Helene Tursten - The Torso

Again they saw Emil move toward them with the sawed-off head held out in front of him.

“Play it slowly,” said Hannu.

They watched the replay of the horrible scene in slow motion.

“Stop!”

Peter paused the picture instantly.

“Look in the lower left-hand corner,” Hannu said and pointed at an indistinct light curvature. “Can you back up a little?”

Peter did as he was asked. Slowly, the size of the little curvature grew and became longer. It was still barely discernible down in the corner of the picture. Then it disappeared.

Peter rewound the tape and played the sequence again.

“It’s definitely the tip of a finger. The person who’s filming this scene doesn’t want the head near him,” said Hannu.

“You’re absolutely right. We’ve played it with magnification. It’s the index finger of a left hand. The entire nail is visible,” said Peter.

Peter started the tape again.

Now they watched Emil saw off Carmen’s arms and legs. When he was done, he grabbed both of the severed arms and shook them above his head in a second show of victory. His entire face was transfigured with joy.

That’s where the video ended.

“Altogether, it’s thirteen minutes,” Peter informed them.

“Does the next film show the dismemberment of Marcus Tosscander?” Irene asked.

“Yes. And they’re strikingly similar,” Peter answered.

The other video began with the same panning over the body, which was in exactly the same condition as Carmen’s had been before Emil’s appearance. Marcus was lying on a sturdy piece of particleboard that could be glimpsed under the clear plastic, resting on two trestles. Bare cement walls could be seen in the background. But this room was much smaller than the one in the first film. Irene guessed it to be a basement or a garage.

Emil was dressed in a police uniform this time as well, and he held the circular saw in his hand from the start. Now he was used to the camera and didn’t obstruct the cameraman’s view when he sawed off the head. Without changing his position vis-à-vis the camera, he held up the head and roared with laughter. Then he cut off the arms and legs. In conclusion he took one of Marcus’s legs and lifted it straight above his head. That was the final picture.

“Ten minutes,” Peter said dryly.

“Damn, this stuff is sick!” Jonny exclaimed.

Irene felt ill. At the same time she realized the importance of the videos.

“Have you been able to locate where the dismemberments took place?” she asked tensely.

“With respect to the first murder, we have a theory that the dismemberment may have taken place in an old, abandoned shipyard building. There are several of those out by Frihamnen, a few kilometers from Hellerup. That’s where the sacks were found. We have people going through all of the abandoned shipyard buildings with a fine-tooth comb. If we don’t get anything there, we’ll go through industrial sites. It’s a huge job, but we’re going to do it.”

“How about the location where Marcus was dismembered?”

“Harder. It appears to be a basement. It’s probably located in Göteborg, since he was found here.”

Irene nodded and said, “I think that’s a correct assumption. There was no reason to transport Marcus’s dismembered body to Göteborg. The risk of getting caught at customs would always exist.”

“We know that he was alive when he came to Göteborg at the beginning of March,” Jonny pointed out.

“Yes. He called Anders Gunnarsson. And according to a neighbor lady he had been in his apartment because the plants were watered and his summer clothes were gone,” Irene agreed.

Hannu had been sitting motionless during the entirety of the last film, but now he turned to Peter and said, “That means that Emil and his accomplice also came along to Göteborg.”

“I think the accomplice was already in place. He was waiting for Emil and Marcus here,” Irene said.

Jonny was still noticeably pale but now he cleared his throat and asked, “Why didn’t Marcus drive his car when he came home to pack?”

“A very good question. But that’s the obvious answer to why we haven’t gotten any positive leads when we asked the different ferry lines about the car. His red American vehicle would be very conspicuous,” said Irene.

“That’s why,” Hannu said.

The other three turned their questioning looks toward him. “Because it was conspicuous,” Hannu said.

Irene thought hard but didn’t understand Hannu’s meaning. “They were going to leave from Landvetter,” Hannu continued.

Jonny’s paleness was replaced by a flush of annoyance. “How do you know that?” he hissed angrily.

“They were going on a long trip to Thailand. It wasn’t a good idea to leave the car parked for an even longer time on the street. Marcus didn’t have a garage. Emil did, so they parked Marcus’s car in Emil’s garage, and took Emil’s car to Göteborg. Or maybe his accomplice’s.”

Peter nodded and said, “We’ll go through all of the facts again. But this time we’ll look for Emil’s car. I think you are right.”

“Were all three of them planning on going to Thailand? Or at least is that what Marcus believed?” Irene said thoughtfully.

“It’s very possible,” said Hannu.

“Did you notice that there weren’t any internal organs or muscles left in the bodies in the films?” Peter wondered. He continued without waiting for an answer, “Our theory is that they were placed in different containers. In the film where Carmen is dismembered you can see the rim of a large plastic bucket. It’s standing right next to the table she’s lying on. Our thinking is that the head and the internal organs were placed in that bucket and covered with cement. The bucket was then sunk out in the ocean. The sacks floated, as you know.”

His Swedish colleagues pondered this theory.

“You think the same thing happened with Marcus’s head and organs?” Hannu said finally.

“Yes.”

“And the buttocks and muscles were eaten by those sick bastards?” Jonny exclaimed.

Peter answered neutrally, “Probably.”

He ejected the tape and put it back in its case before he went on, “Blokk watched both videos last night. He said that Carmen had probably been dead for at least eight hours before Emil started dismembering her. Rigor mortis is already fully developed.”

“And Marcus?” asked Irene.

“He was probably dead a shorter period of time. Blokk guessed five hours. As you saw, the leg bent a bit at the knee when Emil picked it up. The jaws and the arms were completely stiff. Blokk said that he was going to analyze the films frame by frame. Then he can see if there is livor mortis and so on.”

Irene realized that it was way past lunchtime but she assumed that the other three didn’t feel particularly hungry either.

“These two videos explain why Isabell and Emil weren’t dismembered. Sawing off the head and the extremities was Emil’s job. He wasn’t there when Isabell was murdered. Certainly, he was there when he was murdered, but not as a mutilator,” Peter said dryly.

“He was indirectly involved in Isabell’s murder. He was the one who tipped off the murderer that I was looking for her, and he must have given him the name of Simon Steiner,” said Irene.

“Emil may have told the murderer his father’s name earlier. But the murderer and Emil must have been in contact directly after Emil spoke with Beate, after your restaurant meeting,” said Peter.

“He couldn’t have known before then that I was looking for Isabell,” Irene agreed.

“Why would he kill an insignificant little whore you were looking for?” Jonny asked.

Before Irene had a chance to answer, Hannu said, “A practical joke.”