“Tell me one thing: who actually decided I should lead this investigation? I mean, all the stories about the chancellor, they’re not for real, are they?”
Helmer Hammer shook his head, smiling.
“No, I can promise you that they’re not. It’s always amazing what garbage the media can get people to believe.”
“So who was it?”
“It was me.”
“You! Why in the world…?”
“Because you’re capable.”
“Nonsense. Others are too. Did you know I was about to go on holiday?”
“Yes, unfortunately. But I was not aware that you were in poor health, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Hmm, it’s no worse. But you haven’t answered my question. Why me, and why are you involved in this at all?”
“I’m doing my job, and it wasn’t nonsense when I said you were chosen for your competence.”
“But there are other things behind this too?”
“If there are, it’s not something that involves you or your investigation. You can count on that.”
Helmer Hammer consulted his watch.
“See, what did I say? That took only eight and a half minutes. Now I just need to find my way out.”
He looked around in confusion. The building’s maze of curved corridors, which all looked identical to the untrained eye, had him temporarily at a loss.
“That’s only possible when you’ve worked here a dozen years. I’ll accompany you… no, wait a minute, damned if I will. You’re not going to win on every point, that’s not healthy for anyone. It will probably be more beneficial to your mental health for you to wander around in confusion for at least fifteen minutes.”
“Everyone a winner… therein lies the politician’s art! Very well, I’ll try and find my own way out. Greetings to your daughter. I hope we meet again soon. And sleep well, Simon.”
CHAPTER 5
While the boss slept, the break in the Homicide Division’s review of the Nygaard and Thomsen murders dragged on. People had a lot to talk about, and besides, Arne Pedersen, who would be continuing the review solo, could use a few extra minutes of preparation. He had stepped aside and was studying the PowerPoint slides in conjunction with Konrad Simonsen’s notes. Pauline Berg went up to him. He glanced up quickly and waved her away.
“Whatever it is, Pauline, it will have to wait.”
She snatched his ballpoint pen.
“Damn it, do you always have to push the boundaries with me? Can’t you understand that I need to run through this? Or maybe you’d like to take over. You do the review while I sit and listen.”
Pauline gave him her sweetest smile. Not without effect.
“You’ll manage,” she told him.
“I’m pleased you have so much confidence in me. Of course I’ll manage… if you’d just let me get on with it! Oh, all right then,” he sighed. “What is it? Are you spooked because you resemble the two murdered girls? There’s nothing I can do about that, although I understand perfectly well why you reacted as you did once you’d noticed it.”
“It’s creepy all right, but I’m blue-eyed not brown-, and my hair colour doesn’t match either. I just felt a little uncomfortable when it occurred to me. Everyone was looking at me, without saying anything.”
“No one was looking at you. What is it you want?”
“That thing on the screen, what is it?”
Pedersen looked up and saw that Malte Borup had the starting image ready: a photograph of a peculiar building that resembled a drilling platform about to swallow a giant egg. He suppressed his irritation.
“That’s DYE-5, as you can read below.”
“But it wasn’t that big surely.”
“Not that big? I’d say it was! The building stood on eight gigantic pillars and was six storeys high. The dome on top was the radar installation, covered in plastic, that’s why it’s white. If you look at the woman you can see in front of the far-left pillar, you get an impression of how big it was in reality. It was a tough job to build out there, when you think that every piece of kit had to be transported by air. ‘Eyes of Freedom’ is what the Americans called their radar stations.”
Pauline waved away the information, as if swatting a fly. Pedersen continued undaunted.
“The whole building can be raised if there is more snow and ice. That makes the design many times more-”
She interrupted him, irritated.
“I don’t care about pillars and storeys, where’s the rest of it?”
“If you wait another two minutes, I’ll go through everything in detail. You will also have the opportunity to see a lot of pictures taken inside the building.”
“But is it just that one, Arne? I mean, what about other radar stations?”
“That one was out on its own on the ice cap, though there were four other DYE stations.”
“But they were far away, weren’t they?”
“Yes, they were, that was the whole idea, they were supposed to form a chain, although DYE-5 wasn’t quite… ”
“Damn! Then it doesn’t fit.”
“What can’t you get to fit?” he asked patiently.
Pauline hoped one day to be the one to solve a major case. Once she had found an important hard drive that no one else could locate, and still enjoyed thinking about that, but otherwise she did not have much to brag about. She knew that she was naive and romanticised things, so she kept her daydreams to herself, apart from a single occasion when she happened to say too much to Pedersen in particular… and maybe another time to the Countess… and possibly on a few other occasions too, but those were surely forgotten, and if her latest hypothesis was correct…well, she almost didn’t dare complete the thought. She was bubbling with enthusiasm and did not let herself be deterred by Pedersen’s admonition, when he sensed what she was thinking.
“Always bear in mind that investigation is teamwork.”
“Obviously it’s teamwork, but there is something I have to check out, so you’ll have to manage without me for an hour or two.”
Pedersen grabbed her by the wrist as she turned to go.
“Ouch, that hurts!”
“Nonsense, it doesn’t hurt at all.”
“The rest of you occasionally follow up an idea that’s too exciting to leave alone. For once I’m going to do the same thing. I’ve been here a while, after all.”
“We don’t keep information to ourselves. That’s a cardinal sin in any investigation.”
“Can’t you give me a little leeway, just today? I promise to call you no later than eight o’clock unless… You can come over too if you have time. So you can see my new house and maybe help me put my curtain rails up.”
“Your boyfriend can do that.”
“He can’t because he’s history.”
Pedersen was sincerely amazed. Mostly because Pauline hadn’t said anything about a break-up, although on the other hand she did not need to report on her personal life to him.
“But didn’t you just buy a house together?”
“He was a little too close to one of his fellow students. So close that he’s going to be a father soon, the jerk.”
“What about finances? Can you afford to stay there yourself?”
“The Countess is helping me get a loan, and I’ll have to teach a couple of dance classes at night school, but then it should all work out. Okay, will I see you or what?”
Pedersen let go of her wrist without answering. Instead he stood up and called out to his restless colleagues, “Sorry, but it will be another five minutes.”
Then he commanded Pauline, “Sit down.”
She obeyed him reluctantly. He too sat down.
“You saw those girls up there yourself, and under no circumstances do you have permission to go snooping around on your own without letting anyone know what you’re doing. This is not open to discussion, so either you tell me what you’re up to or you stay here where I can see you.”
“Okay, but remember now, this is my idea.”