The Water's Edge

CHAPTER 48

They left the building.

They inhaled the fresh air deeply.

They crossed the car park and got into the car. Frank Robert, who had been waiting on the back seat, poked his nose between the front seats to beg for a treat. Sejer gave him a dog biscuit. Skarre rolled down the window. Life had become so visible after death in the autopsy room. The cloud formations in the sky, the swaying treetops, the sun reflected in a window, parked cars. Two nurses walked across the car park in front of the hospital. Skarre followed them with his eyes; their white uniforms were practically luminous in the spring sunshine.

'He found nothing,' Skarre said.

'No,' Sejer said, 'but that in itself is significant.'

'I've got a theory, but I refuse to believe it.'

'So do I, but it's all we've got. Who would trap another person?'

'Kids,' Skarre said.

'Precisely.'

'I can see the initial attraction. But surely they would have let him out. After a while. After a few hours.'

'Well, would they?'

'Of course. They can't trap one of their friends in an earth cellar and then go home to bed.'

'They may have trouble sleeping,' Sejer said.

The two men looked at each other, then they both shook their heads. Sejer took out his mobile and found a number.

'What are you doing?'

'I'm calling Alex Meyer.'

After a brief conversation he put the mobile back in his packet.

'Sverre is having trouble sleeping,' he said, 'and Isak has started wetting the bed.'