‘When I left, he was sitting in tears by Tryvann with a bottle of Montrachet and a pair of crystal glasses. But enough about men, why were you ringing?’
‘I’m calling because I think the cocaine was skimmed at Krimteknisk. And that Arne was the one who did it.’
‘Arne?’
‘We’ve sent a patrol car to have him picked up.’
‘Have you lost it, Harry? Arne doesn’t work at Forensics.’
Harry was quiet for a few moments.
‘Where...’
‘Arne Sæten is a researcher and lecturer in physics and astronomy at the university.’
She heard Harry whisper a quiet ‘bollocks’ under his breath and shout: ‘Truls! Cancel that patrol car.’
Then he was back on the line. ‘Sorry, Katrine. Seems I’m past my best-before date.’
‘Oh yeah?’
‘This is the third time I’ve gone all in and been way off the mark in this bloody case. I’m ready for the scrapheap.’
She laughed. ‘You’re just a little overworked, like the rest of us, Harry. Switch off your brain and get some rest. Weren’t you going to watch the eclipse with Alexandra Sturdza and Helge Forfang? You can still make it; I see the moon is just a little more than half covered.’
‘Mm. OK. Bye.’
Harry hung up, leaned forward in the chair and put his head in his hands. ‘Fuck, fuck.’
‘Don’t be too hard on yourself, Harry,’ Aune said.
He made no reply.
‘Harry?’ Aune said cautiously.
Harry lifted his head. ‘I can’t let it go,’ he said, his voice hoarse. ‘I know I’m right. That I’m
This is it, Thanh had thought as she saw his hand draw close to her face.
Exactly what ‘it’ was, she was not entirely clear on. Just that it was something dangerous. Thrillingly dangerous. Something she should be afraid of,
His hand had stopped. Had remained in the air, as if frozen, shaped like a gun. And then she had realised that he hadn’t reached for her but was pointing. She had turned her head in the direction his forefinger was trained, had to prop herself up on her elbows to see over the ridge. Involuntarily, she had taken a deep breath. And held it.
There, bathed in moonlight in a forest clearing at the bottom of the slope in front of them she saw four, no,
‘Is that...?’ she whispered.
‘Yeah,’ Jonathan whispered. ‘That’s Nhi.’
‘Nhi. How did you know I called...?’
‘I saw you. You used the name when you played with him and fed him. You talked more to him than you did to me.’ In the darkness she could see he was smiling.
‘But how did this... happen?’ She nodded towards the foxes.
Jonathan sighed. ‘I’m the kind of idiot who takes in prohibited animals. Like that guy who had two Mount Kaputar slugs and got me to take one of them because he thought there was a better chance of at least one of them surviving if they were fed and cared for in two different locations. I should have refused. They would have closed my shop down if that policeman had discovered it. And I haven’t slept since I flushed it down the toilet. But at least with Nhi I had some time to think. I knew we couldn’t keep Nhi hidden indefinitely, and then the environmental health authorities would put him down. So, I took him to the vet’s, she pronounced him healthy, so I placed him with this pack of foxes I knew lived here. Now of course it certainly wasn’t a given that they’d take Nhi in, and I know how fond you are of that cub. So I didn’t want to say anything to you until after I’d made a few trips out here and was sure it was going to be all right.’
‘You didn’t want to tell me because you were afraid I’d be upset?’
She saw Jonathan squirm slightly. ‘I just figured it can be painful getting your hopes up, and even more painful when things don’t turn out the way you thought and dreamt they would.’
But right now she didn’t know if it was the darkness, the intoxicating joy and relief, the moon or just tiredness that made her want to put her arms around him.
‘It’s probably getting a little late for you to be still up,’ he said. ‘We can come back another day if you’d like.’
‘Yeah,’ she whispered. ‘I’d really like that.’
