“Think about her while you do it. I mean it. Just do it. Think about Rakel.”
Harry swallowed.
He let go of her hand. Closed his eyes.
It was like slipping into a warm bath with his suit on and his phone in his pocket: completely wrong, and completely wonderful.
She kissed him. He opened his eyes again, looked directly into hers. For a moment it was as if they were watching each other, like two animals that had run into each other in the forest and had to figure out if the other was friend or foe. Then he returned her kiss. She undressed him, then herself, and sat on top of him. Gripped his cock. She didn’t move her hand, just held him hard. Possibly fascinated to feel the blood throb in his erection, the way he could feel it. Then—without any further ado—she guided him inside her.
They found each other’s rhythm, remembered it. Slow, heavy. Harry saw her rocking above him in the thin red glow from the clock radio. He ran his hand over what he thought was a necklace shaped like a symbol or sign, but which turned out to be a tattoo, a sort of S with two dots under it, and something that made him think of Fred Flintstone in his car. Kaja’s moaning grew louder, she wanted to speed up, but Harry didn’t let her, he held her down. She let out an angry cry, but let him lead the dance. He closed his eyes and looked for Rakel. He found Alexandra. He found Katrine. But he couldn’t find Rakel. Not until Kaja stiffened, her moaning stopped, he opened his eyes and saw the red light running down her face and upper body. Her eyes were fixed on the wall, her mouth was open as if in a mute scream, and her sharp, wet teeth were glinting.
And his half a heartbeat.
32
“Sleep well?” Kaja asked, handing Harry one of the two steaming cups of coffee and creeping back into bed beside him. Light from the pale sun was filtering through the curtains that were swaying gently in front of the open window. The morning air still had a chill to it, and Kaja shivered happily as she stuck a pair of ice-cold feet between his legs.
Harry pondered. Yes, damn it, hehadslept well. No nightmares that he could remember. No withdrawal symptoms he couldn’t suppress. No sudden visions or signs of a panic attack.
“Looks that way,” Harry said, sitting up in bed and taking a sip. “You?”
“Like a log. The idea of you being here works well for me. But it did last time too, of course.”
Harry stared into space and nodded. “What do you say, shall we give it another go? Start again on a new page.” He turned around and saw from the look of astonishment on her face that she had misunderstood. “OK, we haven’t got any suspects lined up,” he said quickly. “So where do we start?”
Her face tightened, in an unspoken “you couldn’t even leave Rakel alone for five minutes after we woke up together?”
He saw Kaja compose herself, then clear her throat. “Well, Rakel had told Bohr about the threats that had been made against her because of your work. But we also know that in nine out of ten murders committed in the home, the murderer is someone known to the victim. So it was someone she knew. Or someone who knows you.”
“The first list is a long one. The second one very short.”
“Which men did she know, apart from Bohr and other people from work?”
“She knew my colleagues. And…no.”
“What?”
“She helped out when I owned the Jealousy Bar. Ringdal, the guy who took it over, wanted her to carry on. She said no, but that’s hardly a motive for murder.”
“Is it worth considering that it could be a woman?”
“Fifteen percent probability.”
“Statistically, yes, but think about it. Jealousy?”
Harry shook his head.
They heard a phone vibrate in the room. Kaja leaned over her side of the bed, fished the mobile from Harry’s pocket, looked at the screen and pressed Answer.
“He’s a bit busy right now, in bed with Kaja, so please keep it short.”
She handed the phone to a resigned-looking Harry. He looked at the screen.
“Yes?”
“Not that it’s any of my business, but who’s Kaja?” Alexandra’s voice sounded ice-cold.
“Sometimes I find myself wondering the same thing,” Harry said, watching Kaja as she slipped out of bed, took off her pyjamas and went into the bathroom. “What is it?”
