Free The Torso: A Detective Inspector Huss Investigation, Vol. 2 by Helen Tursten Page B

Luckily there were more copies.
    “I’ll send out a query about the tattoo. Then all we can do is wait.”
    “Tomorrow is a holiday, Ascension Day. Probably no one will call us. Friday is a working day between holidays and our colleagues in Europe are probably also on holiday. Then it’s the weekend. So it looks like nothing will happen before Monday,” said Birgitta.
    She turned out to be right. Nothing happened before Monday, but then everything happened at once.
     
    NO MORE sacks were found along the coast. The decision was made to continue looking for another two days before the search was called off. Two weeks would have to do. Andersson had absolutely nothing new on the Monday morning after the Ascension Day weekend. He sent everyone off to work on their own.
    Irene was happy that Tommy was back at work even though he still walked stiffly. When he arrived at the office they shared he said, “Sara apparently talked with you about Sammie’s puppies.”
    Irene tried to sound innocent. “She asked if it was true that Sammie has become a father and . . .”
    “And you immediately invited her to come and look at them.” Irene didn’t answer. He knew her all too well.
    “We actually had a family meeting about it. With four votes to one, the Persson family has decided to come over to your place and look at puppies.”
    Irene could hardly believe her ears. With four votes to one, the Perssons were practically dog owners already! She tried not to show her excitement and instead said in a neutral tone, “When do you want to look at them?”
    “Tomorrow night.”
    “I’ll call the dog’s owner and see. There’s actually a friend of Krister’s from work who’s also interested. . . .”
    “I just want to point out that your friend from work is not interested. Due to pressure from young children, you have made his family interested. There’s a big difference.”
    Boy, did he sound sour, but not without good reason, Irene admitted to herself. She was saved by the ring of the telephone. She barely had time to lift the receiver before she heard Yvonne Stridner’s sharp voice. “This is Professor Stridner. I obtained some interesting information in London.”
    It took a few seconds before Irene remembered that Stridner had mentioned a symposium in London during their last meeting.
    “Good. Nothing has happened here.”
    “I know. But I have a good lead. I made a presentation at the symposium about signs that reveal whether the cause of a death is murder or suicide. A very much appreciated and well-attended presentation and . . . in any case, I asked if I could take a few more minutes of their time and took the opportunity to describe what our torso has been subjected to. Of course, most of the colleagues had heard about this type of murder but very few of them had seen such a complete removal of organs and desecration of the body. Everyone thought it was very interesting. Afterward, an old friend and colleague came up to me. His name is Svend Blokk, and he is a professor of forensic medicine. He works in Copenhagen at the state hospital.”
    At this point, Stridner was forced to catch her breath, and Irene squeezed in a question. “Excuse me, but what is a torso exactly?”
    “You don’t know?! It’s the body without arms, legs, or a head. Just the trunk. In any case, Svend said that they had had a very similar case two years ago. I say similar, but there is one difference. Their victim was a female prostitute.”
    “Did he mean that the dismemberment process was the same?”
    “Identical.”
    Irene thought feverishly before she asked, “Did they find all of the parts of that corpse?”
    “No, but Svend was a little vague. He wasn’t in charge of the forensic investigation. He also said that despite a massive search effort they never found the murderer.”
    Stridner gave Irene Blokk’s address and telephone number. After hanging up, Irene started telling Tommy about her conversation, but he interrupted