BooksBarbecue
Back The Flood
Chapters (101)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. THREE LOST MEN
  4. The First Man:
  5. The Second Man:
  6. The Third Man:
  7. SATURDAY
  8. Chapter 1
  9. Chapter 2
  10. MONDAY
  11. Chapter 1
  12. Chapter 2
  13. Chapter 3
  14. Chapter 4
  15. Chapter 5
  16. Chapter 6
  17. Chapter 7
  18. Chapter 8
  19. Chapter 9
  20. Chapter 10
  21. Chapter 11
  22. TUESDAY
  23. Chapter 1
  24. Chapter 2
  25. Chapter 3
  26. Chapter 4
  27. Chapter 5
  28. Chapter 6
  29. Chapter 7
  30. Chapter 8
  31. Chapter 9
  32. Chapter 10
  33. Chapter 11
  34. Chapter 12
  35. Chapter 13
  36. Chapter 14
  37. Chapter 15
  38. Chapter 16
  39. WEDNESDAY
  40. Chapter 1
  41. Chapter 2
  42. Chapter 3
  43. Chapter 4
  44. Chapter 5
  45. Chapter 6
  46. Chapter 7
  47. Chapter 8
  48. Chapter 9
  49. Chapter 10
  50. Chapter 11
  51. Chapter 12
  52. Chapter 13
  53. Chapter 14
  54. Chapter 15
  55. Chapter 16
  56. THURSDAY
  57. Chapter 1
  58. Chapter 2
  59. Chapter 3
  60. Chapter 4
  61. Chapter 5
  62. Chapter 6
  63. Chapter 7
  64. Chapter 8
  65. Chapter 9
  66. Chapter 10
  67. Chapter 11
  68. Chapter 12
  69. Chapter 13
  70. Chapter 14
  71. Chapter 15
  72. Chapter 16
  73. Chapter 17
  74. Chapter 18
  75. Chapter 19
  76. Chapter 20
  77. Chapter 21
  78. FRIDAY
  79. Chapter 1
  80. Chapter 2
  81. Chapter 3
  82. Chapter 4
  83. Chapter 5
  84. Chapter 6
  85. Chapter 7
  86. Chapter 8
  87. Chapter 9
  88. Chapter 10
  89. Chapter 11
  90. Chapter 12
  91. Chapter 13
  92. Chapter 14
  93. Chapter 15
  94. Chapter 16
  95. Chapter 17
  96. AUTUMN 2016
  97. Chapter 1
  98. Chapter 2
  99. Afterword and Acknowledgements
  100. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  101. Copyright

The man behind the desk knew he would be left in peace now. No fucker dared approach a man in the throes of grief, especially if that man had also been insulted. None of his friends or colleagues would come near him, because they didn’t know what to say. Not that he blamed them; he himself found it hard to put into words what he was going through right now. It must be impossible for someone else.

The hours passed much too slowly. He stayed where he was, staring at the wall. That was what he looked like when he was thinking. His boss had said he wanted him out today, but he hadn’t given him a time. An idea was slowly taking shape, and he felt the need to develop it in peace and quiet. He had messed up plenty of things, but he had to get this right. Not only for his own sake, but for the sake of many others. All those who were unable to gain redress themselves, all those who had been abandoned.

Time had become something he had both too much and too little of. On this particular day it was too much. But at last evening came, and he had to go home. Home to what was called life, home to emptiness, desolation.

I can never make everything right again, he thought. But I can make it better.

He got to his feet and walked out of his office.

INTERVIEW WITH ALEX RECHT
06-09-2016

Present: Interrogators one and two (I1 and I2), Detective Chief Inspector Alex Recht (Recht)

I1: Thank you for making time to see us today. I believe you’re going to the funeral tomorrow?
Recht: That’s correct.
I2: Must be difficult.
Recht: To be honest it’s unbearable.
I2:

Do you miss her?

(silence)
I1: We know that you and Fredrika . . . If you don’t feel able to talk about her at the moment, we’ll try to work around it. We realise you’re under pressure, but we do have to conduct this interview. A colleague has been accused of committing a criminal offence, and we need to speak to someone who was involved from the start.
Recht: In that case you need to speak to someone else. Because I wasn’t involved from the start. None of us were.
I2: What do you mean?
Recht:

I mean we were blind to what this whole story was about. I mean things would have been easier if we’d understood some of the basics – like how many victims we would be faced with, for example, and in what order those individuals were killed.

(silence)
I1:

Okay, let’s make that our starting point. Who was the first victim?

(silence)
Recht: A man who was like the rest of us.
I2: Sorry?
Recht: I said a man who was like the rest of us. A man who was nothing more than a human being.

SATURDAY

Chapter 1