Chapter 8.

Sandra was following Sven, having a bad feeling building up in her stomach. She was following a man who taught her how to fish, the man that gave her tips on how to flirt with boys and the man that taught her how to ride her snowmobile. This man, Sven, was the one closest to her father, and they had been living very close to each other when Sandra was young. Sven had been baby sitting her and Olé many times and Sandra was very fond of this old man.

And now she was realizing he was maybe keeping secrets, big secrets, from her. The knot in her stomach only got worse as she knew that if Sven was up to something, her father knew about it. They had been friends for too long for him to not know what was going on.

Most families have their secrets, Sandra knew that, but she never thought her family had any. Her parents were such open people, so loving and so friendly – could they really know something about Frode's death? It wasn't possible. At least that was what Sandra kept telling herself.

Sven pulled off the road and parked his car. He walked out and around to the back of it, pulling out a pair of HEAD skis. Sandra knew where he was going. There was a place where he usually met up with the others on the mountain and it was also a place he, and the others, went when they wanted to be alone.

As soon as Sven had taken off, Sandra pulled in at a small tractor path, making sure the car was almost invisible from the road. She ran to the back of her car, pulling out her own skis. She was prepared for this - she had learned from Kelly to always be prepared for the unexpected. She pulled on a pair of glasses and a pair of gloves as she easily switched from her shoes to the ski boots, then easily jumping into her skis. Grabbing the poles, she made her way to the meeting spot.


Kamili was following Theodor, and when he stopped by the side of the road further ahead, Kamili quickly drove to the side of the road. It was getting darker outside and she had switched off her lights to make sure she wasn't seen. As she pulled to the side of the road, she watched the old man get out of his car and pull out a pair of skis. He quickly changed into boots, changed his jacket and put on his skis, then headed out into the woods. Kamili wondered for a second what to do next, she didn't have any skis, and even if she would've had a pair, she had never been standing on a pair in her life. She would've probably killed herself trying she figured.

But her instincts were telling her to follow them, and her brain was filling up with dread as she wrapped her jacket closer around her, pulled on a pair of warmer pants over the other layers, and then the ear warmers and her gloves, before she walked out of the car. She found where Theodor had left with his skis and she decided to follow the ski tracks. Easier said than done as she immediately sank down to her thighs in the deep snow. She realized she would get the exercise of the year going through this snow, but what if he met up with someone and they said something that she needed to know?

She smiled to herself as she pushed herself through the snow. Who was she kidding? Even if he met up with someone, she wouldn't understand a word. Why in God's name would they be talking in English?

Kamili stopped for a second, wondering if it was worth to keep drabbling through the snow. Something told her to keep going, and just as everyone else in the team, she always followed her instincts.


Sandra carved her skis down the mountain from the peak where they had started. It was a long time ago since she skied but her body had it in her – she had been skiing since she learned how to stand up straight. She had competed a lot and as a 15 year old she had won the World Cup as the youngest competitor ever.

The wind was whining in her ears, making all the surroundings difficult to hear. It was getting darker, especially here in the woods, but she knew how to adjust her skis to not crash into the trees or roots that were sticking up through the snow. Her focus was on the surroundings in front of her, she had crashed into a tree before and she knew it hurt in this speed.

Things around her disappeared as she focused on her feet, her body that was jumping, bending and turning, making big clouds of snow fly into the air with no sound at all. The woods remained quiet, all that could be heard was the swoosh as she whizzed passed the trees.

Sandra lost her balance as her leg suddenly struck something hard, and she didn't even have time to cry out in pain before her face slammed into the snow. She quickly pulled her head up to catch a breath, and she felt someone grab her hair, pulling her up on her feet. Her skis had fallen off in the fall, as skis are supposed to. Sandra's leg was hurting bad as she tried to steady on it, she knew she had hit the shin hard into something and as she was forcefully pulled up on her feet, she found the eyes of Police Chief Theodor Fossum.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her in Norwegian with a strict and harsh voice.

Sandra had no answer. She didn't know what to say. She had never seen any of these old men angry at her, but now Theo was pissed off, and she could only guess the reason.

It had to do with Frode.

Theodor roughly pulled her with him, Sandra now without her skis, and she had to fight to get through the thick snow. Her leg was screaming to her and she fell several times, not being able to stand on it or put weight on it. Luckily for her, it only took them a few minutes to get to the meeting spot. There Theodor let go of Sandra and she fell down into the snow, exhausted and in pain, rubbing her sore shin through her thick pants.

Theodor didn't speak until a few minutes later when Sven arrived. He stared at Sandra who was lying down in the snow. She was in too much pain to move, and lying in this snow, she was getting cold. She was used to cold climate, but that didn't mean she could be lying in the snow forever without it getting to her, which it was right now.

"What is she doing here?" Sven immediately asked in Norwegian as he saw her, his eyes growing wide in surprise and horror as he realized what was going on.

"She and her friends are on the case, you know that. They have been following us all day, the black girl has been following me. I bet Sandra was following you." Theodor answered in Norwegian.

Sandra fought to look up at the two men. She didn't recognize them anymore. Two of the men that had been by her side her entire childhood was now standing in front of her as two strangers. And she had a feeling they were in some bad trouble, and willing to do whatever it cost to keep it up.

"Sven, Theodor, I can help you. I don't know what type of trouble you are in but I can help you out. You know I can."

"Sandra, you can't. We've done too much."

"What have you done?" Sandra whispered towards Sven.

"We've been fishing whales illegally, selling and shipping it off. We've been doing it for a long time and it has gotten out of hand. We're getting more money than we ever though were possible and we don't know how to stop. Some high people are counting on us and we can't let them down, and we can't risk being caught." Sven said silently in Norwegian.

"Why are you telling her this?" Theodor said angrily, then he realized what Sven was about to do. "No, not her. You can't do it to her. You might've killed Frode but you can't kill her!"

"What choice do we have? She and her friends will blow the entire operation and we will end up in jail! I can't go to jail Theodor, I can't!"

"I will not let you do this." Theodor said with threaten in his voice.

Sven turned to look at Theodor, and Theodor suddenly felt his stomach turn. He had known this man for over 50 years, and the anger and desperation in his eyes right now, was nothing Theodor had ever seen before. Theodor felt small and useless as Sven looked at him, and Theodor knew that Sven would do anything to stop their secret from leaking out.

"Sven, let's talk this through. We can get out of this, I've told you that before, some way we will get out of it. I'm sure we will."

"No, you know just as well as I do that we don't stand a chance. We will all be thrown into jail, all of us. Including your dad." Sven said, turning towards Sandra by the end of the sentence.

Sandra raised her heavy head out of the snow to look at Sven. She knew that was coming. Her father was in on it. They all were.

"She knows too much." Sven said, desperation clearly in his voice as he looked from Theodor towards Sandra. "You do. You know too much. Why do you always have to put your nose into everyone's business? Couldn't you just've stayed out of this one?"

Sandra saw the silver blade of the fishing knife when Sven pulled it out of his jacket, and she felt her body pump as she prepared herself to fight him off. Her leg was screaming and her muscles were cold and sore from the snow. She wondered how she would ever be able to fight him off?

Theodor suddenly rushed him, throwing himself over him with a growl, and the two old friends fought for several minutes as Sandra yelled for them to stop. A few minutes later, everything got quiet, so very, very quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the wind making its way through the trees, and the sound of breaths. From two people. Sandra stared at the two men in the snow, noticing the snow turning to a red color around them.

Sven rose to his feet, panic in his eyes as he realized he had killed another one of his friends. Arvid might've been the one to kill Frode, but Sven had been right next to him as he did it.

Sven stared up at Sandra, who was trying to raise to her feet, but the pain overwhelming her. He knew what he had to do, and he had to do it quickly. He put the knife aside and grabbed Sandra by her jacket in her back. Sandra might be 30 years younger than him, but he was well trained and she was not very heavy. Even though she struggled for all she was worth, he managed to drag her to the edge of the cliff.

"Sven, what the hell!?" Sandra screamed as she tried to fight the man off, but her body was not cooperating with her and he was by an angle that made it impossible for her to get a grip at him.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as he pushed her off the cliff, then quickly turned around and took off down the hill, not waiting to hear the sound of her crashing into the water 450 yards further down.