Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum Read Free Book Online Page B

Sejer said, "whether the person in question is really sick or not. Not every killer is sick."
    "You can't tell me that normal people kill young girls!"
    She was breathing hard, gasping for air. Her husband had wrapped himself up in a stony knot.
    "Nevertheless," Sejer said, "there's always a reason, even if it's not necessarily one we can understand. But first we have to ascertain that someone really did take her life."
    "If you think she took her own life, you'd better think again," the mother said. "That's impossible. Not Annie."
    They all say that, Sejer thought.
    "I need to ask you about a few things. Answer as best you can. Then, if you want to put your answer another way or think you forgot something, give me a call. Or if you think of something else. Anytime, day or night."
    Ada Holland shifted her eyes past Skarre and Sejer, as if she were listening to the reverberating cymbal, and she wondered where the sound was coming from.
    "I need to know what kind of girl she was. Tell me whatever you can." And, at the same time, he thought, what kind of question is that? What are they supposed to say to that? The very best, of course, the sweetest, the nicest. Someone totally special. The very dearest thing they had.
Only Annie was Annie.
    They both began to sob. The mother from deep in her throat, a painfully plaintive wail; the father soundlessly, without tears. Sejer could see the resemblance to his daughter. A wide face with a high forehead. He wasn't particularly tall, but
strong and sturdy. Skarre clutched his pen in his hand, his eyes fixed rigidly on his notebook.

    "Let's start again," Sejer said. "I'm sorry I have to distress you, but time is of the essence for us. What time exactly did she leave home?"
    The mother answered, staring at her lap, "At 12:30 P.M. "
    "Where was she going?"
    "To Anette's house. A school friend. Three of them were doing a project. They'd been given time off from school to work on it together."
    "And she never got there?"
    "We called them at 11:00 P.M. last night, since it was getting awfully late. Anette was in bed. Only the other girl had turned up. I couldn't believe it..."
    She hid her face in her hands. The whole day had passed and they hadn't known.
    "Why didn't the girls call you to talk to Annie?"
    "They assumed she didn't feel like coming over," she said, stifling her sobs. "Thought she'd just changed her mind. They don't know Annie very well if that's what they thought. She never neglected her homework. Never neglected anything."
    "Was she going to walk over there?"
    "Yes. It's two and a half miles and she usually rides her bike, but it needs repairing. There isn't a bus connection."
    "Where does Anette live?"
    "Near Horgen. They have a farm and a general store."
    Sejer nodded, hearing Skarre's pen scratching across the page.
    "She had a boyfriend?"
    "Halvor Muntz."
    "Had it been going on for long?"
    "About two years. He's older. It's been on again, off again, but it's been going fine lately, as far as I know."
    Ada Holland didn't seem to know what to do with her hands; they fumbled over each other, opening and clenching. She was almost as tall as her husband, rather stout and angular, with a ruddy complexion.

    "Do you know whether it was a sexual relationship?" he asked lightly.
    The mother stared at him, outraged. "She's fifteen years old!"
    "You have to remember that I didn't know her," he said.
    "There was nothing like that," she said.
    "I don't think that's something we would know," the husband ventured at last. "Halvor is eighteen. Not a child any more."
    "Of course I would know," she interrupted him.
    "I don't think she tells you everything."
    "I would have known!"
    "But you're not much good at talking about things like that!"
    The mood was tense. Sejer made his own assumption and saw from Skarre's notebook that he had too.
    "If she was going to work on a school project, she must have taken a bag along."
    "A brown leather bag.
    "Where is it?"
    "We haven't found it."
    So