Hjalmar looked between Frode and Ashley, who was watching them with a suspicious expression.Hjalmar clapped his shoulder."Good call."Then he walked over to the table and sat across from Ashley.
"Are you playing matchmaker?"
"What?"Frode frowned at him.
"Calling Hjalmar here, telling him she's single and might be in danger."Nikolai didn't mind, but he was surprised.
"I wasn't thinking, to be honest."
If Nikolai had a reliable brother, maybe he'd reach out to him when he was shaken too."Okay."
"I'm overreacting, right?"
"About Ashley, most likely.As you said, she doesn't fit his pattern, but we don't know what he knows about you.He was in your neighbor's house, and now you ran into each other in the grocery store."
"But it's not my usual grocery store, and he couldn't have known I'd go there.Ididn't know I'd go there."
"You're right."He was.There was no link, but Nikolai didn't want him out of his sight."Will you come with me back to the station?"
"Why?"
"I need to inform Isaac and Medlin.Then we need to go to the grocery store and see if they're willing to let us look at their video feed.We might need a warrant if they're not cooperative.We should be able to get his name from his card details."
"I promised I'd buy Ashley lunch."
Nikolai wanted to rush out of there, but he guessed they could stay for a bit.
* * * *
Chapter 17
Frode left his car where it was and walked with Nikolai back to the station.They'd left Hjalmar, Ashley, and Ava at Overtime.Both Ashley and Hjalmar had looked disappointed when Nikolai started to make noises about leaving, so Frode had walked up to the bar and paid for everyone's lunches despite it hurting his bank account more than he wanted to admit, then he and Nikolai had left.
Nikolai held the door to the station open for him, and Frode walked ahead up the stairs.The first person he saw when he reached the homicide floor was Medlin, and he didn't look happy.Though, for once, Frode didn't think it had anything to do with him being there.
"Frode."Medlin winced."Have I approved you being here?"
Out of habit, Frode reached for a box of raisins in his pocket.He ate one before he could reflect on what he was doing.It was ingrained behavior.There was no dip in his blood sugar, and he wasn't about to do a reading, so he didn't need them.
"No.I saw him.The rug killer.Or the one I suspect is the rug killer.Nesterova brought me here."
Elmore almost fell out of his chair in his hurry to get to them."You what?"
"I was grocery shopping, and he was there by the frozen veggies.We looked at each other, and I contacted Nesterova."
Nikolai placed a hand on Frode's shoulder."I figured we'll head over to the store, get the surveillance tape, and hopefully his name and address from his card details, and then we can question him."
Medlin frowned."Do we have any evidence?"
Silence.
Frode wanted to squirm.
"We haven't received the report from forensics yet."Elmore grimaced.
Nikolai's hand twitched on Frode's shoulder, then he cursed."There won't be anything.There hasn't been in any of the previous cases."
"We can't know for sure."Elmore gave Nikolai sad puppy eyes, and Frode almost snorted.
