Tony Leikes Handy

Tony Leikes Handy is a communications device that becomes a clue and an instrument of manipulation in the investigation. First, a call from it at Hävasshütte alerts Kaja Solness that someone may know where she is waiting; later, Ole uses it to call Harry Hole from Ustaoset, transforming Tony Leike’s phone into a means of misdirection and a calculated taunt.

The call from Hävasshütte

While at Hävasshütte, Kaja receives a call from Tony Leikes Handy. Tony Leike had saved her number in his contacts, but Kaja is fairly sure that Tony himself did not make the call. The caller does not hang up quickly enough to avoid the voicemail greeting: for a moment, Kaja hears what sounds to her like laughter before the connection ends.

The sound is brief and uncertain, but its timing gives the call its force. Kaja is staying for several days in an area without network coverage, and she reasons that whoever called would have learned this from her voicemail. If Aslak Krongli already suspected that she was at Hävasshütte waiting for the killer, the caller’s apparent amusement could mean that this suspicion had been confirmed. The phone therefore links the remote operation to an unseen person who may be following its progress, without supplying a voice or message that identifies the caller.

From Tony’s phone to Ole’s call

Later, Harry reconstructs a second use of Tony Leikes Handy. Ole has cut off Tony’s left middle finger and has the phone in his possession. From the center of Ustaoset, Ole calls Harry using it. Harry’s number is not registered elsewhere, but Tony had stored it in his phone, giving Ole a route to reach him.

The call’s location and contact trail make the device more than evidence of possession: they help Harry interpret the gesture as deliberate. He considers that Ole may have wanted to confuse the investigators or demonstrate his superiority. The call leaves no message, and Harry allows that it may have been spontaneous, so its precise intention remains an inference rather than a confirmed explanation.

A device turned into a staged signal

Across the two calls, the phone changes function. At Hävasshütte it carries a fragment of sound that Kaja reads as evidence that someone knows where she is; from Ustaoset it gives Ole a way to contact Harry through Tony’s saved number. In neither instance does the device yield a straightforward identification. Instead, its contacts, connection, and place of use become clues that must be interpreted alongside the caller’s apparent purpose.

That uncertainty suits Ole’s broader performance of control. Harry connects the call with the severed finger left outside his office and with Ole’s desire to show that he can reach and unsettle the investigators. Tony Leikes Handy thus passes from Tony’s possession into the killer’s hands and becomes part of a staged exchange: a brief, unexplained call that can simultaneously disclose a location, invite suspicion, and keep the investigators guessing.