“No one else?”
“No, no one else.”
Simonsen frowned slightly.
“Oh, sorry. Yes, there was Helle Jørgensen-Smidt Jørgensen, I mean. I forgot about her. You have to excuse me, but she’s dead anyway. And Per Clausen. Per is also dead.” He giggled and added, “Helle did not try to die, it just happened.
Berg finally pulled herself together. They had the confession, that was enough. She pushed back her chair noisily and stood up. “I don’t want to be party to this anymore.”
But Simonsen also stood up, and his voice was hard and commanding: “Sit down, young lady, and do your work.”
She sat down again, flushed, while he stopped and rewound the tape. It gave him some trouble and a couple of minutes went by before they could continue.
“There’s one thing that is important to me, Andreas, something that only you and we know and that I would very much like for you to tell me.”
The Climber nodded accommodatingly.
“How did you get the five men from the minivan into the gymnasium?”
“Some of them walked on their own, but I took the ones that were unconscious on a wheelbarrow. I tied them to it. They were heavy but I’m strong. Was that what you wanted to know?”
“No, not completely. Something happened with one of them, as you were getting him out of the minivan, do remember that? And can you remember who it was?”
The Climber thought back and for a while he said nothing, then suddenly his face cleared up, pleased. “Thor Gran, it was Thor Gran. He fell and started bleeding from his ear. His ear hit the ground and he got a big cut, but that was an accident.”
“That was exactly what I was thinking of. Tell me now, who was the first one to have the idea to kill all these people and why they had to die?”
This time the Climber needed no time to think.
“It was Per Clausen, he was a very smart guy. He said that when they were all dead, all kinds of people would want to listen. We would get attention, Per said, and then it would be more difficult for someone to… that when someone…” He looked down self-consciously and searched in vain for a suitable formulation.
Anna Mia walked into the room, immediately followed by Poul Troulsen. He glanced at the suspect, then shot Pauline an order: “Go call an ambulance, and hurry.”
Berg almost ran out the door, while Anna Mia calmly walked over and put her arm around Simonsen.
“You must be tired, Dad. Let’s go.”
She took his hand and he followed.
“I got them, Anna Mia, did you hear that? I got them.”
“Yes, you did. That was wonderful, but it’s over now. We’re going on a vacation.”
Quietly, undramatically, they left the room.
Chapter 72
Once back at Simonsen’s flat, Anna Mia made her father some food and helped him pack. The Countess joined them a little later, but they didn’t talk about the case. The case was closed. Simonsen was placed in an armchair, where he tried to focus on reading a chess book. If they spoke to him he answered politely but in monosyllables, as if he was not one-hundred-percent clear on what was happening around him. The women let him sit. The Countess went to the kitchen two or three times to take a phone call and on one occasion she raised her voice, but when she returned she said nothing about it and neither of the other two asked her any questions. It was none of their business. It was close to eight o’clock in the evening before they were ready to leave.
All three of them traveled in the Countess’s car. Simonsen was relegated to the backseat, where he quickly fell asleep. The women took turns driving an hour at a time while they chatted and enjoyed themselves. They arrived at two o’clock and quickly agreed to let the sleeping man in the backseat stay where he was. They helped carry in the luggage and unpacked the essentials, then wrapped up the day with a glass of white wine before turning in. The Countess went to her room; Anna Mia went back to the car.
To her surprise, Anna Mia managed three hours of unbroken slumber, which she put down to the wine. In any case, the sun was rising when she opened her eyes and after a moment of disorientation she realized where she was. Her dad was also awake. He was sitting up and looking out the window. She smiled when she caught sight of him and said quietly, “Good morning and welcome to the North Sea. Want to walk down to the beach?”
Simonsen wanted nothing more. They got out of the car and, hand in hand, wandered over the outermost dunes and down toward the water. Once the sea was within sight, they stopped. Strong foam-topped breakers that shone like silver in the morning sun came roaring toward them, and the wind whipped their faces. Anna Mia rested her head on his shoulder.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it, Dad?”
“Yes. Yes, it is.”
A Note on the Author
Lotte and Søren Hammer are a sister and brother from Denmark. In 2004 they began writing crime novels together. To date, they have written five books in this series. The Hanging is the first and has been sold in twenty-one countries.
