As Britt is exiting the classroom, she gets accosted by David. David was a tall man, he had a bushy mustache, brown hair, and a cool vibe to him, he was sporting a leather jacket and yellow round sunglasses.
-“Hey Britt! Great class.” -He complimented her.
-“Hey David, what do you want?”-
-“Hey I came by your dad’s house today, he told me you were here. I didn’t know you were teaching.”-
- “Well it’s been a year David, what do you expect? -she questioned him- I have to work somewhere. Hey my dad said you were bringing donuts.” -
- “Yeah, he… ate them all, but I can invite you for some coffee if you’d like.”-
- “Dave, this better be important.”-
Over at the café, they both sat in front of each other reminiscent of older times, happier times, when they were together, and the café’s staff knew it very well.
- “So, what is it David?” -She asked impatiently.
- “Wow, straight to the point huh?” -He joked, but as seeing how she was not amused, he continued, reached down his briefcase and took out an envelope. After a long pause and careful considerations, he took out some photos of dead people.
- “You are gross” -She said before attempting to get up and walk away, as David grabbed her gently, trying to impede it.
- “Wait!” -He commanded. – “You have to hear this…please.” -Then she sat down hesitantly, and clearly irritated.
Then David continued. - “You are the best detective, the best investigator I’ve ever met in my life. Now I don’t know why you decided to quit the force Britt, because you had a bright career ahead of you. And it tortures me to think that you ended that career because of me.”-
- “It wasn’t because of you David…do you remember Bergen five years ago?”-
- “Yes, that one creep that killed all those women, how could I forget, it was our most high-profile case ever.”-
- “See David, what you seem to forget is that before you apprehended him, I had an encounter with him, I caught him in the act. He was desecrating the corpse of one of his victims, I was there, alone, I’d finally find him. I pulled my gun on him and I froze, he escaped, he ran away. And I just stood there, frozen like an idiot, pointing my gun at nothing. He killed two more women after I let him get away, and that weight will always be on my shoulders. I killed those women too! I’m sorry David, I’m not made for this, when it comes to solving cold cases, maybe am good, maybe am good at reading people, catching a liar (she said that with a little of sass) solving mysteries, but I’m not a good cop.” -She concluded with teary eyes, and a shaky voice.
- “You’re right. You’re not good, you’re the best, everybody at the agency misses you, they need you… I need you, I need my partner back. Maybe we are not married anymore, but we accomplished a lot together.” -Britt had a silent moment, and then pensively grabbed the gruesome photos from the table.
- “What is this?” -She asked.
- “The government is sending me to a small fishing village in Finnmark county. Apparently, everyone is going bat-shit crazy over there.”-
- “Why, what’s happening?”- Britt asked
- “Ninety-four murders, in the past two months. This is outrageous! Unheard of! Those numbers match those of a big American city. But we’re right here, in Norway, cold as a penguin’s ass peaceful Norway. The government has a scandal on its hands, and it’s trying to cover it up, they want to investigate this town, before it gets anymore out of control. I have already been in touch with the local authorities, and they are unequipped, untrained, and definitely unprepared for this sort of crisis. So, they’re sending me… and you to investigate this.” -
- “They’re sending me huh?”-
- “I told them about you, about how good you were, although your record speaks for itself.”-
- “You can’t just make decisions for me David. I have to really think about it.”-
- “Well do it fast, Oslo is desperate, they want to find out what the hell is going on in this little town and they wanna do it fast. Because at this rate, the town would lose all of its residents and become a ghost town in a year’s time. It’s madness, they’re killing each other at an alarming rate, nobody has an explanation for the sudden and monstrous spike in the homicides, but get this… you’re gonna laugh, right now the town counts with two cops, the sheriff and his assistant.”-
- “Well, then better act fast then.” -She exclaimed with a faint and contagious smile.
The road to town was curvy and treacherous. It skirted high mountains covered in snow, which once in a while allowed a glimpse into the immense sterlin ocean down below. Then a long bridge was crossed, on both sides, the wild sea, and ahead a small island covered by haze, too far to be admired in all of its splendor.
The truck came to a halt on the other side of the road, David got off the car first, his boots hit the snow, and he immediately sunk up to his knees, not foreseeing how much snow this place gets. Then two friendly looking policemen came to meet him.
- “Hello, you must be Sheriff Larsen.” -David said, as he amicably extended his hand.
- “It’s a real pleasure to meet you sir. You know, we usually don’t get big shots like you from the National Police Directorate to come to visit us.” -The sheriff answered as he shook David’s hand.
- “Well, I’m far from a big shot, but am all the help you’re gonna get for now. And it’s an honor, for me to be welcomed into your jurisdiction, I hope we can work this out together.”-
- “Where should we start?”-Asked Britt as she came out of the car.
- “This is Britt Olsen, my partner.”- David introduced her.
- “It’s a pleasure to meet you!”- Exclaimed both the sheriff and his assistant. - “Well, transportation is here, and believe me you can’t go any faster than with this.” -The Sheriff said as he pointed at two sleds pulled by huskies, parked in the snow.
- “You have to be kidding me” -Britt whispered to herself, as she and David exchanged a quick look.
The dogs pulled the sleds fast through the trail, crossing the vast white icy dessert. For miles and miles there was nothing but snow and ice as far as the eye could see. Then they came to the coast on the other side of the island, the little picturesque fishing village, was now covered in snow almost completely. The streets were surrounded by an eerie feeling of unease, that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The streets were deserted, the whole place looked abandoned and uninhabited. Not one soul on the streets, at the pier, no oats sailing the ocean. Nothing simply emptiness.
- “Well folks, welcome to Västkil.” -The sheriff said oddly enthusiastically.
- “Thank you, sheriff, what a lovely place.” -David said with an almost sardonic tone of voice.
- “You know folks? I grew up here, this has been my home all of my life, I love this place, that’s why it hurts me to see so much tragedy, so much misery.” -The sheriff added.
- “Why don’t we start at your office sheriff?” -Britt proposed.
- “Right this way.” -Said the sheriff’s assistant as he let them inside of the police station.
- “Sheriff, if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to review what you have on file right now. That’ll be a good place to start.” -David Said.
- “Sure, suit yourself.” -Said the sheriff as he made a hand gesture, for the clerk who was an older woman with glasses, to hand over to David some files she had over the counter. David opened them, there were a lot, all with gruesome pictures of bloody crime scenes, and detailed information.
- “Wow this is a lot, bet it has taken you some time to process all of this!” -David exclaimed astonished.
- “Tell me about it, some of those are murders, assaults, and all other kinds of violent crimes. But that stack you have there… that was only this week.” -The assistant Sheriff added.
- “That… that cannot be, it’s too much…” -David stuttered.
- “Mr. Utskes how much exactly did they tell you at the directorate before sending you two up here?” -The sheriff inquired.
- “They said almost one-hundred murders in the past three months.” -Suddenly the Sheriff, his assistant, and the clerk let out a loud and sinister laughter.
- “Those people in Oslo I’ll tell you.” -The sheriff exclaimed. – “We have had three hundred murders in the past three months, and this is a town of only a thousand people.” -The sheriff concluded with now a graver expression on his face.
- “Sheriff take us to the most recent site; I think we should start there.” -Britt proposed.
After leaving the police station, and driving through the blizzard, the sheriff, his assistant, David and Britt where headed to the little docks at the coastline. There at coast a few houses with an unsurpassed view sat peacefully facing the gelid water of the quiet ocean.
As they approached the docks the sheriff began speaking: “The las incident occurred here, near the docks over there. an argument broke between two business partners, life-long friends these two. They owned that boat over…” -Suddenly his voice was muffled by the thundering sound of a gunshot. The ensuing silence was sepulchral, all four of them turned their heads in the direction of the loud bang. And then another shot was heard, which enliven them all, who unquestioningly sprang into action.
The shots had come from a house by the sea. The two local police officers had unholstered their guns, and rested ready to fire by the door. David and Britt stood by the sidelines unarmed. - “get ready folks!” -The sheriff exclaimed before signaling his assistant with a brief nod. His assistant then proceeded to kick the door open, and all four of them rushed inside, with the two officers holding their guns up. “Freeze!” “Drop your weapons!” -The sheriff commanded a young man, who simply stood there, hunched, sweaty, bowed, still holding a smoking shotgun. He looked regretful, and filled with sorrow, but somehow continued to ignore the police’s commands. On the floor near the door, there was a dead body, bloody from the shotgun wounds, with fresh blood still gushing out, and spreading all over the floor, it was the young man’s brother.
“Why Hans? Why did you do it?!” -The sheriff asked disheartened, with a crackly voice, noticeably affected by the situation.
- “I… it wasn’t me!” -Hans answered looking baffled and scared. – “It was the devil, the devil made me do it” -He said among sobs.
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