Yngve Morsand’s body is discovered

The discovery of Yngve Morsand’s body begins a new investigation for Kari Adel and Åsmund Bjørnstad, bringing them from Oslo to the home of the shipowner whose wife’s death had already made him a subject of suspicion. The scene raises the possibility of suicide without resolving it, and closes on Kari setting aside her own physical unease to concentrate on what the body and its surroundings might reveal.

Call to the Scene

After leaving Oslo, Kari and Åsmund drive across a small bridge and up a gravel path. Only then does Kari ask why they have been summoned. Åsmund explains that Drammen Police called for assistance and identifies the victim as Yngve Morsand, a shipowner. Kari immediately connects the news to his wife: she recognizes that the dead man is the husband whose earlier circumstances had made him a person of interest.

The limited information available on the drive leaves the central question open. When Kari asks whether Morsand’s death was murder or suicide, Åsmund says he does not know the details. Their arrival therefore places them in an inquiry whose basic facts remain unsettled, rather than confirming either a criminal killing or a deliberate death by the victim.

At the House

Kari and Åsmund park behind police cars, pass through the gate in a picket fence, and approach the front door of the large house. An inspector from Buskerud Police meets them there, embraces Kari, and introduces himself to Åsmund as Henrik Westad. The welcome establishes that the two have arrived as assisting investigators, while Westad represents the local force handling the scene.

On the way inside, Kari asks Westad whether the death could be suicide. She gives him two possible reasons: Morsand may have been overwhelmed by the loss of his wife, or by the suspicion that he had killed her himself. Westad acknowledges that suicide is possible, but says he doubts it. His response preserves the distinction between a line of inquiry and an established conclusion; the evidence at the house has not yet been explained in the account.

The Body and Unanswered Questions

Inside the living room, crime-scene officers are examining the man in the chair. Kari and Åsmund stop to look at the body. Åsmund begins to ask whether Morsand could have done something, but does not finish the thought. The exchange conveys the investigators’ immediate uncertainty: the death must be considered alongside the unresolved circumstances surrounding his wife, but the scene has not yet supplied them with a clear answer.

The description of the body provides the decisive concrete detail in the discovery. One eye is open; the other is covered by a black patch. Above the covered eye, the top of the head has been sawn off. Kari thinks briefly of the hard-boiled egg she ate for breakfast and wonders whether she might already be pregnant, which could explain why she feels sick. She pushes the thought aside and returns her attention to the body. Her reaction marks the shift from private bodily unease to professional concentration, while the condition of the corpse makes Westad’s doubt about suicide especially difficult to dismiss as a settled finding.

Significance in the Investigation

The discovery reconnects Kari’s investigation to the death of Yngve’s wife: grief and possible guilt are the explanations she raises, but neither is confirmed as the cause of his death. The sequence is framed through the investigators’ gradual arrival and first examination, moving from a terse callout to the details that make the case harder to classify. It ends not with a verdict, but with Kari deliberately refocusing on the evidence. The account establishes the body, the location, the police participants, and the competing question of suicide or murder; it does not disclose who caused Morsand’s death or what the investigation ultimately determines.