Chapter 24 part three

"It smells like..." Kaya said. "It's poop," Harry said. "Cow dung. Welcome to Jalen." The dawn streamed down through the gaps in the clouds and shone on the green grass in spring. Niu Er quietly watched the taxi they took from behind the stone wall.They were on their way from Sola airport to the center of Stavanger. Harry leaned between the front seats. "Mr. Driver, can you drive faster?" Harry showed his police badge.The taxi driver looked happy, pressed the accelerator, and accelerated on the highway. "Are you afraid that we will be too late?" Kaya asked.Harry leaned back in the back seat.

"Didn't answer the phone, didn't go to work," said Harry, not needing to finish his reasoning. Harry was looking through the notes he'd made after his phone call with Katrina last night.He wrote down the names and phone numbers of two other people who may have been in the cabin with the three victims that November day and who are believed to be alive.Harry looked at his watch and figured it should be early morning in Sydney, so he dialed Iska Baylor's phone number.Iska answered the phone, surprised to hear Harry mention Hovath Cottage.Iska didn't have much to say about that night because she had a high fever and stayed in her bedroom all night.Her high fever might have been from wearing sweaty clothes for too long, or it might have been because skiing from one hut to another was like a fire for an inexperienced cross-country skier like her. baptism.Or simply because the cold virus randomly picked her to attack.At any rate she managed to reach Horvath Cottage dragging her sickly body, where her companion, Charlotte Rolles, at once put her to bed.Iska lay lethargic on the bed, dreaming constantly, her body alternately assaulted by aches, sweats, and chills.She and Charlotte were the first to arrive at the cottage, so she had no idea who the other lodgers were that night, or what had happened among them.She remained ill in bed the next day until Charlotte managed to contact a local policeman.The policeman arrived on a snowmobile, drove them back to his house, informed them that the only hotel in the area was full and invited them to stay overnight.They accepted the invitation, but changed their minds that night, took the evening train to Geilo and stayed overnight in a hotel in Geilo.Charlotte didn't specifically mention to Iska what happened at Hovath Cottage that night, apparently nothing happened.

Five days after the ski trip, Iska returned to Sydney from Oslo, still feverish, but kept up an email exchange with Charlotte, not seeing anything unusual, until she received the shocking news: Her friend Charlotte was found dead in the back of an abandoned vehicle by the woods by Lake Dosha in the Oslo suburbs. Harry explained to Iska, his words were careful, but not oblique.He said they were concerned that the lives of those who had spent the night at the lodge on the night of November 7 were in danger, so he would notify Captain Neil McCormack of the Sydney South Police District Crime Squad as soon as he hung up.Harry has worked with Neil in the past.Harry also said that Neil will need her to explain some of the circumstances of the case, although Australia is far away from Oslo, Neil will provide her with protection until further notice.Iska seemed to accept the arrangement calmly.

Harry then dialed the second number Katrina gave him, which was a cell phone number in Stavanger.Harry called four times but no one answered.He knew it didn't mean anything, not everyone slept with their cell phone on, but Kaya Sonnis was clearly one of those people, and she picked up the phone after it rang twice.Harry said they were taking the first flight to Stavanger, so she had to catch the 6:50 Airport Express.Kaya only said one word: "Okay." At 6:30 in the morning, the two arrived at Gardermoen Airport in Oslo.Harry called again, but still no answer.An hour later, when they landed at Sola Airport, Harry called again, but still no answer.As they headed to the taxi stand, Kaya contacted the man's employer, who said the man they were looking for wasn't at work.Kaya told Harry so, and Harry just gently protected Kaya's back with his hands, and firmly led her across the taxi line, got into a taxi, and said to the loudly protesting crowd: "Thank you, everyone. You guys have a great day."

At 8:16 in the morning, they arrived at the man's residence, a white wooden house in Fran.Harry asked Kaya to pay, got out of the car first, and did not close the door.He inspected the exterior of the cabin and found nothing, so he took a breath of the damp, fresh, still warm West Coast air and prepared himself.He already knows the result.Of course, he may be wrong in his judgment, but he is sure of his judgment, just as he knows that Kaya will say "thank you" after receiving the receipt from the taxi driver. "Thank you." The door closed. There are three bells next to the gate, and the man's name is written next to the central bell.

Harry pressed the doorbell and heard it ring somewhere inside the house. After a minute, he had rang the doorbell three times, so he pressed the bottom one. Harry noticed that Kaya intuitively knew who was supposed to speak. "Hello, my name is Kaya Sonis, we are the police. There is no one answering the door above yours. Do you know if there is anyone upstairs?" "It should be, but it's very quiet this morning." The woman who came out to answer the door on the first floor said, she saw Harry raised his eyebrows, and added hesitantly, "I can hear everything here, and I heard it last night." Someone made a sound. Since I rented out the house, I should pay attention to the movement inside."

"Watch what's going on inside?" Harry asked. "Yes, but I won't always..." The woman's cheeks flushed, "It should be fine, right? I mean, we never had any problems..." "We don't know yet," said Harry. "The best thing to do is go up and check," Kaya said, "if you have the key..." Harry knew Kaya had a lot of different ideas going on at this moment, so he waited with interest to hear her continue. Next say. "...we want to assist you in making sure everything is safe." Kaya is a smart woman.If the landlady agreed to the proposal and they made a discovery, the report would say that the landlady had asked them to come in, so there would be no question of them breaking into the house without a warrant.

The landlady hesitated. "But you can also go in after we leave," Kaya smiled, "and then call the police, or an ambulance, or..." "I think you'd better come up with me," said the landlady, frowning deeply and worriedly. "Please wait here a moment, and I'll get the key." A minute later, they entered the room on the second floor.The room was neat and tidy, with almost no furniture.Harry immediately noticed that the silence carried a strong sense of presence and oppression, appearing in this empty room in the morning, and he could faintly hear the busy sound of a work day coming from outside.He also smelled a familiar smell, the smell of glue.He saw a pair of shoes, but not out clothes.

There was a large teacup in the sink in the kitchenette, and on the shelf were tin cans of teas Harry didn't recognize: oolong and Angie white.They continued walking into the house.There was a photograph on the living room wall, and Harry thought it was K2, the most popular killing machine in the Himalayas. "Would you like to check out that room?" Harry nodded towards a door with a heart pattern on it, and walked towards what he presumed to be the bedroom door.He took a deep breath, pressed the doorknob, and pushed the door open. The bed is made, the interior is tidy, the windows are slightly open, there is no smell of glue, and the air is as fresh as a child's breath.Harry heard the landlady come to the doorway behind him and stop.

"Strange," she said, "I heard their voices clearly last night, but I only heard the footsteps of one person." "They?" said Harry. "Are you sure there's more than one?" "Yes, I heard voices speaking." "Several people?" "It should be three people." Harry opened the wardrobe and looked: "A man or a woman?" "I can't hear that well." There are clothes in the closet, a sleeping bag, a backpack, and lots of clothes. "Why do you think there are three of them?" "Because after one of them left, I heard voices upstairs."

"what sound?" The landlady's cheeks flushed again: "The impact, it's like...uh, you know." "But there was no voice?" The landlady thought for a while: "No, there is no voice." Harry came out of the bedroom and was surprised to find Kaya still standing in the hallway in front of the bathroom door, the way she stood as if facing a strong headwind. "What's wrong?" "It's nothing." Kaya immediately said briskly, her tone was too brisk. Harry stepped forward and stood beside her. "What's going on?" he asked in a low voice. "I... I have a little problem with closed doors." "It's okay," Harry said. "I... that's what I do." Harry nodded, and at this moment, he heard a sound, it was the sound of the deadline, the sound of the phone time running out, the sound of the seconds disappearing.The sound was a rapid thumping of water, neither like running water nor like dripping water.It was the sound of the tap inside the door, and Harry knew he was right. "Wait here," said Harry, pushing the door open. The first thing Harry noticed was a stronger smell of glue in the bathroom. The second thing is that there are jackets, jeans, underwear, T-shirts, black socks, hats, thin pullovers scattered on the floor. The third thing was a trickle of water from the faucet, pouring into the tub, which was so full that the water went out the overflow hole on the inside. The fourth thing is that the water in the bathtub is red, and he analyzed that it should be the color of blood. The fifth thing is a pair of glazed eyes, which are located above the tape-covered mouth of a naked and pale corpse-like body lying on the bottom of the bathtub, facing the side of the bathtub, as if trying to see something. To see things in blind spots, to see things he hadn't expected. The sixth thing is that there is no visible sign of violence, no trauma to show where the blood came from. Harry cleared his throat, thinking of how, in the most thoughtful way, he could ask the landlady to come over and see if this was her lodger. It turned out that without Harry's trouble, the landlady had already arrived at the door of the bathroom. "My God!" the landlady groaned, and then said each word slowly and heavily, "My God!" Finally, with a crying sound, the tone became more emphatic: "My God..." "This is..." Harry began. "Yes," cried the landlady, "that is my lodger, Elias. Elias Shock."