THE CORPSE WAS so badly decomposed that Arne Falk, the forensic pathologist, was unable to determine exactly when the murder was committed. According to a preliminary estimate, the death had occurred one month ago, between the 28th and 30th of July. In all likelihood, the warm and humid weather had accelerated the rate of decomposition.
Sanna stood next to Falk as he silently examined the victim. A sweet, acrid odour pervaded the cold, white-tiled autopsy room. The air of melancholy was exaggerated by fluorescent strip lighting. She could never get used to seeing human beings murdered with such ruthless brutality. It was even worse when the identity of the victim was unknown.
On the other steel slabs lay pale, hollowed bodies with sawn open chests or abdomens and discarded surgical instruments, including scalpels, bone saws, tweezers and scissors.
The murder victim, more brightly illuminated than the other corpses, was a particularly macabre sight. His half open mouth, still partially gagged, was frozen in a convulsive scream and although the wounds on his wrists were concealed in plastic bags, the crusted ulcers on his ankles provided visible evidence of his struggle to free himself.
Sanna observed the pathologist. Falk had recently turned fifty-five and was beginning to show his age. His short hair, previously blond with just a few speckles of grey, was now completely white. However, although he had become noticeably thinner his face was still quite youthful, free from wrinkles or bags under his gentle blue eyes.
Arne Falk and Sanna Johansson had worked together for more than ten years and during this time they had become friends. What some might interpret as mutual indifference was actually a sign of a well-established relationship. There was such a depth of understanding between them that words were unnecessary and in most instances would fail to elucidate the situation. Unless Sanna had a concrete question to put to him, a simple exchange of glances would suffice.
“Do you think we’re dealing with the same attacker?”
“What?” asked Falk, as he carefully removed the man’s spleen.
“As the Gothenburg victim?”
“Yes, I heard you,” replied Falk, looking up at her. “You’ll have to wait until I’ve finished the autopsy.” He stretched his upper body and continued to work.
Sanna tried to disguise her impatience. “Anything in the penis?”
“I’ll check in a moment.” Falk placed the spleen onto a metal tray. He removed his latex gloves and washed and dried his hands thoroughly, then sprinkled a little powder onto his palm, rubbed his hands together to spread it evenly and slipped on a new pair of gloves.
“Where were we?” he said. “Oh yes, the penis… ”
Sanna smiled contentedly as Falk extracted a small piece of paper with a pair of tweezers and placed it onto a plate. The two of them peered curiously down at the item.
“What does it say?” asked Sanna.
Falk fetched a small bottle and squeezed a few drops of liquid onto the piece of paper.
Sanna stared intently at what he was doing, moving closer to get a better look.
“The letter ‘s’!” she exclaimed. “Why an ‘s’? What’s he trying to tell us?”
“Not just an ‘s’,” added Falk turning the piece of paper over.
“Hmm, it’s very blurred…”
He lifted the paper up to the light.
“It looks like an ‘t’… or maybe an ‘l’”.
She frowned.
“Why two letters this time?”
Falk turned his attention back to the corpse and continued to work.
“Asphyxia,” he said.
“What?” asked Sanna, who was preoccupied trying to remember details about the Gothenburg murder. Had they missed something? Had the pathologist remembered to inspect both sides of the piece of paper inserted into the victim’s penis? She took out a notebook and wrote a reminder.
“Death by suffocation,” explained Falk. “There are small particles of fibre in the windpipe and on the face. The attacker probably used a pillow to suffocate him.”
“So it was a quick death?”
“Well, I wouldn’t call it quick exactly. Before his executioner decided to silence him permanently, he was tortured.”
Arne Falk removed his gloves but continued to stare at the body. “He’s gone through quite an ordeal. There are burns on his throat and chest and he was obviously tied up against his will and fought to escape. I think we’re dealing with a psychopath, a person who gets their kicks out of seeing others suffer. The blisters on his sexual organs are caused by some sort of corrosive liquid. It must have been excruciatingly painful.” Falk puckered his lips in disgust. “His burns are caused by a Taser gun and, as you know, they carry a 200,000 volt charge.”
“Do we know if he was drugged?”
“Difficult to say. We’ll take all the necessary tests, but it’ll be hard to get reliable results.”
Sanna looked at him questioningly.
“There’s a lot of inner bleeding and tissue irritation in the outer anal sphincter,” added Falk. “This could indicate rape. However, there’s no trace of sperm. On the other hand, he could have been penetrated by a dildo or similar hard object.”
“Is there anything to suggest he was engaged in some kind of sex game?”
Falk removed his glasses.
“Again, it’s hard to confirm anything with the corpse in this state of decomposition.”
A long silence ensued as Sanna reflected upon Falk’s words.
Sanna turned to leave. “See you later!” she said, realising that Falk had nothing more to add. He was not a person prone to conjecture. He took his profession extremely seriously and focused strictly on the technical evidence and nothing else.
While waiting for the elevator she dug out her mobile phone from her pocket and punched in Kalle’s number.
“Do Forensics have the pillows?” she asked without bothering to say hello.
“Yes,” answered Kalle. “They took everything except the mattress. I guess they figured there was no point since any important evidence material would be on the bedspread.”
“Check out whether they’ve found anything. It looks like the killer used one of the pillows to suffocate him. If we’re lucky, their DNA will be all over it.”
“Let’s hope so, but the big question is whether we’re looking for one or two killers? It would take an extremely strong person to overpower a man that size. Could he have had an accomplice?”
“At this stage, we have to entertain every possible scenario and keep our eyes and ears open,” added Sanna. After ending the call, she glanced at the notes in her tablet computer and then dialled Javier’s number.
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