Unknown

'Do you know how long she's been dead?'

'Not yet. The autopsy report will tell us that.'

'Surely you must be able to say something about how long she'd been dead when she was found. Was it a matter of an hour? Or had she been dead since she disappeared?'

'This much I can tell you: It was most likely that she'd been dead at least twenty-four hours.'

'Is it a question of one killer, or were there more?'

'We don't know at the present moment.'

'So there could have been more than one?'

'That's possible.'

'Do you have any suspects?'

'Not at the moment, no.'

'Are there any witnesses?'

'We've been knocking on doors all day, and we're compiling statements from everyone in the area who might have seen something.'

'Martina Flochten was half Swedish, and her mother was from Gotland. Is that significant?'

'Of course we're working on a broad front and will follow up on all possible leads.'

'Does she have any relatives here on Gotland?'

'No. Her only relatives here were her maternal grandparents, and they've been dead for years.'

'Has the area out there been cordoned off?'

'The wooded area where the body was found has been cordoned off.'

'For how long?'

'Until the technical work is completed.'

'How much contact did she have with Gotland?'

'She used to come here once a year on vacation.'

'What could be a possible motive for the murder?'

'It's much too early to speculate about a motive,' snapped Knutas.

'Was Martina Flochten known to the Dutch or Swedish police?'

'No, not as far as we know.'

'She'd been missing for several days-why wasn't Vivesholm searched by the police earlier? It's so close to Warfsholm, after all.'

'We didn't see any reason to do so. The police have to work on one area at a time, so we start with the location where the individual was last seen, and then we gradually expand our efforts from there.'

'Was there any evidence left by the murderer?'

'A perpetrator always leaves evidence. I can't discuss what it might be, since the investigation is ongoing.'

'What are the police going to do now?'

'As I said, we're working hard to interview people and take their statements. The police would like to appeal to the public for any tips, both from those who were at the Warfsholm hotel on the evening when the Eldkvarn concert took place, and from others who may have seen Martina with someone who could be of interest to the investigation. It's especially important at this early stage.'

Knutas stood up to indicate that the press conference was over. He ignored the flood of questions directed at him. Various journalists began taking him aside for separate interviews.

An hour later the whole spectacle was finally over, and he could escape to his office. In all his years as a police officer he had always found it trying to deal with the press whenever major events occurred. It was a balancing act, trying to tell reporters enough without giving away too many details that might harm the investigation.

When Knutas was back in his office, the ME called. He had finished examining the body at the site.

'I must say that I've never seen anything like this before. We're dealing with a truly deviant killer.'

'We've already realized that.'

'I've done a preliminary examination, and I don't want to draw any definite conclusions, but there are a number of things that I can tell you.'

'Let's hear it.'

'I would say that she's been dead for at least three or four days.'

'So it's possible that she was killed on the same night that she disappeared?'

'That might very well be. She was subjected to several types of violence, and I won't be completely sure of the cause of death until after the autopsy. Judging by the look of the injuries, I would guess that she was not killed by the knife wound in her abdomen.'

'Sohlman suspected as much.'

'On the other hand, there are signs that she may have died from drowning.'

'Is that right?'

'I've found residue of a certain type of foam. When the victim drowns, foam gets whipped up in the windpipe and lungs. It gathers around the mouth and looks a bit like egg whites that have been whipped and then hardened. In addition, she has traces of seaweed and sand in her hair, as well as under her fingernails, which indicates that the killer may have pushed her head underwater somewhere along the shore. When she struggled, she buried her fingernails in the sea floor-that's where the seaweed and sand came from. She also has hand and fingernail marks on the back of her neck and on her upper arms. I've found sand and sludge from the sea floor in her mouth. And there are tiny specks of blood in her eyes, which she could have gotten from fighting back or from lack of oxygen. As I said, I don't want to be more specific about the cause of death right now, but judging by appearances, she was dead before she was hanged from that noose. The most probable scenario is that he first drowned her by holding her head underwater. In all likelihood she was drowned somewhere else. Her body was then transported out to Vivesholm.'

'Why do you think she was killed somewhere else?'

'Simply because that type of sand isn't found out at Vivesholm.'

'So she was killed near a sandy beach?'

'Not necessarily, but the sea floor was sandy. Out at the bird promontory where she was found, it's mostly rock. She would have had more injuries to her hands if she'd been drowned there.'

'I see.'

Knutas was taking copious notes. He was impressed by how much information the ME could read from a body.

'There's one thing that surprises me. How did the perpetrator manage to hang the body up there? He must have hoisted her up in some way, or else he didn't do it alone,' the ME went on. 'She looks as if she weighs between 130 and 145 pounds, at any rate. That much dead weight is difficult, if not almost impossible, to hoist up single-handedly.'

'So you think there were more people involved?'

'Either that, or else we're dealing with a physically strong man with some sort of ingenious hoisting method.' The ME cleared his throat. 'There's something else that has me confused. It's that incision she has in her abdomen and the blood from it.'

'What about it?'

'The incision looks to be deep enough to have damaged the aorta, which would result in a great deal of blood loss. The accumulation of blood on the ground under the body should have been bigger. It's almost as if the killer collected some of the blood.'

'Is that right? Sohlman said the exact same thing about another recent case. Do you know about the horse that was decapitated a little more than a week ago?'

'Sure.'

'The perp did the same thing.'

'I didn't hear about that.' The ME sounded surprised.

'Well, it's true. According to the veterinarian who examined the horse, the blood had been collected and removed. When can we get a preliminary autopsy report?'

'The body is being taken to the lab now. I'll try to finish the whole autopsy by tomorrow, so I can fax over a