"Is that al you're having?" Jacob said when the food arrived.

"I don't think I can even get this down," she said in a quiet voice.

He looked at her with something in his eyes she hadn't seen before. If she didn't know better, she'd say he was actual y worried about her. 113 "I know you're finding this unpleasant and unfair," he said, "but you should know that you did the right thing. You've probably already prevented some murders."

She finished her glass of wine and poured some more.

He put his hand on hers.

"Dessie," he said, "listen to me, please. Kimmy was kil ed by these monsters, and you're one of the reasons they've been caught. I thank you for that. I owe you my life."

Chapter 85

Jacob's hand was dry and warm, burning on her skin. She looked up and met his gaze.

"You must have loved her very much," Dessie said before she could stop herself.

He shut his eyes tightly and squeezed her hand. For a few moments she thought he was going to start crying. She felt terrible for making him suffer like this.

"Yes," he whispered, weaving his fingers through hers. "Yes, I did. It was just her and me…"

Dessie kept hold of his hand.

He stared out through the window, seemingly losing himself in his memories.

She looked at him and wondered what he was thinking.

"What happened to her mother?"

"Lucy? Yes, I've often wondered that, too."

He pul ed back his hand. The air in the restaurant suddenly felt cold on her skin.

He met her eyes and gave a little smile.

"I wasn't the one who leaked that stuff to the Dagens Eko," she said.

"I know that perfectly wel," he said, emptying his glass. "It was Evert Ridderwal."

She blinked.

"What makes you say that?"

"He'l change with the wind," Jacob said. "He doesn't have any principles, he just wants to avoid criticism. That leak was a test. He wanted to see what the media think of the Rudolphs."

His knee ended up between hers under the table.

Neither of them changed position.

"Did you hear who they want as their lawyer?" Dessie said, emptying her second glass of wine. "Andrea Friederichs."

"And?" Jacob said, fil ing her glass.

Dessie took a deep sip.

"She isn't an expert on criminal law. She's a copyright lawyer. Doesn't that seem a bit strange to you?"

Chapter 86

The media crowd outside Dessie's front door hadn't gotten any smal er. It actual y seemed bigger. It was starting to resemble the mob that gathers outside courtrooms for notable court cases in New York. Jacob knew al about them. He'd had to fight his way through a phalanx of reporters and microphones on numerous occasions.

"Okay," she said with a sigh. "I take it they aren't hungry yet. Nobody's leaving."

She was standing close to Jacob, hiding behind him so as not to be seen from the top of the narrow street.

He resisted an impulse to push a strand of hair away from her face.

"I don't know that I want to see myself darting into a doorway in all the papers and newscasts tomorrow," she said in a low voice.

"No need," he said.

She looked at him with her big eyes. He took a deep breath before going on.

"My roommate has gone back to Finland. You can have the lower bunk in my cel on Langholmen. It's not a problem."

He said it in a light, joking way, careful not to show any feeling. It's not a problem.

She hesitated a few seconds before answering, her eyes stil on his.

Then she made up her mind. "Okay," she said and turned her bicycle around.

It started to rain as they passed the Zinkensdamm metro station, almost halfway to the hostel.

They started walking quickly. Jacob turned up the col ar of his suede jacket, but the water stil trickled down his back. He shivered in the cold.

"I can give you a ride if you like," she said. "If you have the guts to get on."

"On the bike?"

She nodded. "Of course. Only if you dare."

He sat on the narrow luggage carrier at the back, holding on to her hips with both hands. She set a good pace, and they flew past a large church with two identical spires. Her thighs moved rhythmical y and methodically. She was 115 strong and obviously in good shape.

He was suddenly overwhelmed with a memory of Lucy. She had once given him a ride like this in Brooklyn, a hundred years ago, a thousand years ago, before Kimmy, before the drugs and adulthood with al its complications came into the picture and shattered a perfect life for al of them.

He jumped off as Dessie rol ed into the parking lot in front of the youth hostel.

"What are the rules?" she asked, taking off her helmet. "Are you al owed lady visitors in your room?"

"I'm not about to ask for permission or about any rules," Jacob said. "I'm a big boy now."

"Are you?"

He pul ed her to him, her body shaping itself to his. Her hair smel ed fresh, like fruit again. He closed his eyes and felt her warmth through his jacket. She breathed lightly against his neck.

Then he kissed her.

She tasted of rain and corn on the cob.

Chapter 87

Their clothes ended up in a heap just inside the door of the former prison cel.

They didn't even make it to the Finn's lower bunk before she drew him to her. They landed on the floor and he slid into her with no resistance, his eyes catching hers.

He could feel the room starting to spin and had time to think no, no, no, not yet before he came inside her with a hoarse roar.

He sank down on top of her, hiding his face in her hair.

Damn, what a failure. Coming after ten seconds. What must she think?

But she kissed his hair as he lay there panting and trying to pul himself together. Then her hips started to move beneath him.

At first he thought she wanted to get up, but when he went to move, she took a firm grip on his buttocks and held him to her, held him right there.

"Relax and go with it," she whispered in his ear as the swaying beneath him started up again. "Stay with me."

To his surprise he felt himself getting hard again almost immediately.

He did as she said and al owed himself to be swayed by her rhythmic movements. Her whole body was sucking and pul ing him into her, harder and deeper.

He noticed he was starting to breathe heavily and join in, his pulse speeding up and throbbing in his head, and when he felt the dizziness come, he stopped and looked into her eyes. Her gaze was completely unfocused. She wasn't far off now.

"Come here," he said in a gravel y voice, pul ing out of her and lifting her up onto the bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Relax and go with it."

She stretched out on the lower bunk, her legs hard and sinewy, her stomach soft as velvet and her breasts firm and wel shaped. He let his hand glide up along her thighs as he leaned forward to suck one of her nipples.

Dessie groaned and her whole body shuddered.

He sucked and licked her entire body, and when he final y pushed inside her again she leaned her head back and yel ed. While the contractions were stil convulsing her lower body, he felt the rushing noise in his head grow into an explosion that made all sound and vision disappear for him.

When he came to his senses again, he realized he was freezing.

He rol ed to one side, sliding out of her. He fumbled for the covers beneath them and pul ed them over their bodies.

She looked at him, wide-eyed and surprised.

"Wow," she said.