Dregs Read Online Free PDF Page A

swings, and became irritable without any good reason. He had problems concentrating, had lost interest in his work and lacked sufficient initiative even to consult the doctor. It had been Suzanne who finally made the appointment for him.
    ‘The menopause,’ he answered briefly and helped himself once again to the salad with pasta and ham.
    Suzanne’s eyes opened wide. ‘The menopause,’ she repeated, grinning.
    ‘The doctor wasn’t sure, but thought it could be that. It happens to men too. Apparently we produce less testosterone as we grow old.’
    She spiked a piece of tomato and winked at him. ‘I haven’t noticed anything like that.’
    Wisting returned her smile. ‘In any case, it wasn’t diabetes.’
    ‘Did you get something to take?’
    ‘I’ll get the results of the blood tests in a few days, perhaps next week. Then I have to go back for a check-up in a fortnight. There are hormone supplements.’
    ‘I can enquire at the health-food shop,’ Suzanne suggested. ‘They’ll certainly have something there.’
    Wisting shrugged his shoulders. ‘Line is coming tomorrow,’ he said, mainly to change the subject. ‘I’ll go home after work.’
    ‘Very nice. Is she staying long?’
    ‘I don’t know. She’s on holiday from next week, but is working on a series of interviews for Verdens Gang . Among other things, she’s meeting a man who lives in Helgeroa. She’ll be staying for a couple of days anyway. Tommy’s coming home from sea on Thursday.’
    ‘Perhaps we can go out for a meal one evening?’
    Wisting reached for a slice of garlic bread. ‘I don’t know,’ he replied, cutting it in two. ‘I’m going to be fairly busy at work.’
    ‘A new case?’
    He nodded. ‘We’ve found another foot.’
    She glanced enquiringly at him.
    ‘From another person,’ he continued, sitting down again. ‘I’m going to put together a team early tomorrow morning. A murder investigation team.’

CHAPTER 6
    Inspectors Nils Hammer and Torunn Borg and crime technician Espen Mortensen gathered round the conference table with Assistant Chief of Police Audun Vetti and Eskild Anvik, the Chief Superintendent. Most of the chairs were empty. There were no other people. The atmosphere was uneasy as the investigators leafed through their papers. A kind of tension was in the air, like the feeling that thunder and threatening clouds were on their way.
    The Assistant Chief of Police was sitting with the local newspaper open in front of him. The discovery of a new body part was only mentioned in a couple of columns at the bottom of page five, illustrated by a picture of the beach and an archive photo of Audun Vetti himself. Wisting reckoned that he would cut it out when the meeting was over, and keep it in a drawer in his office.
    The information that the case now concerned feet from two different people had been held back. The way the newspaper referred to the discovery of the previous day and the follow-up search suggested that none of the editorial staff suspected anything criminal. The find was linked to the disappearances of the previous year, and Audun Vetti was hoping that forensic examinations would confirm that this theory was correct. For once he had kept to what they had agreed should be released at this stage.
    The purpose of the meeting was to share information, so that everyone who was going to continue on the case knew exactly where they stood. They had to agree on a plan and a goal. Their eyes turned to Wisting when he spoke.
    ‘Something is going on here that we don’t exactly grasp the consequences of right now,’ he began. ‘For the moment our starting point must be that the feet belong to two of the missing persons. This can’t be down to coincidence. The next stage of the investigation should be set up on the basis of a worst case scenario.’ A worst case scenario implied that they were embarking on a murder investigation. The others round the table nodded. ‘It will be important to achieve three