The Snowman

Katrine compares Birte and Sylvia’s cases, but the only commonalities are that they had blue eyes, husbands, and children. Harry tells her about Jonas’s doctor’s appointment, which coincided with Sylvia’s daughters’ visit in the same town. Katrine finds the doctor, who specializes in plastic surgery and “specialist operations”; however, the receptionist won’t tell Katrine anything about Sylvia. Harry and Katrine have found the connection between Sylvia and Birte.

Harry and Katrine go to Taste of Africa, the import shop that Rolf and Sylvia Ottersen own. When they walk in, they see Sylvia’s twin, Ane Pedersen. Harry realizes that Katrine will connect with Ane better on her own and returns to the office. Harry meets with his satellite team’s leader, Espen Lepsvik, and directs him to work independently. Then he looks at the website the doctor’s receptionist directed him to and from there finds the doctor’s former employer, where he sees a familiar name.

Eli Kvale is grocery shopping when she feels like she is being watched. She drives home carefully, her mind occupied with her son’s return from college that night.

Katrine reports on her conversation with Ane, in which she discovered that Sylvia left Rolf twice for other men he took her back both times. In addition, Katrine had Rolf sign a confidentiality waiver so that they can speak to the doctor.

Harry watches Oleg skate at the local rink. On the phone, Espen reports that a dark sedan was seen entering and leaving Birte’s neighborhood the night she disappeared. When he gets off the phone, Harry realizes that Mathias is there. Mathias mentions how much he envies Harry’s relationship with Oleg, who idolizes Harry, but is only ever irritated with Mathias. Harry asks Mathias about the doctor from his case, who he noticed worked with Mathias in the past. Mathias tells Harry that Idar Vetlesen was in medicine for the money and prestige.

Later, Harry goes to Idar’s home, but he refuses to speak about his patients. He does say that, on the nights that Birte and Sylvia disappeared he was home, watching television with his mother. After he leaves, Harry tasks Magnus with finding out if Idar has bought drugs from any local dealers. He calls Katrine and they decide that an important connection is that all the women are married.

Eli Kvale is awake—her husband and son are sleeping, but she has heard something outside. Out her window, she sees footprints leading directly under the window, but none leading away.

Magnus reports that a local dealer recognized Idar, who he has seen going into Hotel Leon, which rent rooms by the hour and is a common center for sex work. At the hotel, the owner admits that Idar comes twice a week, rents a room, and a number of Black women visit. He also says that Idar carries a large doctor’s bag, and sometimes, when he cleans the room, he finds blood.

Back at the office, Harry gets a call from Rakel, who wants to return a DVD of his. She offers to drop it at his house at about midnight. After he hangs up, Katrine tells him that they have an officer set to visit the hotel that night.

Eli sits at the kitchen table, looking through a magazine. She remembers when she was raped and the pregnancy that resulted. Later, she had a DNA test done and discovered who the father of her son was.

Rather than leave the DVD in his mailbox, Rakel comes to Harry’s door. When they see each other, he pulls her inside. After they have sex, he can feel her guilt. He begins to tell her about his feeling of being watched, but she stops him. After she leaves, he sees wet boot prints outside his door and assumes they are hers.

Harry realizes that most of the disappearances happened in November and December and coincide with the first snowfall of the year. He and Katrine decide to start their full investigation with 1992, when there were a disappearance and a murder in Bergen, connected with the disappearance of a police officer, Gert Rafto. At the time, the department made an effort to smooth over Rafto’s status as suspect. When Harry asks why Katrine looked into the Rafto case, which was beyond the parameters of the investigation, she reminds him that she is from Bergen, and remembers a photograph from the crime scene of a snowman.

At Idar’s office, they pressure the doctor with photographs of him outside Hotel Leon. He tells them that Birte and Sylvia’s children came to his office to be tested for a rare genetic disease of which he is a specialist, Fahr’s Syndrome. The children came annually to be tested, but he knows nothing about Sylvia and Birte.

Katrine thinks there may be a connection between Idar and Rafto, who perhaps had plastic surgery in order to disappear. They visit Mathias to find out more about Idar. When Harry asks if he knows a Fahr’s Syndrome specialist, Mathias says no. However, before they leave, he tells Harry about a time he saw Idar and a young boy at a café, and how Idar became very flustered. After they leave, Harry calls Idar’s office and learns that even his receptionist doesn’t know that he is a Fahr’s Syndrome specialist.

Oleg comes home to find Rakel cleaning the floor of her bedroom. He tells her he is going skating and do his homework later. He goes to get his skates from the basement, where he keeps them cold in the freezer, as Harry had advised him to do.

Harry and Katrine go to Idar’s curling club. His team includes his lawyer and famous media figure Arve Støp. Idar agrees to come to the police station in one hour for questioning. Later, at police headquarters, Katrine is angry that they didn’t bring Idar in when they saw him. He reminds her that Idar’s lawyer was there, and they had no actual right to compel or detain him. He is working out, and she presses the barbell against his chest and leaves him there, unable to lift it off himself.

Harry speaks with Bjørn, who leads the forensics investigation of Harry’s letter. The paper is unique—one Oslo store sells it, and a store in Bergen previously sold it, but no longer does. Harry becomes convinced that the sender purposely chose a rare paper that they could track down and that the killer is specifically targeting him. He calls the Bergen store and, on a whim, asks if the owner knew Gert Rafto. The man tells Harry that he often purchased pieces from Rafto, before he realized that they had been stolen from crime scene. His wife, however, remembers that Rafto had taken their paper when they stopped selling it.

When Harry meets with Espen, he asks about Katrine, who had worked in Bergen when Espen had worked some cases there. He agrees with Harry that there is something strangely intense about her. He remembers that she was particularly insistent about two cold cases, wanting his help.

Early the next morning, Harry and Katrine fly to Bergen. Harry goes to the police department to get the case files and reports, while Katrine interviews the last person to see Rafto. She tells him that Rafto’s family has a cabin on an island, and they arrange to meet at the wharf later to visit it. Meanwhile, Harry talks to the head of the Missing Persons and Crimes Unit in Bergen, Knut Muller-Nilsen. As Knut describes Rafto as an extreme, driven, unstable loner, Harry recognizes himself. Knut believes Rafto might have drowned himself, although they dragged the water and never found anything.

Harry looks at the photo of Rafto again, and suddenly the man looks vaguely familiar. He feels that he is missing something. Katrine pilots their boat out to the island and, when she asks what they are looking for, Harry says to just look and see what they find. Harry discovers a locked freezer and pries it open with a crowbar. They find Rafto’s body, mouth sewn shut, with a row of black nails pounded into his face to approximate a smile. His nose has also been removed, and a carrot put in its place.