Johnny Beskow’s Death at Sparbo Dam

Johnny Beskow’s death at Sparbo Dam brings his story to an apparent end while leaving its cause unsettled. Found floating face down, with his moped nearby, Johnny is dead; whether he drowned himself, fell into the water, or was helped over the edge is not established. The scene closes the search for him but opens a final question about what happened at the dam.

Disappearance and Discovery

One afternoon, Konrad Sejer learns from the duty officer that Johnny has not reported to the front desk and is not answering his mobile. A patrol officer has gone to the house at Askeland. The Suzuki is gone, and the door is open; inside, the only sign of life is the small champagne-coloured hamster in its red-and-yellow plastic maze. The details leave Johnny’s whereabouts unknown while making his absence tangible: the house is accessible, the vehicle has departed, and the animal remains behind. Sejer’s response is direct: he is worried.

The next report comes by phone from Jacob Skarre, who says that they have found Johnny at Sparbo Dam. He is floating face down. A man from the city who had come to inspect the dam found him, and Johnny’s moped is parked against a tree. Skarre believes the death happened very recently, but the discovery provides no immediate answer about how it occurred. The moped’s position locates Johnny at the water’s edge; it does not explain how he entered the water or whether anyone else was there.

The Scene at the Dam

Sejer leaves a medical centre and goes to the dam. The timing places the discovery beside his own unsettled physical condition: he has been trying to read despite dizziness, considering possible explanations, and thinking about how long tests might take. When Skarre calls, Sejer briefly turns back toward the centre before deciding to go. The investigation interrupts his effort to understand his symptoms, and he postpones dealing with them to attend to Johnny’s death.

At the dam, Johnny’s body is described in stark physical detail. He is lean and bluish, with long, wet tufts of hair across his forehead and face, bitten nails, and too little clothing. Sejer walks around the edge looking for clues and asking whether anyone had been there or whether there had been a confrontation. The search frames the place as more than a point of discovery: it is a scene whose visible facts are insufficient to distinguish an accident from deliberate or assisted death. The black pipe and the water rushing through the sluice give the location a forceful physical presence, but neither explains what happened to Johnny.

Uncertain Circumstances

Skarre proposes that Johnny may have been balancing on the dam wall, fallen, and been unable to swim. He also mentions a local tradition in which graduating students jump into the water in mid-May. Sejer rejects the tradition as an explanation: Johnny was not graduating, and it is now mid-October. The comparison supplies a possible pattern of behavior but, through its mismatched timing and circumstances, also shows why a familiar local custom cannot settle this particular death.

The conversation moves from accident to motive and possible intervention without reaching a verdict. Skarre suggests that remorse may have overwhelmed Johnny. Sejer disagrees, saying that he does not believe Johnny repented, and raises another possibility. Skarre supplies the implication: someone may have helped Johnny over the edge. The exchange makes clear that the body’s presence in the water is known, while the agency behind the death is not. Neither suicide nor another person’s involvement is confirmed, and the scene ends without a forensic answer.

An Ending Without Resolution

Sejer calls the dam the place where Johnny’s story ends. Skarre counters that nobody in the world will miss him; Sejer tells him not to say so. Their disagreement gives the discovery an emotional dimension without resolving Johnny’s relationships or the circumstances of his death. Sejer’s refusal to accept Skarre’s dismissal does not become a claim that Johnny was remorseful: he specifically rejects remorse as the explanation. The possibility he leaves open is darker and remains only a possibility.

The scene’s final interruption reinforces that uncertainty. Sejer’s mobile rings with a cheerful tone, but he lets it ring while speaking with Skarre. He asks when Bjørn Schillinger’s trial will take place; Skarre says January and notes that Schillinger is counting on reasonable doubt so he can take home new dogs. The case therefore remains active in the surrounding conversation even as Johnny’s story is pronounced over. Sejer is urged to answer the call, but the excerpt does not disclose who is calling or what the call concerns. The death at Sparbo Dam ends with unanswered questions about Johnny and a wider investigation still in motion.