lot of muscle, more than many boys of the same age. Her lung capacity was excellent, which would indicate that it took a long time for her to lose consciousness."
Sejer looked down at the worn linoleum and noticed that the pattern was similar to the one in his bathroom.
"How long does it actually take?" he asked. "How long does it take for an adult to drown?"
"Anywhere from two to ten minutes, depending on the physical condition. If she was in as good a condition as I think, it most likely took closer to ten."
Up to ten minutes, Sejer thought. Multiply that by 60, and that makes 600 seconds. Think of all he could do in ten minutes. Take a shower. Eat a meal.
"Her lungs are enlarged. If she reacted as most people would, she first took a couple of deep breaths as she went under, what we call 'respiration de surprise'. Then she pressed her lips together until she lost consciousness, and after that a limited amount of water forced its way into her lungs. In the brain and bone marrow I found the presence of diatoms, a type of silica algae; not much, it's true, but that lake wasn't very polluted. The cause of death was drowning.
"She had no scars from any operations, no deformities, no signs of malnutrition, no tattoos, no skin blemishes of any kind. She had her natural hair colour, her fingernails were unpolished and clipped short, there were no particulates of interest except for mud. Very nice teeth. A single ceramic filling in a lower molar.
"No traces of alcohol or other chemicals in her blood. No marks from injections. Ate a good meal that day, bread and milk. No irregularities in the brain. She has never been pregnant. And," he sighed suddenly and fixed his gaze on Sejer, "she never would have been."
"What? Why not?"
"She had a large tumour in her left ovary that had started spreading to her liver. Malignant."
Sejer sat there and stared at him. "Are you saying that she was seriously ill?"
"Yes. Are you saying that you didn't know?"
"Her parents didn't know either." He shook his head in disbelief. "Otherwise they would have said something, wouldn't they? Is it possible that she could not have known herself?"
"Well, you'll need to find out if she had a doctor, and whether it was known. But she would have felt pain in her abdomen, at least during menstruation. She trained hard. Perhaps she had so many endorphins circulating in her body that the pain was masked. But the truth is, she was done for. I doubt they could have saved her. Liver cancer is virulent."
He nodded towards the gurney where Annie's head and feet were clearly outlined under the sheet. "She would have been dead in a matter of months."
The news made Sejer completely lose track of why he was there. It took him a minute to collect himself.
"Should I tell them? Her parents?"
"You'll have to make that decision yourself. But they're going to want to know what I have discovered."
"It'll be like losing her all over again."
"Yes, it will."
"They're going to blame themselves for not knowing."
"Probably."
"What about her clothes?"
"Soaked through with muddy water, except for the anorak, which I sent over to you. But she had a belt with a brass buckle."
"Yes?"
"A big buckle shaped like a half-moon with an eye and a mouth. The lab found fingerprints on it. Two different ones. One of them was Annie's."
Sejer narrowed his eyes. "And the other?"
"Unfortunately, it's not complete; it's not much to go on."
"Damn," Sejer said.
"The owner of that print clearly has something to do with all this. But it should be useful in eliminating people. That's something, isn't it?"
"What about the mark on her neck? Can you tell if he was right-handed?"
"No, I can't. But since Annie was in such good shape, he couldn't have been a weakling. There must have been a struggle. Strange that she's so unmarked."
Sejer stood up, "Well, she's not untouched any more."
"Oh yes, she is! You can have a look for yourself. This is an art, and I'm not sloppy about it."
"When can I get this in writing?"
"I'll let you know, and you can send over that young officer with the curls. And what about you? Have you found a lead?"
"No," he said. "Not a thing. I can't see any reason in the world why anyone would kill Annie Holland."
Maybe Annie had chosen the title of a song and made that her password – maybe that flute tune she