Another body to add in his long list of victims

The body is lying with his face planted in the mud. Santina holds up an open palm, and Mikael already knows what she wants even without her telling him.

The other party unzips a small plastic case and fishes out a pair of disposable gloves out from it. Then he hands them to Santina, who gives him the flashlight which she was holding a while ago.

As soon as Mikael accepted the flashlight, Santina quickly pulls the gloves on.

She lays a hand on the dead boy's back, between the shoulder blades.

"It's still warm." Santina shakes her head, as though clearing away cobwebs in his brain.

"I mean, he is still warm."

The two look at each other for a few seconds in mutual understanding. How easy it is to see the dead person as a body, a thing, a piece of evidence.

Santina holds the corpse by the shoulders, turns it over gently on its back. The face is gone.