The Killing Forest Read Online Free Page A

the dog’s collar.
    “Charlie boy here caught a bullet while he was chasing a bank robber in Hvidovre. It tore his thigh up. Luckily the vet thinks he’ll be able to use his leg again, though he’ll never go back to the dog patrol.”
    “So he’s a police dog,” she said.
    Eik nodded while scratching the dog’s snout.
    “And his trainer?” Louise asked.
    Eik nodded again, looking sad now. “He’s the one who shot and killed the bank robber.”
    Every police officer knew about the Hvidovre case, an armed robbery. A few months ago two masked men had entered the bank with sawed-off shotguns, forced a few customers down on the floor, and confronted the bank’s employees. Louise couldn’t remember how much they got away with, but it didn’t matter. The police had arrived quickly, and in the nearby parking lot they surrounded the two robbers, who were carrying a bag stuffed with money.
    One of the robbers began shooting at the police and hit the dog. Not long after, the man also lay on the ground. Dead. Nineteen years old. The other robber was his father. Two men with no criminal record, who chose the worst possible solution to their desperate economic situation.
    The tabloids screamed the story of the father whose painting business had gone bankrupt. Two years earlier, he’d had twelve employees and a large residence in Greve. The son had been a trainee in the business. Then it all fell apart, leaving the father hopelessly in debt and the son adrift in life.
    “No one robs banks anymore,” Eik said. “Everyone knows they’ll get caught. He’s a ruined man.”
    “The father?” Louise asked. She hadn’t followed the trial. Armed robbery meant a lengthy sentence, and the fact that the other robber, his son, had been killed wasn’t going to shorten it.
    “Him too,” Eik said, nodding again. “But I’m talking about Charlie’s father. He’s sitting at home now, staring at four walls. I don’t think he’ll be back. We were at the police academy together. We haven’t seen all that much of each other since then, but he and Charlie did drop by occasionally. So I told Finn I’d take care of the dog until he got back on his feet.”
    And that was that, Louise realized. She couldn’t come up with anything to object to, either. She nodded and took a few tentative steps toward the office.
    Charlie sat up beside Eik’s leg.
    “Come on over and say hi to him.”
    Louise grabbed the dog biscuit he pushed over to her. But before she could offer it to the dog, he was on his feet, teeth bared again. She hopped back into the hall.
    “Okay, we’ll save the introductions until later,” Eik said. He pulled the big German shepherd over to his desk while scolding him as if they were an old married couple.
    “Stop!” Louise said. “I want him out of here!”
    “Wait a second,” he said. He grabbed a leash and wrapped it around a leg on his desk a few times, then attached it to the dog’s collar. He ordered the dog to lie down.
    Louise finally walked to her desk, accompanied by a low snarl.
    “Honestly,” she said. “Can’t you take him home? It’s ridiculous, him lying there growling at me.”
    “He’s used to coming along. Otherwise he’d have to be fenced up, and I don’t have a fence.”
    “That’s too bad, because he can’t stay here!” she said.
    “Come on, Louise. Charlie’s a good boy. You just have to get to know each other.”
    Now she was getting mad. In the first place, she was the boss of this two-person unit. In the second place, she would never dream of bringing Dina along with her to work if the dog bothered anyone. But before she could say anything more, her telephone rang.
    “Special Search Agency, Louise Rick.” She turned her back to Eik, who was still talking to the dog, trying to get it to shut up.
    Her stomach knotted the second she heard Mik’s voice. She knew he was about to inform her that disciplinary proceedings would be brought against her concerning her treatment of