‘Not one of the knives. That one.’ Flätan pointed to the corner where a long, thin knife lay on the floor. ‘It matches the wound in his throat, and the powerful blood spatter indicates that he had a blood pressure of somewhere between 120 and 180, which must be considered completely normal, considering the situation he was in. Ergo, that must have been the first cut.’

‘I feel like you’re skipping a few steps and oversimplifying when you just assume that a powerful spatter means normal blood pressure.’

‘Well, I apologize. I summarized it in slightly simplified terms so you could understand.’ Flätan allowed himself a smile. ‘The thing is that if you cut the carotid artery of an otherwise uninjured man, the spurt can easily reach six feet with each contraction of the heart. And if you take a closer look at the footprints in the blood, you’ll also notice that the victim stayed in the same spot rather than dash about bleeding all over the place.’

‘Surely you’re not implying the carotid artery was completely severed?’ Molander shook his head. ‘He would have collapsed in a matter of seconds, and it would have been game over.’

‘True. It was partially severed, though definitely enough to create the fountain of blood we see the effects of here. It was only when he pulled the knife out with his right hand to defend himself that he had some success in stopping the bleeding with his left.’

‘Well,’ Molander said, doing a weighing motion in the air. ‘That assumes the perpetrator took or knocked the knife out of his hand, or that he dropped it himself. Either way, it should have ended up somewhere near where he stood and not all the way over there. I’d bet anything he threw it as far away as he could.’

‘You know how I feel about gamblers. He could just as easily have dropped it. The perpetrator could have kicked it.’

‘Not according to the blood on the floor. Even you would be able to see that if you had a closer look,’ Molander said. ‘That knife flew through the air and hit the wall exactly here.’ He walked over, sank into a squat and pointed to a small notch in the wall diagonally above where the knife lay. ‘That also explains some of the witness statements about the victim screaming at the perpetrator to calm down. Which in turn suggests there’s no link whatsoever between the victim and the perpetrator.’

‘Agreed, it was probably just a crazy person who went berserk when he couldn’t wait for his turn any longer.’

‘Sure, maybe. Either way, it seems to have been completely unplanned. Because once the knife is out of the picture and the victim is standing there with his hand on his carotid artery, trying to get the perpetrator to calm down, I’m guessing he picks up that cleaver and strikes a blow full in the—’