Bad Intentions Read Online Free PDF Page B

the buttons," Sejer said. "He laced up his boots and tied a double knot."
    Skarre looked up from his notepad. It was already covered with writing.
    "Jon was very neat," Axel said. "In absolutely every situation. Take the laces. We used to tease him about them. He always tied a double knot. In winter, when we were kids, we had to pour warm water on those knots to untie them."
    He turned away for a moment. He could see the river from the window and while no help could be found there, he needed some breathing space. The way they obsessed about minor things aggravated him, as though it was he who had driven Jon over the edge or as if somehow he could explain to them how suicidal people behave during their final hour.
    "I don't know," he said. "I'm not an expert. Perhaps he was unable to go to sleep and he might just have wanted to go for a walk initially, that was why he got dressed properly. And then something overwhelmed him, something broke him. Some sort of despondency or a melancholy which got too much for him. After all, he did suffer from anxiety."
    "Yes," Sejer said, "that is a possibility. That something overcame him later and it all happened very quickly. First he gets dressed with military precision and then he jumps off a cliff."
    Axel was not sure what Sejer was thinking. His lined face did not reveal much, apart from skepticism.
    Skarre looked up from his notepad. "There's another detail which baffles us," he said. "I'm talking about the fact that Jon could not swim. But we found him quite far out. One hundred meters from shore, to be precise. How did he get that far?"
    Axel was slightly taken aback.
    "I imagine that he drifted for a while," he said. "I don't know."
    "There's no current in that lake," Skarre said.
    "I don't think it's up to me to explain this," Axel said, "as you are well aware. I work in advertising. I don't know about such things."
    "Right," Sejer said. "That's our job. Isn't it, Skarre?"
    "It is our job," Skarre agreed.
    Sejer retrieved something from his inside pocket and Axel recognized Jon's cell phone. Axel knew that Jon had a photo of a small white dog on the display.
    "We've obviously got the phone records," Sejer explained. He started pressing the keys.
    "Sent box," he said. "Friday, September 13, text sent to Molly Gram, just before ten o'clock in the evening. Molly was Jon's girlfriend at Ladegården," he added. "Did you know that he had a girlfriend?"
    Axel could feel his composure trickle away.
    "'Hi Molly. Trying to cope up here in the cabin. My anxiety seems to get worse when I'm away from the hospital. Hope I make it. Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday. Love, Jon.'"
    Sejer returned the phone to his inside pocket.
    "This text wasn't sent by someone planning to kill himself," he stated.
    "Jon might not have been thinking about it when he sent the message," Axel said. "Something must have happened in the course of the night."
    "Did he feel threatened?"
    "By us, you mean?" Axel said. "We're his best friends."
    "He was looking forward to Sunday," Skarre said. "But he never came back to Ladegården. He didn't make it. What do you think happened to him?"
    "Jon was very volatile," Axel explained. "His mood changed
from one hour to the next, up and down, like a roller coaster. The guy was worn out. You won't be able to find a logical explanation for what happened."
    Sejer and Skarre exchanged looks. Simultaneously they got up from the sofa and prepared to leave.

Chapter 7
    R EILLY WAS STANDING in the doorway holding the kitten.
    His pale skin was covered with thin, red claw marks.
    "Come on," Axel said. "We need to go and see Ingerid."
    "Do we have to?"
    "Yes, we do. We can't put it off any longer, she's expecting us. She probably has a lot of questions, so we have to make up something which sounds plausible. About that evening. What Jon said and did, how he was, all the little details that she'll want to know. How are you?" he asked. "You're not high, I hope?"
    Reilly grunted a reply.