by Sara Blaedel
“He just wanted me to keep my nose out of it,” she said.
Louise looked away. This was getting too close to home.
Jørgensen spoke slowly, as if he was afraid she couldn’t follow. “Your boss also said that Holm had reliable sources in the police department, including leadership, but it seems like you suspected him of being annoyed that you had a new source, a department head. But she was already one of his own sources, so why would that bother him?”
“I don’t understand it, either,” Camilla said, shaking her head.
“Did he say anything about what was too dangerous for you to get involved in?”
“Not really. Just that things were happening that no one knew much about.”
She thought for a moment. “It’s related to the drug case he was covering…”
Jørgensen waited patiently as she tried to remember.
“When I heard what happened, it’s like someone clicked delete. I just don’t feel at all like I can remember exactly what he said. And it had been banging around in my head, but suddenly it all feels so strange and distant.”
“What did Jensen say to you yesterday when you met her?” Jørgensen asked.
“She wanted me to help find out where Klaus West lived.”
Jørgensen and Louise glanced at each other.
“Do you have any idea how Holm knew you’d been at Police Headquarters?” he asked.
Camilla shook her head. “I don’t, no. It was a terrible situation. I felt like I’d been spied on, like it was a rap on the knuckles for horning in on his territory.”
Louise could understand that, but she also knew Camilla could blow up when the same thing was done to her. She wrote everything down as her friend described their evening at the King’s Bar and meeting Klaus West and Snow. She also mentioned the flowers, and her episode with the Finn.
Jørgensen held up his hand for her to stop. “Why did he want to see you in person? You’d already given your number; wouldn’t it have been easier for him to call?”
They sat for a moment. “Yeah,” Camilla said, “but I didn’t ask. Maybe he wanted to threaten me. He didn’t like me going around asking for him, he said.”
She shrugged and shook her head slowly.
“Maybe,” Jørgensen said, then told her to continue.
After going through everything with Holm again, Camilla agreed to stop by Police Headquarters the next day and sign the report.
No one spoke for a moment after they’d finished. “Who’s writing about the new murder?” Louise asked.
“All of us, a little bit. But I’m just completely empty.” She ran her fingers through her hair; she looked exhausted, unhappy.
“I’m thinking more along the lines of later on,” Louise said. “I hope you’re all sensible enough to take this as a warning.”
Camilla shrugged again. “We haven’t really talked about it.” Now she straightened up. “But we’re not going to be intimidated into silence. We’re not going to tolerate people getting killed for reporting what happens.”
She looked defiant. “That would be pitiful.”
“It’s already—”
“We’re not living in a banana republic here, where people get their heads cut off when they fight censorship. If someone has that much at stake, where they’ll kill just to keep something from coming out, then it would be pretty damn interesting to find out what that something is.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Louise saw Jørgensen about to speak up, possibly say something that would provoke Camilla into making these two murders her crusade. She cut him off. “Okay, I guess that’s about it.” She stood up and gave Jørgensen a look to do the same. At the doorway, she put her arm around Camilla’s shoulder and promised to call later that evening.
“We won’t be done until late,” she said when Camilla asked if she could stop by instead.
“All right, but stop by my office and say goodbye when you leave. And if I’m gone, just give me a call.”
She left, and Louise closed the door and then poured herself some water.
“Sorry I stopped you. I was just afraid she was going to take it on herself to solve these two murders.” She smiled. “It’s hell when she first gets started on something. She never lets go.”
“I can imagine. You two are just alike.”
That caught her off guard; she’d never thought of the two of them as being similar, at least in that way.
They took a break and chatted a few moments. “The question is if this is going to continue,” he said. “I mean, there’s only so many reporters you can kill to keep a lid on a story.”
She shrugged. “The drug case is at the center of this, definitely. Usually these people don’t care what’s written about them, so I guess anything could happen. But West couldn’t have killed Holm while sitting in jail. They must have found out Holm had something on them. What the hell did these two reporters know? Other reporters are covering the trial, and they haven’t been threatened. These two definitely had something.”
He nodded. “It sounds likely.”
“Maybe we should bring in all the reporters covering this, both the case in general and the trial itself. They might have an idea what Holm and Sørensen found out that’s so vitally important to someone.”
He nodded again, but she could see he wasn’t sold on the idea. “Surely someone else has already spoken to them?”
“Maybe.”
Louise considered whether it could wait until the late briefing, but she wasn’t sure they would make it back in time. And if they didn’t already have a list of reporters, maybe Høyer could help them. No doubt he knew the competition, at least those writing for the major papers.
She called Police Headquarters and asked for Detective Superintendent Willumsen, then she turned to Jørgensen and told him she was going to ask about the journalists.
Willumsen answered. “Yes.”
“It’s Louise Rick.”
“Yes.”
“Lars Jørgensen and I are over at Morgenavisen.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“We were wondering if you have a list of journalists writing about the drug case that Holm and Sørensen covered.”
She knew that might anger him. It was so easy for people on the outside to tell others what they should have done.
“We’ve spoken with a few of them. It’s a good idea to make a list of everyone involved, though. We’ve assumed the motive had something to do with what Sørensen was working on, but now two men are dead, so obviously it’s not personal against Sørensen. It’s more likely the motive is connected to what they were both writing about, the drug case.”
They agreed she should ask Terkel Høyer to make a list of names, and Willumsen would assign someone to call all the newspapers—maybe even all the TV stations, too, he added. They covered so much crime these days.
They finished with the interviews at eight thirty. Høyer had given them the list, though it wasn’t long; few reporters covered crime exclusively, the way Holm and Sørensen had. Of course, many smaller papers sent out reporters on local cases, Høyer explained when he handed them the list. But a lot of papers simply cited Ritzau, the Scandinavian news service.
“What will you do now?” Louise said as they sat in the managing editor’s office.
“Right now, we’re focusing on the fact that one of our own people was killed.”
Louise caught herself wondering if he felt the same way about a story as she did when leaning over a dead body. That it was work. Was it still a good lead story, even though it was about a colleague? But she saw in his expression that it wasn’t the same for him. At all.
“I met with the newspaper brass a few hours ago; we discussed not covering this case out of respect for Frank and Søren. But we all agreed it would show more respect to continue. They would never have stopped, and we won’t, either. But God knows it’s hard to ask people to do this.”
Louise felt for him.
“It wa
s hard enough with Frank Sørensen. And now we have to write about a popular colleague who’s been with the paper for seventeen years.” He rubbed his face hard, until finally his cheeks reddened.
“Who’s going to be reporting on the case now?” Jørgensen asked.
Louise tensed up.
“I’m doing it myself,” Høyer said. “I can’t put anyone else on it. Frank and Søren were personal friends of mine, and I can’t afford to lose any more reporters.” He forced a smile.
Louise smiled with him to lighten the mood.
Serious again, Høyer looked at her pleadingly. “You’ve got to help me keep Camilla out of this. She follows her instincts, and when she sees a good story, she goes for it.”
Louise knew he was right, but anyway, she felt she had to defend her friend. “It looks to me like she’s genuinely scared.”
Høyer nodded. “In a way, I hope you’re right.”
“Do you happen to know Birte Jensen, the head of Narcotics?” Louise asked.
“A bit. Not well.”
“She’s the one who asked Camilla to get involved in this. Maybe you should tell her that Camilla is off the story. Just so everyone is on the same page.”
“You’re right,” he said. “I’ll have a word with her.”
Back at the car, Louise messaged Camilla, telling her she’d call when she got back to the office. She didn’t want to talk in front of Jørgensen.
“So, do you have children?” she asked as they drove back. She’d noticed that he wore a wedding ring, but she’d never asked about his family.
He smiled. “Two boys, three-year-old twins.”
She was surprised; she hadn’t pictured him as a father to young kids. Hadn’t actually pictured anything about him. She studied his profile. “How do you keep things together with these work hours?”
“My wife stays home.” For a moment he seemed to consider whether to tell her more. “Our boys are from Bolivia. She quit her job when we went over to get them, and since then she’s been taking care of them.”
Louise stopped herself from making a big fuss about that. Having children from South America sounded exotic to her, and she was surprised to hear he was an adoptive father, though she couldn’t say why she felt that way. “Hmmm.” She wondered how a family of four could live on a policeman’s salary, but she was tactful enough to not ask. “Fantastic.”
He nodded and smiled. “Let’s stop and stock up on some supplies for later. We can’t sit and write all this down without something to keep us going.”
He parked in front of a kiosk and went inside. Louise’s mind went blank, and she jerked when her phone rang. “Louise Rick,” she said, without even checking to see who was calling.
Camilla didn’t beat around the bush. “I had a message when I got home.”
“From who?”
Louise leaned over and searched her bag for a notepad. Pure reflex.
“The Finn. He wants me to meet him at eleven at Cafe Svejk.” She sounded excited. Svejk was their favorite bar when they felt like drinking a beer. Over the years they’d become friends with the owner; the atmosphere was refreshingly informal, and his Czech beer tasted heavenly.
“How the hell does he know I like the place?” Camilla said.
“He doesn’t; it’s logical to suggest Svejk when you’re living in Frederiksberg,” she said, though she knew the argument was weak. “How did you get the message?” That’s what interested her most.
Jørgensen slid back into the driver’s seat. He sensed something was going on and waited to start the car.
“Someone slipped it through the mail slot in my door.”
“You’re not thinking about meeting him, are you?”
Silence.
“Are you?” Louise said, louder this time.
“People are dropping like flies, and here’s a guy who might know what’s going on. I’ve got to hear what he has to say.”
Louise moaned. Just as she’d feared. When Camilla first latched on to a good story, she got excited and let her emotions get the best of her, but after digging into it and seeing where it was leading, her mind took over and focused on it like a laser.
“Two reporters have dropped; maybe it’s a good idea to keep a low profile,” Louise said.
Jørgensen looked curious now.
“Just a minute,” she told Camilla.
She let Jørgensen in on what was going on. At first, he fiercely shook his head and ran his finger across his throat—no, no! But then he sat and thought for a moment. Louise could see he was changing his mind. The hairs on the back of her neck rose.
“Hello!” Camilla shouted.
“Just a second.”
“Maybe we should talk this over within the department?” Jørgensen said. “It might be smart to hear what the Finn has to say.”
Louise looked daggers at him—Camilla had heard every word he said.
“I’ve got to find out what he wants,” Camilla said, before Louise could speak. “Nothing’s going to happen just from listening to him.”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Louise said. “I’ll call back when we have time to discuss this, and don’t go until we agree on what to do.”
She hoped Camilla had gotten that through her thick skull.
19
Everyone was busy back at the department when they returned at nine thirty. They had many reports to write. Three officers from City had taken over their office, but they stood up when Louise and Jørgensen walked in. The department simply didn’t have enough room for everyone. Or enough computers.
“Sandwiches in the lunchroom,” one of them said as they packed their folders.
Louise smiled and thanked him. She felt too exhausted to eat, but she decided to grab a bite anyway. She wouldn’t be home for several hours, and food might help with her energy.
She picked up a sandwich for herself and Jørgensen and set his on a plate in front of him. “Where’s Willumsen?” she asked a tall officer.
“He’ll be here in a minute. They’ve questioned Klaus West again.”
“What did he say?” Louise took a bite and listened eagerly.
“He denies any knowledge of the two killings. His lawyer still won’t let him talk, and we don’t have anything more on him. Only that we’re almost sure he has something to do with the drug case. Nothing to connect him to the killings, though, except the witness statement that confirms he was at the hotel.”
“One witness statement is about as thin as it gets.” Louise felt discouraged.
“I don’t know, though. When the statement comes from one of us, it’s stronger in court than if it were a civilian.”
“But he couldn’t have committed the last murder, and if both killings were done by the same person, presumably he’s innocent of both.”
“That’s exactly the argument his lawyer used on Suhr, and it looks like he’s probably going to let West go.”
Louise unzipped her boots and kicked them off, then sat on her office chair with her legs pulled up under her. “There must be something. What about his partner, Snow—Michael Danielsen, is that his name? Could it be him?”
“He’s been sitting in here most of the day. He has an alibi, but of course he could have paid to have it done.”
“There has to be somebody willing to talk.”
The Finn! They needed to bring him in for questioning. If he really knew so much, they had to know what it was.
Louise tried to concentrate. Suddenly she noticed Willumsen standing in the doorway, and she nodded at him. “What does West have to say about being seen at the hotel?”
Willumsen walked in and leaned back against the low shelf just inside the door. “He says he wasn’t there. He claims he wasn’t even in the country, that he first came back Monday. Otherwise he’s not speaking. John Bro is scared he’ll blurt something out and start changing his story, and then we’d have him.”
He sounded bitter. Clearly, he was annoyed by being up against Bro. Murder cases w
ere complicated enough to begin with.
She was puzzled. “How do we know it’s true he was out of the country?”
“He has a plane ticket from London. We checked with SAS, and they confirm a passenger by that name checked in. No one can remember what he looked like, but it wasn’t someone who stood out in a crowd.”
That eliminates Snow, Louise thought as she recalled his chalk-white hair.
“It sounds like his alibi is airtight,” Willumsen said. “He also has a taxi receipt from the airport to the King’s New Square.”
“Or else it was planned out perfectly,” Jørgensen said from the other side of the table. “If he had someone to cover for him, to confirm his alibi.”
The others agreed.
“Jensen says it wasn’t until that evening that she gave the okay for Sørensen to tag along at the Royal Hotel.”
“Is it possible West set up an alibi because he was involved in the delivery of the drugs to the hotel?” Louise said.
Willumsen nodded in acknowledgment. “It’s entirely possible. Birte Jensen saw him at the hotel Saturday night. She was in charge of the raid. They didn’t speak, but they almost ran into each other on the ground floor, near the courtyard exit.”
They all sat and thought for a moment. Louise decided she’d better tell him about Camilla and the message from the Finn. The meeting was to take place in less than an hour.
“I’ll go get Suhr,” Willumsen immediately said.
It was out of her hands now. She regretted further involving her friend in this mess, but really, there was nothing she could do. And if they stayed out of it, Camilla would meet him anyway, and that was too risky.
Suhr’s face was red when he walked in. He quickly greeted everyone in the office, then he walked over behind Louise, who had to turn to see him.
“What’s this all about?” He stared at her forehead.
He grumbled while she explained it all again.
“We have to be there,” he said. He began swaying from side to side. Anyone who didn’t know him would have thought he was about to fall, but it was a habit, what he did when he was thinking.