The butt of the rifle and Engelsviken’s skinny legs protruded from under the coat.
Frank cleared his throat.
No one said anything.
Desperate. The word had been furnished with content. He straightened up. Saw rather than heard Gunnarstranda cursing madly under his breath. Turned to the naked woman, took off his jacket and rubbed his chest where she had bitten him. Passed her his winter jacket.
Insane. Those round breasts of hers. Two pink nipples staring at him angrily before they were covered by the zip. The large jacket reached to the middle of her thighs. Five long, pink nails clawed at his arm.
‘Shit,’ hissed the little bald man from somewhere at the back.
Frølich couldn’t be bothered to listen. He took the maid with him to the second room and let a second officer take care of her. Got right out of the house, down into the garden. Drew fresh air into his lungs. Leaned against a tree trunk and watched the activity going on around him. Stood like this until Gunnarstranda ambled up with his hands deep in his coat pockets. A roll-up bobbing up and down in his mouth.
They looked at each other.
Gunnarstranda put the cigarette in his pocket. ‘Did it happen fast?’
Frank nodded.
‘Don’t suppose there was much we could have done to prevent it?’
‘No.’
Gunnarstranda looked around. ‘Fair bit of paperwork to do now.’
‘I suppose there will be.’
Gunnarstranda stepped aside to let medical staff past. ‘I reckon we’d better find ourselves an interpreter before we question the young lady who borrowed your jacket.’
Chit-chat, Frank thought. Answered: ‘Yes.’
They continued together down the slope. Stopped at the gate.
‘Whatever anyone says it must have been hell living with the bugger,’ Gunnarstranda sighed.
Frank didn’t speak.
‘Just look at the façade they projected. The cars, the house, the garden . . .
‘And heaps of loneliness,’ Gunnarstranda added. ‘He had her, but she didn’t have anyone.’
They reached the car.
‘That night must have been the last straw.’
‘Rubbish,’ Frank interrupted with heat. ‘About a third of all Norwegian marriages come to an end in a perfectly orderly fashion. All she had to do was get a divorce!’
Gunnarstranda sucked in air. Frank could glimpse a hint of amusement behind his eyes. ‘You mean she could have saved herself the bother?’
His tone of voice sounded sarcastic while a kind of humorous relief settled over his face. ‘Sometimes you never quite get to the bottom of a case, Frølich. Never mind to the bottom of people!’
S’pose not, mused Frank, drained. But nevertheless he still had to articulate his thoughts:
‘If Sonja Hager suffered such torment, why didn’t she take her fury out on the obvious person closer to home?’
Gunnarstranda gazed up at the house. Opened the car door. ‘She did, in the end,’ he grinned, and got in.
About the Author
Kjell Ola Dahl was born in Norway in 1958 and lives with his wife and children in Feirng, near Oslo. His first novel, Dødens investeringer (Lethal Investments), was published in Norway in 1993. The Fourth Man marked his first publication in English in 2007.
By the Same Author
THE FOURTH MAN
THE MAN IN THE WINDOW
THE LAST FIX
First published in 2011
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2010
All rights reserved
© K. O. Dahl, 2011
Translation © Don Bartlett, 2011
This translation has been published
with the financial support of NORLA
The right of K. O. Dahl to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–27773–5
Lethal Investments Page 26
