The Forgotten Girls by Sara Blædel Read Free Book Online Page A

noted with a sense of relief. Not even when she reached out her hand and introduced herself. He just accepted it, his wholesale lack of interest or curiosity palpable.
    “Well… I guess there isn’t much more to tell, though,” he drawled, biting his lip as if thinking were a strenuous exercise. “She was just lying there, dead.” He shrugged.
    “And you didn’t recognize her?” Eik asked.
    “I hadn’t seen her before.”
    “You didn’t see her walking around the area?”
    “Never.”
    “Could she have been staying in the cabin up there?” Eik suggested.
    “I sure as hell don’t think so!” Big Thomsen firmly exclaimed. “That’s Boner’s area… you know, Bo Knudsen from out by Særløse. He keeps an eye on things; keeps away kids and stuff like that so they don’t run around throwing rocks through the windows and tearing the place apart. He’s up there daily when no one is staying there.”
    “And was the cabin rented out last week?”
    Big Thomsen exhaled heavily and squinted a little before shaking his head. “I don’t think so. But next week there’s some people coming down from Hillerød. They come down every year, and there’s one of the counselors in particular who’s worth keeping an eye on.” He sent a knowing wink in Eik’s direction. “We always kind of pay attention to who’s around in the woods.”
    Eik asked whether he had a phone number for Bo Knudsen.
    Louise remembered Boner. He was a small guy who had been a few grades ahead of her. His parents had a large farm, and there were days when he didn’t have a chance to change out of his boiler suit after helping out with the cows in the morning before school.
    Ole Thomsen got his cell phone out of his chest pocket and focused intently on pressing the buttons with hands much too big for the task.
    “Why don’t you call and ask him yourselves,” he grumbled after giving them the number.
    Yeah, I’m thinking we will
, Louise thought irritably.
    “Could the woman have set up camp somewhere in the woods?” Eik continued, unaffected.
    Ole Thomsen dismissed him: “We’d have seen her. It’s not like we’re just idle while doing our job out there. They also made us responsible for wounded and dead animals after they cut funding for the gamekeeper.”
    He inhaled and was about to go on when Louise interrupted.
    “That was all, I think.” She thanked him and turned around to walk back to the car.
    “You’re welcome.” Big Thomsen added, “Anything to help!”
    Louise sensed that he stayed and watched them walk away.
    “Say… aren’t you the one from Lerbjerg?” he called as she was about to open the car door. “You were Klaus’s girlfriend back then?”
    She froze. And stood there, her back still to him, while struggling to compose herself before slowly turning around.
    “I thought I recognized your name,” he enthused. “Just had to get it all lit up on the old scoreboard, you know? Do you still keep in touch with his parents?”
    Tense, and worried her voice would betray her, Louise gave a small shake of the head before quickly getting in the car.
    “W HAT WAS THAT ABOUT ?” Eik asked after they had been driving for a bit.
    Louise ignored his curious look and stifled a sneeze.
    “Careful with that,” he said. “If you sneeze too hard, you could break a rib or herniate a disc, but if you try to hold it in you could burst a blood vessel in your head or your neck. And die.”
    “Thanks for the warning,” Louise snapped. She hated sneezing while driving, but it wasn’t because she was worried about bursting a blood vessel. It was more about the split second of losing control while the car was going.
    They drove for a little while before he broke the silence again.
    “You know Ole Thomsen,” he concluded once they had passed through the last turns in the road and she sped back up a little.
    “Knew,” she specified dismissively.
    “When exactly did you live down here?” he asked, this time turning to