Only One Life Read Online Free PDF Page A

some dinner together. Camilla was already braced for a fairly late night before she could make it back home herself.
    She had just stood up when she saw him—and sat back down again, heavily, as though two powerful hands had given her a rough shove to the chest. She knew instantly that he had been watching her, and her stomach turned as he approached. She couldn’t stand up, and instead sat and looked up at him as he spoke.
    “For the love of God, you’ve got to stop calling me and sending me e-mail,” he said. “You have got to respect my boundaries and stop contacting me.”
    Then he was gone. Out the door and down the sidewalk. Camilla felt as though the whole interaction had played out in slow motion, and yet she had not had time to react or say anything.
    She sat there, frozen. Anger and pain filled her, both fighting to take over. She wanted to run after him and make him understand. Tell him that she needed to stay in touch. That she needed him, and that they had been good together. But she couldn’t stand up; her muscles felt weak and useless. He ignored her phone calls and didn’t respond to her e-mail. He didn’t want her. It was over, and that was unbearable.
    She just sat there and collected herself, her deep stomach pains converging at her diaphragm. Finally, she stood up and started walking back to the subway.

4
    “T HE BODY OF AN UNIDENTIFIED TEENAGE GIRL WAS FOUND this morning in Udby Cove on Cape Tuse north of Holbæk. The girl is approximately fourteen to sixteen years old and appears to be of Arab origin. She has long, black hair and was wearing a beige summer jacket over a dark blue T-shirt with long sleeves, faded Miss Sixty–brand jeans, and white Kawasaki shoes. If you have any information about this girl, please contact Holbæk Police.”
    Louise heard the missing-person report break on the news on the local P3 radio station during the drive back to Holbæk. It was almost five o’clock when she parked behind the police station. Upstairs in the corridor she nodded at Mik Rasmussen, who was talking with a colleague.
    Inside the sun-yellow command center, someone had set up a small fourteen-inch TV that was playing in the background at low volume, and there was coffee in the carafe. Ruth, the administrative assistant, and Storm were talking to Bengtsen about coordinating the first interviews with witnesses who might have known the girl. A communications guy was walking around, almost finished running a few extra outside phone lines, and Ruth was just getting a large database system up and running.
    “Have you taken a look around the Station Hotel?” Ruth asked.
    Louise shook her head and said she would drop her things off when they headed back there for a bite to eat.
    “Have we gotten any leads from the missing-person report?” she asked with interest.
    “A few tips have come in, but not really anything we can use,” Ruth replied.
    “But we have ten men circulating a description of the girl in town, so I don’t think it’ll take long for something to turn up,” Storm added as he stood up. “Let’s head over to the hotel and grab something to eat.”
    Ruth flipped the lid of her laptop shut and pushed aside the stacks of binders, pens, and pads that she had been quick to requisition before the investigation really got going. No one was going to have time to keep filing requisitions for everything they would need once the case was really under way. The mobile command center was almost ready.
    At that moment one of the four telephones in the office started ringing.
    “DNP Unit One Mobile Task Force, Ruth Lange speaking,” she said, pulling back her voluminous hair.
    “Okay, send her in. We’ll come get her.” She hung up and looked at Louise.
    “There’s a young woman here who thinks the victim we found may be a friend of hers. Can you go and talk to her? I just told your partner he could go home for a few minutes before dinner.”
    Louise nodded and poured a cup of coffee from