Chapter 9 - Wednesday. Missing Person.

Harry answers a missing-person call at Wilhelm Barli’s attic flat. Wilhelm says his wife, Lisbeth, stepped out in a bikini with 50 kroner to buy potato salad and never returned. Harry brings in Beate Lønn and a dog handler, Ivan, instructing them to search the flat and storage areas first, suspecting the husband by default but noting Wilhelm’s palpable fear.

Harry interviews two neighbors across the courtyard. They report seeing Lisbeth and Wilhelm on the terrace until about 4:30, hearing Wilhelm mention potato salad, and noting him place a call at 5:15 that rang inside Lisbeth’s phone. They identify the couple’s noisy intimacy and mention Lisbeth’s minor celebrity and Wilhelm’s current theatre project, helping establish a narrow timeline.

Inside, Beate and Ivan find little beyond two chops in the bin; the dog briefly reacts to canine scent in the entrance but nothing concrete. A patrol officer offers little and makes xenophobic claims, drawing a curt put-down from Harry. Harry, exhausted and craving a drink, briefly dozes on the couple’s waterbed, noting a chisel in a toolbox and mistaking a dildo for a severed body part before regaining focus.

With no leads inside, they try the street route toward the Kiwi store; the dog fails to pick up Lisbeth’s scent amid city noise. As they return, the dog alerts under a parked VW Golf and retrieves a woman’s high-heeled shoe. When asked if it is Lisbeth’s, Wilhelm does not confirm directly but collapses into despair, repeating that it will not be alright.