think Adele was number one.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because it was so flawless that he must have kept a clear head. The first time you kill you’re not so clear-headed. Besides, he hid her so well that we definitely were not intended to find her. That suggests he may be behind many of the present missing persons statistics.’

‘Good. More.’

‘Erm . . .’

‘Come on. You just said that he made a good job of hiding Adele Vetlesen. The first of the murder victims we know anything about. How do the other murders develop?’

‘He becomes bolder, more self-assured. He stops hiding them. Charlotte is found behind a car in the forest and Borgny in a cellar beneath a city centre office block.’

‘And Marit Olsen?’

Kaja mulled this over. ‘It’s too overblown. He’s lost control, his grip is going.’

‘Or . . .’ Harry said, ‘… he’s gone up to the next level. He wants to show everyone how clever he is, so he starts exhibiting his victims. The murder of Marit Olsen in Frogner Lido is a huge scream for attention, but there are few indications of failing control in the execution. The rope he used was at worst careless, but otherwise he left no clues. Disagree?’

She deliberated and shook her head.

‘Then there’s Elias Skog,’ Harry said. ‘Anything different there?’

‘He tortures the victim with a slow death,’ Kaja said. ‘The sadist in him reveals itself.’

‘A Leopold’s apple is also an instrument of torture,’ Harry said. ‘But I agree with you that this is the first time we’ve seen sadism. At the same time, it’s a conscious choice; he reveals himself, he doesn’t let others do it. He is still directing the show, he’s in charge.’

The coffee pot and cups were dumped down in front of them.

‘But . . .’ Kaja said.

‘Yes?’

‘Doesn’t it jar a bit that a sadistic killer would leave the crime scene before he can witness the victim’s sufferings and final death? According to the landlady, she could hear banging noises from the bathroom after the guest had gone. He ran off … funny, eh?’

‘Good point. So what have we got? A fake sadist. And why does he fake it?’

‘Because he knows we’ll try to profile him, the way we’re doing now,’ Kaja said eagerly. ‘And then we’ll go looking for him in the wrong places.’

‘Mm. Maybe. A sophisticated killer, if so.’

‘What do you think, oh, venerable wise one?’

Harry poured the coffee. ‘If this is really a serial killer, I think the murders are well spread out.’

Kaja leaned across the table, and her pointed teeth glistened as she whispered: ‘You think it might not be a serial killer?’

‘Well, there’s a signature missing. Usually, there are special aspects of the murder that trigger a serial killer, and thus certain things that recur throughout. Here we have no indications that the killer did anything sexual during the killing. And there’s no similarity in the methods used, apart from Borgny and Charlotte both being murdered with a Leopold’s apple. The crime scenes are quite different, and so are the victims. Both sexes, different ages, different backgrounds, different physiques.’

‘But they have not been selected at random; they spent the same night in the same cabin.’

‘Precisely. And that’s why I’m not absolutely convinced we’re up against a classic serial killer. Or, rather, not one with a classic motive to kill. For serial killers, the killing itself is generally enough of a motive. If, for example, the victims are prostitutes. It doesn’t really matter whether they are sinners, just that they are easy prey. I know of only one serial killer who had criteria for the selection of individual victims.’

‘The Snowman.’

‘I don’t think a serial killer chooses his victims from a random page of a cabin guest book. And if anything happened at Håvass to give the killer a motive, we’re not talking about classic serial murders. Besides, the move to show himself was too quick for the usual serial killer.’

‘What do you mean?’