“Are there other ways the deceased could have ended up in the silo?” Larsen asked. “Can’t pretty much anyone just drive in and dump trash at the plant?”

“No, there’s no unauthorized access to the area,” Jeppe responded. “We have someone going through the surveillance footage from the tipping floor where the trucks dump their loads. So far they confirm that only authorized garbage trucks have been at the plant since Friday afternoon. If the body was planted in the silo in some other way, it must have been done from inside the facility. At any rate, the discovery site indicates that we’re dealing with a homicide. I have a hard time seeing how anyone could end up in that claw by accident.”

He pointed to the eight officers.

“We need to locate and talk to any potential witnesses—starting with the staff at the plant. It’s a big place with a lot of employees who move back and forth between offices, machine rooms, and the roof area. We’ll divvy up the group, so four of you will go to the plant and start at one end. The rest of you, get in touch with the waste and resource workers’ industry association, DAKOFA, and figure out the best way of locating potential witnesses among the sanitation workers. There are multiple private operators involved in garbage collection in Copenhagen. Find them, and ask about their routes and pickup times. We are specifically looking at this morning, but anything unusual would be of interest. One of their men very likely transported the body from a large trash can or dumpster in Copenhagen and even though he may not have been aware of it, it’s still possible that he might remember something suspicious if asked.”

The officers nodded, jotted down notes, and started divvying up the tasks among themselves.

“Werner and I will attend the last part of the autopsy after lunch. Everybody, be ready to look into the rest—family, residence, coworkers—as soon as we have a definite ID on the victim.”

“You haven’t heard the best part yet!” Anette interrupted. “Guess who discovered the body, along with the crane operator? Kasper Skytte, the father of Oscar’s best friend since childhood! Turns out he works as an engineer at the plant.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Larsen exclaimed, sounding impressed.

“Nope, not kidding.”

“Could he have dumped the body in the silo?” Larsen asked, brushing the hair out of his eyes. “From somewhere inside the plant?”

“Well, it is certainly a bit of a coincidence that he works at the place where we may have found Oscar’s body.” Anette pointed to Larsen for emphasis.

Jeppe quieted the agitation that was spreading through the room.