Read Online The Torso: A Detective Inspector Huss Investigation, Vol. 2 by Helen Tursten - Free Book Online Page B

she was waiting for the food at a table by the window she looked out at the heavy traffic on Linnégatan and the new houses built in Art Nouveau style on the other side of the street. Elegant shops were located on the ground floors.
    The fresh pasta came with a ham and cheese sauce that smelled wonderful. A crisp salad and an ice-cold light beer completed her meal. She had declined the waitress’s suggestion of a drink before the meal. She’d felt strongly tempted for just a second, but then thought better of it. An investigator couldn’t go around breathing alcohol fumes on the people she was trying to interrogate. It didn’t instill confidence.
    She had lingered over coffee and had several refills so it was almost one thirty when she arrived at Tim’s tattoo parlor again.
    A girl in her early teens was sitting with her mouth wide open. A young man with dyed black hair down to his waist had a firm grip on her tongue, which he’d wrapped in a piece of cloth. With a large tonglike instrument, he punched a hole in the tongue.
    “Aaggg,” said the girl.
    The man let go and gave the girl a hand mirror. She held it in front of her face and stuck out her tongue. A round glittering silver ball was located a little way in on it.
    “Aagsome,” the girl said, delighted.
    “Cool,” the young man agreed.
    A few bills were exchanged and the girl sailed out through the door. Now Tim noticed Irene, who had been watching him.
    He was short and skinny. On his feet he wore heavy black leather boots that must have added several inches to his height. His black leather pants were snug around his skinny thighs and held up with a wide belt. It was a good thing the pants were tight or they might have been pulled down by the weight of the belt. It was decorated with large pointy rivets and had a skull for a buckle. His leather vest was also heavily supplied with metal rivets. Under it, he was wearing a dirty T-shirt that bore the words “Fuck you.” His arms were covered in tattoos, and what could be seen of his neck was adorned by them. An Indian band in red and black was tattooed across his forehead. He wore at least ten rings in different sizes in each ear. At angles in his eyebrows he had inserted several silver rods that seemed to be held in place by small silver plates on either side of the insertion points.
    But it was his mouth area that took Irene’s breath away. It looked as though he had an extra mouth of sharp spikes surrounding his real mouth. Anyone who was tempted to kiss him for the sake of adventure might have to reconsider.
    “What do you want?” he asked.
    “I’m Detective Inspector Huss. I’d like to ask you something.”
    She started to take out the picture of the dragon and the character when his husky voice rose to a falsetto and he shouted, “Get out! This is my store. Out!”
    “Why? I just want to ask for your help.”
    In order to pique his curiosity, she added, “It has to do with a murder.”
    He didn’t take his eyes off her but he didn’t say anything. Encouraged, Irene said, “You’ve probably heard about the body parts we found at Killevik. We don’t know who the victim is, but it’s a man, and he has this tattoo on his right shoulder.”
    She held out the paper to Tim, who willingly accepted it. He was startled by the image. After a long inspection he said, “Damn fine work.”
    “Could anyone in Göteborg have made it?”
    He shook his head. “Hardly.”
    “I spoke to the guy at MC-tattoo. He said that the tattoo appears to be Asian. Do you think so, too?”
    “Exactly. Japanese.”
    Irene was surprised.
    “Not Chinese?”
    “No. It’s Japanese.”
    He handed the paper back and his body language said that the audience was over.
     
    “THE TATTOOis unusual and very well done. This kind takes several days to do and was probably not done in Sweden. The theme is Asian and one of the guys said probably Japanese. Have I forgotten anything?” Superintendent Andersson summed up.
    The