Dregs by Jørn Lier Horst Read Free Book Online Page A

to illuminate the negative aspects of punishment by imprisonment. The often pointless activities and the slow, hard road back into society. She rather hoped that the matter might become an issue in the election campaign that autumn.
    Ken Ronny Hauge’s had been the last name on her list. Prior to him, seven people had said no thanks, but she had learned how to express herself and what she should emphasise to persuade them. He had agreed to an interview, but made it a condition that he remain anonymous. That was not a problem. Two of the other ex-convicts had supplied names and photographs. It just made the feature more dramatic if she could illustrate it with another kind of picture, something like nicotine-yellow fingers round a coffee cup, a pair of clenched fists, a bowed neck with grey hair, or a close-up of a prison tattoo.
    She took a picture of Ken Ronny Hauge from the folder, an old one from VG ’s picture library. The day after his arrest it had been appeared on the front page beneath the headline POLICE MURDERER. In considerably smaller print, there was another line stating: Believed to be , so the editor could defend the label. It was this label that made her doubt whether Ken Ronny would agree to the interview. Several of those who had declined had claimed that the newspaper had condemned them in advance and had a one-sided view of their cases.
    The picture looked like a school photograph, probably from his final year at Larvik technical college where he had trained as a car mechanic. She well knew how the newspaper worked. They had probably looked up someone who had been in his class at school and bought the photo for one or two thousand kroner. She didn’t see anything unethical about it. Newspapers and news bureaux bought pictures all the time. Nevertheless, she was pleased that she was not the person who had to take responsibility for putting such pictures into print. The justification was nothing other than sensationalist, and caused unnecessary stress for the subject’s family.
    He was handsome, she decided. That was also perhaps the reason that the picture had been printed on the front page. There was a great contrast between the young man’s appearance and the gruesome crime he had committed. His hair was dark, smooth and cut short. He had an intelligent face with dark eyes that suggested he was not completely of Norwegian extraction. From other papers in the folder, Line knew that his mother was called Liv, but his father’s name had not been given.
    Ken Ronny was the older of two sons. His younger brother was now 35 years old and, as far as Line could discover, had never been involved in any criminal activity. He ran a company that supplied machinery to the stone industry, was married and had two daughters.
    Ken Ronny’s mother had been found dead in the harbour almost exactly a year after he had been arrested. The death was described as a drowning accident. Line wondered if the journalist who had splashed the picture of Ken Ronny over the front page had been aware of the incident. It was probably a final way out that she had chosen after failing to drink away her sorrow and despair.
    There were several aspects of the police murder that made it unusual, the most disquieting being that Ken Ronny Hauge had never admitted guilt or given any explanation about what happened that dark September night in 1991. Not once during the trial had he offered any explanation.
    Line was to interview him on Friday and was excited about what he might have to say, but met his gaze from the photograph with a slight sense of dread. She thought of all the evenings she had lain in bed as a little girl without being able to fall asleep, praying to God that the Police Murderer would not take her father too. Interviewing him would be like going to meet a danger from the past.

CHAPTER 10
    Afternoon sunshine trickled through the venetian blinds, throwing stripes of light across the overflowing desk in Wisting’s office.
    He