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

look at her.
    Louise sighed but then gave in. “We moved down here the summer before fifth grade,” she said. “And I was twenty when I moved away.”
    “But you still have friends who live down here?”
    “No,” she replied quickly.
    She had just turned onto the tree-lined avenue in Lejre when he picked up the subject again. “But you had a boyfriend!”
    “Yes, but that was a long time ago.”
    Annoyed with his continued questioning, Louise hit the gas. She knew, of course, that it wasn’t going to stop him, but at least she would be busy keeping the car on the road.
    “Was his name Klaus?” Eik tried but she ignored him, suddenly remembering one late evening when she and her brother had been riding in the backseat of their parents’ old Simca. There had been an accident here on the avenue, in this exact spot. A car had collided head-on with one of the tall trees. She didn’t see much before her mother told them to get on the floor of the car and warned them not to look out the window.
    This was long before cell phones so their dad had run to the nearest farm to call for help, and as Louise lay wedged on the floor of the car, she had heard the screams: loud and filled with pain and shock. She never found out how many people had been in the crashed car or whether they all survived. But her brief glimpse of the wreck had stuck with her.
    “Did he stand you up?” Eik asked while he fiddled with the two worn strings around his right wrist. One yellow and one green.
    “You seem to know these roads so well, considering how long it’s been since you were here,” Eik continued, seemingly intent upon pushing her to open up.
    Louise visibly tightened but didn’t answer him. She continued straight instead of getting on the freeway ramp.
    “What?” he asked.
    “I’m going to Roskilde,” Louise said, assuming that he had sobered up enough to drive by now. “That way I can still keep my appointment.”
    “So where do you want to get out?”
    “It really doesn’t matter,” Louise replied and meant it. “How about right here?” She started to pull over.
    “No, stop it. Just drive to your appointment and then I’ll take over from there,” he argued, waving her back onto the road.
    Louise turned and looked at him.
    “Then I’m going to need you to shut up,” she said. “Because otherwise, frankly, I’d rather walk.”
    “Okay. Calm down.” He put his hands up disarmingly and cocked his head a little so his long bangs slipped down over his nose. “I will.”
    Louise turned back out on the road with a tense smile, practically fuming with irritation.
    T HE IMPRESSIVE ESTATE that had become Camilla’s new home was majestic and beautiful, with windows as tall as French doors. A wide stone staircase led down from the front door with elegant pots of flowers on both sides. The courtyard infront of the house had a round lawn with a small fountain in the middle, and everything was covered with small pebbles, which crunched under the tires as Louise pulled up by the front door.
    She noticed the unimpressed look in Eik’s eyes as he glanced up at the house while getting the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket once again. Smoking wasn’t permitted in any of the department’s vehicles, but after she got out he jumped behind the wheel, rolled down the window, and flouted the rule.
    “See you tomorrow,” he said and gave her a quick nod before he turned the car around and drove off.

8
    W HAT WAS THAT about the kids you guys found?” asked Camilla, who hadn’t seemed overly surprised when her friend showed up after all.
    “The girl was just playing as if nothing had happened,” Louise told her. “First we heard the little boy, completely beside himself and dissolved in tears, and then we found the others.” She shook her head a little. “I wonder how long they’d been left to themselves,” she mumbled. She was having a hard time getting the children out of her head. They had been so close when the