Free The Hunting Dogs by Jørn Lier Horst Page A

at first, but later there were lengthier and lengthier
     periods between visits, and at each visit Frank’s decline was more pronounced. The
     last time had been a year ago.
    His mobile phone began to ring in his pocket as he carried the cardboard box to the
     upper floors. He did not answer until he had set the old files down in the middle
     of his desk: four unanswered calls and three voicemail messages from numbers not stored
     in his contacts list. Journalists, he assumed, who wanted him to comment on the case.
    A couple of pigeons fluttered past his office window. A grey veil of drizzle covered
     the fjord.
    A fine layer of dust had formed on top of the cardboard box. He ran his hand across
     the top folder, collecting the dust into a ball he rubbed between two fingers and
     disposed of in the waste bin.
    The blue ring binders contained details of tip-offs, while the green folders were
     case documents with individual divisions for witnesses, police reports and criminal
     technology examinations. A red binder labelled Accused on the spine held the interviews with Rudolf Haglund and all attendant information.
     In addition, there was a black ring binder containing so-called null and void documents,
     internal notes that did not accompany the case documents to the public prosecutor’s
     office and were not included in the copy set forwarded to the defence team.
    Wisting’s notebook from the case also lay inside the cardboard box, pushed down at
     one side, a bound, hardback book, with his name written in the top right-hand corner.
     He removed it and placed the box with the remaining documents on the floor before
     shoving it under the desk and taking his seat.
    At the front of the book was a colour A4 photograph of Cecilia Linde from a publicity
     campaign for one of her father’s clothes collections, its white border yellowed by
     time. The word CANES was written across her chest, with Venatici in slightly smaller writing beneath. This image had been used with the missing person
     bulletin, which had been more effective than any advertising campaign. The entire
     collection of Venatici sweaters had sold out in the course of that summer, but no further production had
     followed.
    Wisting leafed through the first few pages, revisiting his thoughts and reflections.
     Experienced and jotted down hurriedly, they were nevertheless clearly presented. He
     had spent months on this case, and the ring binders contained thousands of documents
     he was impatient to delve into again. Something here must form the basis of the accusations.
     Something still lay undetected.

19
    Line had been only twelve years old when Cecilia vanished, but remembered the case
     well. What she recollected best was that her father was almost never at home that
     summer and their plans for a holiday in Denmark had come to nothing.
    The search for Cecilia Linde produced 387 hits in VG ’s text archive alone. The sheer volume of material made it difficult for her to find
     her bearings. She arranged the responses in chronological order, starting with the
     oldest.
    The first news story referred to Cecilia Linde as a young girl who had been reported
     missing after going out for a run. Her height, build and appearance were described,
     and the article carried a photograph. The police encouraged members of the public
     who had seen her to contact them. There was no reason to believe she had been the
     victim of a crime, but all possibilities were open.
    The next report dealt with the search, continually expanded in terms of manpower and
     range. The following article contained a plea to everyone present in the area on the
     afternoon of Saturday 15th July to come forward.
    A recurrent feature of the reports was that she had disappeared without a trace. Eventually
     the theory that she had been abducted was launched, and the police were questioned
     about whether they had heard from the kidnappers, or if ransom demands had been received.
     Line continued