The Killing Forest Read Online Free

times since then, but she hadn’t gotten back to him. One day a letter lined with bubble wrap arrived; inside was a Nick Cave CD. She hadn’t even thanked him for that.
    Louise knew that Eik meant well, but she just couldn’t see him. All this about Klaus had simply been too much. So much so that the night she and Eik spent together, right before everything fell apart for her, seemed more like a distant dream than a fresh memory about great sex and the surprising feeling of falling in love.
    After parking and turning in the key, she sat for a moment and gazed at the tall windows of her department. Suddenly she felt his presence again, in a way that made her skin tingle.

3
    R emember to check your mail,” Hanne called out when Louise walked past the secretary’s office. She stopped, turned on her heel, and walked back with a smile plastered on her face, only to discover that her mail slot was empty.
    She’d known Hanne Munk since the secretary was in Homicide, Louise’s former department. At the time she had thought that Hanne was a breath of fresh air, with her mountain of red hair, loud clothes, and exaggerated gestures, but after Louise transferred to the Search Department her relationship with Rønholt’s secretary had been strained, to put it mildly.
    “Thanks for reminding me,” she said on her way out of the office. Even though she knew Hanne’s style, it annoyed her that the secretary hadn’t even in the tiniest way welcomed her back.
    Menopause, lack of sleep, too little sex, Louise thought as she answered another message from Jonas, who asked if it was okay for him to stay over with Nico after the movie.
    Does that boy ever change his clothes? Louise rushed down the hall to the Rathole, the double office she had been given earlier that year after being chosen to head up the newly formed Special Search Agency in the Search Department. They were responsible for cases of missing persons when criminal activity was suspected.
    There was more than enough space for the new unit, which up to then consisted of her and Eik Nordstrøm. Yet it irritated her that Rønholt couldn’t find a different locale for them; they were right above the kitchen, and they were privy to the menu every day. The shabby office had even been invaded by rats, though Pest Control had finally taken care of that.
    She opened the door and immediately froze: A large German shepherd growled viciously at her, its shackles up and teeth bared, its eyes fixed on her. She leaped back and slammed the door shut. Hearing Eik’s voice farther down the hall, she turned to see him walking out of the copy room, stuffing a flattened pack of cigarettes into his pocket.
    Earlier, while driving in, she’d thought about seeing him again after all this time; about what to say. And now he was standing in front of her. Her whole body felt warm, all the way to her fingertips, and when he spread his arms to greet her, she completely forgot why she hadn’t felt up to seeing him out at the cottage.
    “How are you, beautiful?”
    He pulled her close, but then he apparently remembered her broken ribs and let go.
    “Sorry I didn’t call you back,” she mumbled awkwardly, and immediately changed the subject to the dog in their office.
    “Let me go in first,” he said. “It’s Charlie, and I probably ought to introduce you two.”
    “I’ve already met the beast,” she said. “It nearly went for my throat.”
    “Don’t be silly, he wouldn’t hurt you. He just has to get to know you. You’re an intruder to him; he’s been with me in the office while you’ve been gone.”
    Eik opened the door to the Rathole and sat down in the doorway as the big dog ran toward him. Louise noticed that the dog limped and that his right rear leg hung in the air. He landed in Eik’s lap and began licking his face so eagerly that he almost knocked Eik over.
    “What happened to him?” Louise asked. She stayed out in the hall while her partner got to his feet and grabbed