Gabriel Mørk sat in front of the monitors in his office in Mariboesgate feeling quietly pleased with himself. The young hacker had nothing but respect for Holger Munch but, as always, something had been missed during the briefing. Age. Perhaps that explained it. Munch would turn fifty-five soon, which did not make him a relic, but, at times, their boss forgot that they were living in a different age to when he first joined the force.
A seventeen-year-old girl, Camilla Green, found dead in Hurumlandet with a flower in her mouth, and no one had thought to mention social media. Gabriel had wanted to raise his hand and suggest it but had decided against doing so. Munch had been in a weird mood and Gabriel had felt that it was not the best time to lecture his boss on the modern world.
He was better off checking it out for himself, and perhaps he’d earn some praise in the process. Gabriel took a swig from the Coke can beside his keyboard and popped a fresh piece of chewing gum into his mouth. Gabriel had found several Facebook accounts under the name Camilla Green, but none of them belonged to the girl in the pictures they had seen. There was a girl from South Carolina in a bikini, an elderly woman from Florida with a picture of her cat, someone from Sweden, a girl from Hungary, but not one of them was the Camilla Green he was looking for. Strange, really, he thought to begin with, strange that she was not on Facebook, but then he had started playing with her name and, after trying several different combinations, he had finally found her.
cgreen
A Facebook account, and one on Instagram. That was all. He flicked through the Instagram pictures once again, trying to reconnect with his inner police officer, analyse what he had discovered. Because something was odd. He had noticed that immediately. There were very few postings. Very few status updates on Facebook. Not all that many pictures on Instagram. Unusual for a seventeen-year-old girl. Some selfies; ‘Bored’, was the caption under a picture which Camilla had posted of what he presumed to be her bedroom at Hurumlandet Nurseries; ‘Am riding Whirlwind tomorrow!’ below a picture of her smiling and with her thumb up, in the same bed, with the same background. Several pictures of horses. A few likes. A few comments: ‘Happy birthday!’ ‘Miss you, babe!’ But apart from that, there was very little content, and that was what had caught Gabriel’s eye, right until he scrolled down to see the dates the accounts were opened.
30 June.
The accounts were recent. Both opened on the same date. The thirtieth of June. Just three weeks before she disappeared.
Gabriel took another swig of his Coke and tried to think like Munch. Had she really only just joined social media? Or had Camilla Green deleted her old accounts and created new ones three weeks before she disappeared? Why?
Gabriel reviewed the pictures again. He was startled by a sudden knock on the door, then Mia Krüger popped her head round.
‘Are you busy? Have I caught you in the act?’
‘What?’ Gabriel was confused.
‘Secrets?’ Mia smiled.
‘What?’
‘You’re not watching porn, are you?’
‘Oh, yes, totally.’ Gabriel nodded vigorously. ‘I’m looking for pictures for Curry.’
‘Of course you are.’ Mia laughed as she unzipped her jacket. ‘So what does he want this time?’
‘Asian babes in Norwegian national costumes riding camels,’ Gabriel said, feeling the heat in his face starting to subside.
Mia laughed. ‘He’s capable of most things, isn’t he?’
‘Yeah, probably,’ Gabriel said, a little flustered as Mia looked him right in the eye.
‘So have you found her?’
Mia nodded at the pictures on the screen.
‘Yes,’ Gabriel said.
‘Munch is not exactly an Internet whizz, is he?’
‘No.’ He smiled.
‘Just as well that we have you.’ Mia smiled, too, and punched his shoulder lightly.
‘Indeed,’ Gabriel mumbled, hoping the colour would not flare up in his cheeks again.
‘So what have we got?’ Mia said, looking at the screen again.
‘One Facebook and one Instagram account.’ Gabriel brought up the two Internet pages so she could look at them side by side.
‘I can’t boast of much expertise myself,’ Mia said. ‘So, what are we looking at?’
‘New accounts.’ Gabriel cleared his throat.
‘Oh?’ Mia’s eyes widened for a moment. ‘How new?’
‘Three weeks before she disappeared.’
‘You’re kidding me?’
‘Nope.’
‘And what does that mean? I mean, to you, who’s into this?’
‘Into the Internet, you mean?’
Gabriel was starting to relax. The warmth in his cheeks had stayed away.
‘Well, I’m not a teenage girl on social media, so I wouldn’t know. Can she not just be new to the whole thing?’
Gabriel made a face. ‘Not likely.’
‘OK. How about if someone deletes their accounts and opens new ones? Why would they do that, in your opinion?’
‘There could be several reasons. It could be a coincidence, I guess. It doesn’t have to mean anything,’ Gabriel went on. ‘You might have Facebook friends you can’t be bothered to keep in touch with, but it’s awkward to unfriend them, because then you would have to explain yourself, so it’s simpler to create a new profile.’
Mia raised her eyebrows and gave a light shrug.
‘But, most of the time, it means that something has happened.’
‘Like what?’
‘Could be anything. You’ve broken up with your boyfriend and you don’t want him to know about the people you’re hanging out with now, say.’
‘“Hang out with”?’ Mia smiled. ‘Is that what you do?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Hang out with each other? Is that what people do on the Internet?’
Mia’s question belonged to someone Munch’s age. But Gabriel knew that she did not participate in social media. She was in the public eye. She valued her privacy. Years ago, there used to be Mia Krüger fan pages on Facebook.
‘Yes, when we’re not looking for Asian babes in Norwegian national costume.’ Gabriel laughed.
Mia smiled, without taking her eyes off the screen. ‘Horses?’ she said, indicating one of the pictures.
‘Yes, it looks as if she was into horse-riding.’
‘Whirlwind,’ Mia said quietly, pointing to the Facebook message.
‘Yes, got to be a horse, don’t you think?’
‘Very likely. Unless it’s a camel.’
Gabriel smiled and felt the heat return to his cheeks.
Mia got up, but remained in front of the monitors for a moment, as if pondering something. ‘OK.’ She nodded after a while. ‘Are you coming, or what?’
‘Where?’
‘We’ve received her things from the Nurseries. They back up what you have here.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Horses. I think that’s where we should start.’
Mia paused in front of the monitors again, but her mind appeared to be elsewhere.
‘So, are you coming?’ she said, after a pause.
‘Sure.’ Gabriel nodded, and followed her down the corridor to the incident room.