Free Pierced by Thomas Enger

slightly.
    “She told me that you’ve been trying to find out who—”
    “Are you out of your mind?” Grønningen hisses and looks daggers at him before quickly glancing around. “You can’t just come in here and—”
    “Why not?” Henning says as frown lines appear on his brow. “We’re just having a chat.”
    “You don’t understand,” the big man says. “Get out before anyone sees you.”
    “You’re quite right,” Henning says, feigning ignorance. “I don’t understand.”
    Grønningen gives him a look of exasperation. Neither of them says anything for a while, but Henning refuses to release Grønningen’s eyes. Finally, Grønningen gives in.
    “Do you know where Jarlen is?”
    “No, but I can find out.”
    “Wait there and I’ll have a chat with you later.”
    “Okay. When?”
    Grønningen rolls his eyes before he faces Henning again.
    “When I’m done here. I can’t cut my workout short just because you turned up.”
    “So give me a time.”
    Grønningen glances surreptitiously around again. Then without looking at Henning, he says:
    “Give me a couple of hours.”
    “A couple of hours it is.”
    Henning looks at the clock on the wall behind the reception counter, nods to Grønningen, and climbs off the exercise bike. On his way to the exit, he smiles at the girl behind the counter and gives her a thumbs-up before he walks outside and back into the heat.

15
    Thorleif Brenden wakes up with a start and looks around. There is light all around him. From an open window that overlooks the courtyard the sound of children shouting enters and exacerbates his headache.
    He gets up and goes to the kitchen. Then he fills a glass with cold water and swallows the contents with rapid gulps. He groans with satisfaction. The next moment the door is flung open as if Kramer himself from Seinfeld is about to make an entrance. But it is only Julie with Elisabeth at her heels.
    “Hi, Daddy! I need the loo.”
    “Okay, sweetheart,” he smiles and looks at Elisabeth. “Remember to close the door behind you.”
    “Okay,” Julie replies.
    “And afterward you must tell Daddy what you’ve just learned, promise?” Elisabeth calls out after her daughter.
    “Yeees!”
    Elisabeth smiles and looks at him tenderly.
    “Hi,” she says in a soft and affectionate voice. “Did you have a good sleep?”
    Thorleif shakes his head and refills his glass.
    “You certainly look as if you have.”
    “How can you tell?” he asks her.
    “Your eyes are swollen. As if they’ve relaxed properly for once.”
    “It’s probably just an allergic reaction.”
    “Oh, you poor thing. You shouldn’t have joined us on that horse and cart ride. Have you taken your medication? Do you feel better for it?”
    “A bit, perhaps.”
    Elisabeth strokes his cheeks and gazes at him as if he were a baby. Then she kicks off her shoes. He can hear Julie singing happily through the open bathroom door.
    “Are you going to fix the alarm today?”
    “What?”
    “The burglar alarm. We must get someone in take a look at it.”
    “Oh, right.”
    Thorleif had already forgotten that the alarm had, unexpectedly, not worked when they came back from Bogstad Farm.
    “Daddy,” Julie shouts as she comes storming out of the bathroom. “Do you know something?”
    “No.”
    “I’ve learned to ride my bicycle!”
    Her sense of triumph is written large across her face.
    “Really?”
    Julie nods, bursting with pride.
    “Do you want to see, Daddy? Do you want me to show you?”
    Thorleif looks at Elisabeth. Julie’s parents are bursting with pride, too.
    “Of course I want you to show me, sweetheart. Hang on, let me just put my shoes on.”

16
    Henning walks across the golden brown floor of Jarlen. A wall painted red at the top and white at the bottom welcomes him to the restaurant. The wall sconces look like hats someone thought it would be amusing to turn upside down. There are white cloths and napkins on the tables, but hardly any customers