Black Seconds Read Free Page B

There were animal pictures and posters on the walls. The curtains were green and had sea horses printed on them.
    "Now you see what she's into," Helga said. She stood in the open doorway, shuddering. It was as if she were seeing this for the very first time, the excess of it all. How many animals were in there? Hundreds?
    Sejer nodded. Skarre was at a loss for words. The room was extraordinarily messy and contained too many things. They went back downstairs. Helga Joner took down a photo from the living room wall. Sejer held it up. The moment he stared into her brown eyes, Ida imprinted herself on his brain. Most kids are cute, he thought, but this girl is adorable. She was sweet and enchanting. Like a child in a fairy tale. She made him think of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, and Cinderella. Large dark eyes. Rosy red cheeks. Slender as a reed. He looked at Helga Joner.
    "You went out looking for her? You and your sister?"
    "We drove around for nearly an hour," Helga said. "There was only a little traffic, not many people to ask. I've called most of her friends, I've called Laila's Kiosk. She hasn't been there and I don't understand that. What do I do now?" She looked at him with red eyes.
    "You shouldn't be on your own," he said. "Stay calm and wait for your sister. We'll round up all the officers we have and start looking for her."
    ***
    "Do you remember Mary Pickford?" Sejer asked.
    They were back in the car. He watched Helga's house disappear in the mirror. Her sister Ruth had come back. Jacob Skarre gave him a blank look. He was far too young to remember any of the silent-movie stars.
    "Ida looks like her," Sejer said.
    Skarre asked no more questions. He was desperate for a cigarette, but smoking was not allowed in the patrol car. Instead he rummaged around in his pockets for some candy and dug out a packet of fruit gums.
    "She wouldn't get into a strange car," he said pensively.
    "All mothers say that," Sejer said. "It depends who does the asking. Adults are much smarter than kids, that's the bottom line."
    His answer made Skarre uneasy. He wanted to believe that children were intuitive and sensed danger much sooner than adults. Like dogs. That they could smell it. Though, come to think of it, dogs were not very smart. His train of thought was starting to depress him. The fruit gum was softening in his mouth so he began chewing it. "But they'll get into a car if it's someone they know," he said out loud. "And it often is someone they know."
    "You're talking as if we're already dealing with a crime," Sejer said. "Surely that's a bit premature."
    "I know," Skarre conceded. "I'm just trying to prepare myself."
    Sejer watched him covertly. Skarre was young and ambitious. Keen and eager. His talent was well hidden behind his large sky-blue eyes, and his curls added to his harmless appearance. No one ever felt intimidated by Skarre. People relaxed and chatted freely to him, which was precisely what he wanted them to do. Sejer drove the patrol car through the landscape at the permitted speed. All the time, he was in contact with the search parties. They had nothing to report.
    The speedometer showed a steady sixty kilometers per hour, and eighty when they reached the highway. Their eyes scanned the fields automatically, but they saw nothing. No little dark-haired girl, no yellow bicycle. Sejer could visualize her face. The tiny mouth and the big curls. Then a far more terrifying image appeared in his mind's eye. No, a voice inside him called out. It's not like that. Not this time. This girl is coming home. They come home all the time, I have seen it before. And why on earth do I love this job so much?
    ***
    Helga inhaled deeply and exhaled irregularly. Ruth grabbed her sister's shoulders while talking to her in a loud and exaggerated voice. "You need to breathe, Helga. Breathe!"
    Several frenzied inhalations followed, but nothing came out and the thickset body on the sofa struggled to regain control.
    "What if Ida were to