Gabriel Mørk was sitting very still on his chair at the back of the incident room. He had not slept for twenty-four hours, yet he did not feel tired. He had been sick several times during the night and his stomach was completely empty, yet he was not hungry. He was in shock; he must be. The day before, when Skunk had texted him, turned up outside his office out of the blue, insisting on a meeting, Gabriel had been intrigued, of course he had, but nothing could have prepared him for this.
Munch was standing by the projector, and he looked exhausted. They had not slept either, Mia and Munch; they had been with him in the office all night. Anette Goli had turned up around 3 a.m., Curry shortly afterwards, smelling strongly of booze. The only people who had yet to see the film were Kim Kolsø, Ylva and Ludvig Grønlie.
‘As you will all be aware now’ – Munch coughed, and looked across at the subdued gathering – ‘Gabriel was contacted last night by an old friend, called …’
Munch glanced quickly at Gabriel.
‘Skunk,’ the young man mumbled.
‘An old hacker friend called Skunk, who has found a film on the Internet, on some kind of secret server. And, from what I can gather, this hacker isn’t particularly keen on the police, so it’s entirely thanks to Gabriel that we have got it at all.’
They turned towards him now, the others, and nodded. He thought he was going to throw up again and was embarrassed at himself. He had felt proud after the trip to Hurumlandet Nurseries, a step up the ladder, no longer the newbie, and now he was right back to where he had started, on the pavement outside six months ago. A kid, that was all he was, who had thrown up at the terrible realization of what they were dealing with. How unprofessional. He rested his hands in his lap and tried to breathe calmly.
‘As you know,’ Munch continued, ‘Camilla Green’s physical condition when she was found was much worse than when she disappeared. She was extremely thin, emaciated, she had blisters and grazing on her hands and knees, and bruises everywhere. The post mortem also showed that her stomach contents consisted exclusively of pellets, some kind of animal feed, and thanks to Gabriel, we’re about to find out why.’
Gabriel saw Ylva turn to him with a mixture of curiosity and fear. The newest member of the team looked very uncomfortable. Again, he could sympathize.
‘Ludvig, please would you turn out the lights?’ Munch said.
Ludvig got up and flicked the switch, and the room fell quiet as Munch pressed the button and the short film clip started playing on the overhead screen in front of them.
Gabriel forced himself to watch it. Maybe he could be like Mia and Munch this time. Watch it through police eyes. Look for evidence. Not see it like a normal human being, like the first time he had watched it.
The screen was black to begin with. But then she appeared, Camilla Green. It looked like she was in a basement. And as the light slowly brightened, a big wheel emerged. It was inside something that could be a cage. For a mouse or hamster, perhaps, but everything was scaled up, designed for a human being. It might have been funny if it had not been the saddest thing Gabriel had ever seen. Camilla Green was sitting inside the wheel, and at first Gabriel had not been able to understand what was going on, but his confusion had not lasted long. When Camilla Green crawled slowly inside the big, heavy wheel, its rotation made the light come on.
She was being held prisoner.
In a basement. In a cage. With no light.
Gabriel had to look away.
As Camilla Green desperately made the big wheel turn faster and faster, the struggle evident in every movement, they could see that someone had painted some letters in white on the grey wall behind her.
The chosen one.
Camilla managed to get the wheel up to a constant speed. One hand in front of the other, as fast and as steadily as she could. The team began to exchange confused looks. Why would she try to go faster? The light had already come on. Then suddenly a hatch opened and something fell onto the floor.
Food.
That was why she ran so hard.
To eat.
Gabriel could not remember when he had returned his gaze to the screen.
Pellets.
He could hold it back no longer. He could not bear to watch another second. Gabriel ran from the room, pushed open the door to the lavatory and slumped to his knees in front of the bowl as stomach acid surged up and out through his mouth and he started sweating profusely.
‘Are you all right, Gabriel?’
The young hacker was incapable of saying anything. He barely registered that the door behind him had opened and that Mia had entered.
Mia stuck a hand towel under the tap and passed it to him, then knelt down beside him while he pressed the cold flannel against his face to cool down.
‘I’m all right,’ he muttered gingerly.
It was not the image of himself he wanted to convey. To Mia Krüger, of all people. A rookie unable to cope with the realities of the job. But it was too late to worry about that now; the night had been far too long.
‘I think you had better go home,’ his colleague said amicably. ‘We’ll do it later.’
Gabriel wiped his forehead with the soothing towel again, not sure what she meant.
‘Do what?’ he asked, looking up at her.
Mia put her hand on his shoulder.
‘I know it’s hard, but we need to know, don’t we?’
‘Know what?’ Gabriel said, perplexed.
‘Where he got it from. Your friend. Skunk. We need to know as quickly as possible.’
‘Yes,’ Gabriel nodded carefully, although he knew full well that that would be impossible.