The Absent One Read Online Free PDF

head of the investigation.’ He shook his head again. ‘He’s dead, too, now. Car accident!’
    Assad pulled out a pad and took notes. Before long, Carl’s assistant would be able to do everything on his own. Carl looked forward to that day.
    ‘What did you see in the cottage?’ he asked. ‘Just the general outline would be fine.’
    ‘The doors and windows were wide open. There were several footprints. We never found the shoes, but we did find sand that we later traced back to the terrace of the parents of one of the suspects. And then we entered the living room and found the bodies on the floor.’ He sat down on the sofa by the coffee table, gesticulating to the others to join him.
    ‘The girl was a sight I would rather not remember,’ he said, ‘if you know what I mean. I knew her, after all.’ His wife poured coffee. Assad declined, but she ignored him.
    ‘I’ve never seen a body so badly beat-up,’ he continued.
‘She was so small and thin. I don’t understand how she could’ve survived as long as she did.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘The autopsy showed that she was alive for perhaps an hour after they left. The bleeding in her liver amassed in her abdominal cavity until her blood loss became too severe.’
    ‘That’s quite a risk the killers took.’
    ‘Not really. Had she lived, her brain would have been so damaged she would never have been able to help the investigation. That was obvious straight away.’ With the thought of this Thomasen turned his face towards the fields. Carl knew the feeling. Some inner images made you want to see beyond this world.
    ‘The killers knew this?’
    ‘Yes. An open skull fracture like that, in the middle of the forehead, leaves no doubt. It was quite extraordinary. So it was plain to see.’
    ‘And the boy?’
    ‘Well, he lay next to her. He had a surprised yet peaceful expression on his face. He was a good lad. I’d met him many times, both at home and at the station. He wanted to be an officer like his father.’ His gaze focused on Carl. It was rare to see a seasoned officer with such grief-stricken eyes.
    ‘Then the father arrived and saw everything?’
    ‘Unfortunately, yes.’ He shook his head. ‘He wanted to take the bodies with him straight away. He was in such a state he walked around the crime scene and probably ruined all kinds of evidence. We had to forcefully drag him out of the house. I truly regret that now.’
    ‘And then you gave the case to the Holbæk Police?’
    ‘No, it was taken from us.’ He nodded to his wife. There was plenty of everything on the table now. ‘Biscuit?’ he asked, but seemed as though he really wanted them to say no and just leave.
    ‘So it was you who put the case in our hands?’
    ‘No, it wasn’t.’ Thomasen sipped his coffee and glanced at Assad’s notes. ‘But I’m happy the case has been reopened now. Every time I see those bastards on the telly – Ditlev Pram, Torsten Florin and that stockbroker – I feel like rubbish the rest of the day.’
    ‘You’ve formed an opinion about who the perpetrators were, I see.’
    ‘You’re damned right.’
    ‘What about the man who was convicted, Bjarne Thøgersen?’
    The retired officer’s foot traced circles on the parquet floor under the coffee table, but his face remained placid. ‘That damn flock of rich-folks’ kids, they were all in it together, believe me. Ditlev Pram, Torsten Florin, the stockbroker and that girl they had along. That little shit Bjarne Thøgersen was probably there, too, but they were all in on it. And Kristian Wolf, the sixth member of the gang. And he didn’t just die from some heart attack. If you want to know my theory, the others had him liquidated because he got cold feet about something or other. That was homicide, too.’
    ‘As far as I know,’ said Carl, ‘Kristian Wolf was killed in a hunting accident, wasn’t he? The report states he accidentally shot himself in the thigh and bled to death. None of the other