Page 73 - NEWEST MILK (TRANSLATION) - New chapters included - word. (1)-konverteret_Specific

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TOM’s VISIT

Charlottenlund, Gustav Kräsen’s ex-wife’s residence.

Monday, late afternoon, February 26, 2018.

“CONGRATULATIONS, EMIL. 7 YEARS!”
Tom reads the sign out loud to himself, a birthday greeting that is written on a

blue cardboard with letters created from tinfoil, placed above the villa's main

door, which is wide open. From inside the villa, loud screams and songs can be
heard. Loud, throbbing disco-like children's music is being played. The birthday

party is really peaking. In front of the main door, three women are eagerly talk-

ing, smoking cigarettes, having some grown-up mother time, while the children
are playing. Tom has deliberately parked a bit away from the house. He passes a

couple of houses before standing outside the white Mansion, where the lawyer
Benedicte, has her law office on the living room floor. The music from the chil-

dren's birthday can still be heard faintly in the background, as he approaches.

Quickly he opens the door, and begins to walk 10 meters further to
the front door. A sudden feeling of sadness and indifference hits him. What if he

had been a family man? Children, wife, the full monty. He could easily se himself

retiring like that, instead of chasing criminals until his last days. Why didn't he
long ago accept one of the job offers as a security supervisor in large interna-

tional companies that he’d received over the years? What has kept him away for

a more strategic and comfortable living? When this on-going case is solved, he
will once again take one of his long retreats. A long vacation where he can cool

off and ponder for a while.

As he breathes in the air deep into the lungs and pushes the disturbing
thoughts of an alternative life away, he jogs up the main stairs and presses the

doorbell. He has been visiting here once before. He barely manages to move his
finger away from the bell when the door is pulled open by a smiling Benedicte.