The Aune group was once more gathered round the bed in room 618.
Harry had explained to them how the case now appeared in a fresh light.
‘But that can’t be bloody right,’ Øystein exclaimed. ‘Bertine had a bit of Selmer’s skin between her teeth. So where did that come from? Maybe she screwed him earlier on the day she went missing?’
Harry shook his head. ‘The Greenhorn planted it. Just like he planted Røed’s saliva on Susanne’s breast.’
‘How?’ Truls asked.
‘I don’t know. But he must have. He did it to mislead us. And it worked.’
‘Fine in theory,’ Øystein said. ‘But running around planting DNA. Who the fuck does that?’
‘Mm.’ Harry looked thoughtfully at Øystein.
‘Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan at the party.’ Prim sighed. ‘While I was arranging the lines on the coffee table, the other dealer, the guy I would later read in the newspaper was called Kevin Selmer, was talking about how he’d never tried green cocaine before, only heard about it. His eyes were shining and when the lines lay ready, he dived in to snort the first one. I grabbed his arm and pulled him away — after all, I had to be sure there was enough for Røed. I clawed at him...’ Prim looked down at his hand. ‘Got blood and skin under my nails. Later, when I got home, I picked it out and preserved it. You never know when you might have use for that sort of thing. Anyway, the problems at the party just continued. Røed insisted that his two female friends each snort a line before him. I didn’t want to risk raising any objections, but at least the girls were well mannered enough to do the two thinner lines of the three I had arranged. When it was Røed’s turn, his wife, Helene, walked in and started giving him a telling-off, and maybe that was what stressed him out and caused him to sneeze and blow away the cocaine. That was bad, I didn’t have any more with me. So I ran to the kitchen worktop, found a dishcloth and cleaned the cocaine up off the table and the floor. Showed the dishcloth to Røed and told him there was enough there for a line. But he wouldn’t hear of it, said it was full of fucking snot and spit, and that he’d get some off K, Kevin that is, instead. Kevin was mad at me, so I told him maybe he could get a taste another time. He said he’d like that, that he didn’t do drugs, but that everyone had to test things once. He wouldn’t tell me his name or where he lived, but that I could find him at Jernbanetorget during normal working hours if I wanted to trade a little of my cocaine for his. I said yeah, sure, figured I’d never see him again. In any event, the party had been a fiasco, and I went back to the kitchen worktop to rinse the cloth and leave it when I noticed something on the door of the fridge. A theatre ticket to Romeo and Juliet. Like the ones Røed’s wife had handed out to some of us on the rooftop terrace. I’d stuffed the one I’d been given into my pocket without any intention of using it, and I’d seen Kevin getting one too. Anyway, while I was standing there, my mind began hatching a plan B. And my mind works quickly, Våge. It’s incredible how many moves ahead a brain can think out when under pressure. And mine was — like I’ve said — both fast and under pressure. I don’t know how long I stood there, scarcely more than a minute, perhaps two. Then I stuffed the cloth in my pocket and approached the girls. First one, then the other. They were favourably disposed towards me after the cocaine I’d given them, and I pumped them for as much information as possible. Not personal stuff, but the kind of things that could tell me where I might find them. Susanne wondered why I still wore a face mask. Bertine wanted more cocaine. But in both cases other men moved in and it was obvious that they were more interested in them than in someone like me. I went home happy, however; after all, I knew it would only be a matter of days until the parasites reached their brains, until they’d be screaming within like little girls in front of a boyband when they caught my scent.’ Prim laughed and raised his glass to Våge.
‘So the question is,’ Harry said, ‘where do we start looking for the Greenhorn?’
Truls grunted.
‘Yes, Truls?’
Truls made a few more sounds before he managed to speak. ‘If he’s managed to get a hold of green cocaine, we need to check the people who were near the seizure before it was sent for analysis. By that I mean people at the airport and at evidence storage. And, yes, me and the ones who drove it from Gardermoen to Police HQ. But also the guys who transported it from the evidence storage to Krimteknisk.’
‘Whoa,’ Øystein said. ‘We don’t know for sure that that seizure was the only batch of green cocaine to have come into the country.’
‘Truls is right,’ Harry said. ‘First we search in the light.’
‘As I suspected, I didn’t get another chance to get close to Røed,’ Prim said with a sigh. ‘I’d mixed all the parasites I had into the cocaine and those in my own body had been killed off by my immune system and a slight overdose of insecticide. So, in order to infect Røed I needed the parasites in the girls before their immune systems put paid to them. In other words, I had to eat some of the girls’ brains and eyes. I opted for Susanne, because I knew the gym where she worked out. Given that the human sense of smell is about as strong as that of a mouse, I had to enhance my appeal a tad. So I smeared myself with intestinal juices distilled from my own excrement.’
Prim smiled broadly and looked up. Våge didn’t return the smile, just stared at him with what looked like disbelief.
‘I waited for her outside the gym, and I was excited. I’d tested the parasite on animals that usually shy away from humans, like foxes and deer, and they had been attracted to me, especially the fox. But I couldn’t know for sure if it would work on people. She came out and I could tell straight away she was attracted. I arranged to meet her at the car park by the forest trails in Skullerud. When she didn’t turn up on time I wondered if I’d made a mistake, if she’d got her wits back about her when she no longer had the smell of my intestines in her nostrils. But then she appeared, and I was exultant, believe you me.’