The Last Fix by K. O. Dahl Page A

appearance.
        'Now
she's dead of course, but as a rule we would have been worried, yes,' the
silver-haired woman said.
        'But
at the time, during the party?'
        'I
tried to talk to her, but then she seemed to recover. She must have eaten
something she couldn't stomach and then it passed…'
        'So
her behaviour didn't give cause for alarm?'
        'Now
that you ask, I think perhaps we should have taken the whole affair more
seriously.'
        'Has
this sort of thing happened before? I mean that a patient is sick in this way?'
        An
eloquent smile played on Sigrid's lips. 'It was the first time I'd been to that
sort of party. For the Centre, that is. Such parties are not that usual.'
        'What
was the occasion?'
        'It
was a party for the staff - an end-of-summer celebration. I suppose Katrine had
been invited because she was leaving us for the big, wide world. Her treatment
at the Centre would have been finished in the summer.'
        'Are
there many patients you can declare drugs- free?'
        'Our
statistics are not very good, no.'
        Gunnarstranda
sat looking at the floor. 'Are anyone's statistics good?' he asked at length.
        'Yes,
some are. Nothing exceptional, but there are better statistics than ours.
However, even if Katrine was the patient who had achieved most, that doesn't
mean that we don't have a lot to do. Some of the blame for the bad figures has
to lie with the legislators. Patients come to us as a result of compulsion
orders, but they only last for a little time, and if we don't have the
authorization to hold them, they often go. It's the same as with many so-called
normal people: they take the path of least resistance.'
        'Why
do you think she was ill that night? Do you think it had anything to do with
the food?'
        'I
have no idea.'
        Gunnarstranda
waited while Sigrid reflected. She was sitting with her legs folded beneath her
on the sofa, holding an ankle with one hand and supporting herself with the
other. 'I remember Katrine and Annabeth were in conversation, and that I walked
towards them. Her boyfriend, who was there, did the same. He caught her when
she fell.'
        'She
fainted?'
        'I
don't know.'
        Gunnarstranda
waited.
        'She
might have fainted.'
        'What
did you do?'
        'I
followed the two of them, her and her boyfriend, to the bathroom and, after a
while he came out, leaving her inside. He said she felt better and would be out
in a while. I waited for a bit, and after a few more minutes I knocked on the
door. But she wouldn't open up. A little later she shouted to me that
everything was fine and opened the door. Then I went in; she was sitting on the
toilet lid. I remember I washed her face. She seemed fine, but was a little
shaky. I remember she asked me to call a taxi, but then didn't bother, that is
to say she told me not to bother. She said she would come out of the toilet,
but that she might leave the party early. So I went.'
        'Did
you say anything else to her?'
        'No.
Some time later I asked Annabeth, but she thought she had gone home early
because she was ill.'
        'What
did you think then?'
        'I
was nervous. She was upset because of an incident that took place earlier in
the day and -'
        'What
sort of incident?' Gunnarstranda interrupted.
        'I
think someone from her former life had appeared in the travel agency where she
was working.'
        'Who?'
        'I
don't know the name. But she rang me a couple of hours before we left for
Annabeth's. It must have been about five o'clock, I think, so it was after she
had finished work. She said something had happened.' Sigrid frowned. 'The whole
thing was a bit incoherent, but I think she said someone from the drugs milieu
she had been part of turned up at her workplace. That was why she had to talk
to me. She insisted on it.'
        'Why
you?'
        'Because…'
Sigrid searched