Part 51 (2/2)

A green car shows up at the bottom of the street. Malenes father and mother wave. When the car draws near them Iben recognizes Malenes aunt and her three children, whom she has met on her visits to Kolding with Malene.

Another thing that Iben has been pondering: Should she go into therapy again? But then, how will it help now?

More cars pull up. She must not be so nervous. Zigic can no longer come anywhere near her.

A whole fleet of police cars responded instantly to the shootings. Zigic was easy to arrest, hemmed in by the icy water and holding an empty gun. The disk Zigic had removed presented a much harder case. Detectives searched Zigic, his car, the wastepaper baskets and corridors of the ministry, the trash bins in the yard, and every other possible spot. Police divers combed the bottom of the ca.n.a.l several times. The disk was never found, but the man in the denim suit survived Ibens gunshot and told the Serb police where to find Zigics computer. The data it held was sufficient to round up almost the entire organization.

Malenes aunt hugs her parents and, after a few quiet words, moves on to Iben.

Iben, this must be hard for you.

Yes. It is.

And you have much to be grateful for.

Believe me, I know.

The uncle talks to her too, as do other members of Malenes family. Iben looks down at her feet. Do they see anything in her face? What are they thinking?

Frederik gets out of a taxi and catches sight of her. He walks quickly toward her, stumbles on the curb, and saves himself by taking a couple of running steps.

Everyone has come: Malenes friends as well as colleagues, Rasmuss family, and of course Camilla, Anne-Lise, Paul, and members of the DCIG board.

A transport van pulls up to lower two women in wheelchairs. Iben has never seen them before. Presumably they knew Malene from the a.s.sociation for Young Arthritic People.

At last she spots Gunnar climbing out of another taxi. She observes his black suit, which looks new and expensive. His eyes are bloodshot and so swollen that his whole face looks different. She has been visiting him at the hospital over the last few days. Iben walks inside the chapel with Gunnar. She knows the music and hymns that Malenes mother has chosen. All of them echo inside her head.

What happened on the quayside was an exception and Im perfectly aware of it. In principle, it shouldnt have happened. Her every instinct would have urged her to save her own life. So, what she did was exceptional. Incomprehensible. Against nature.

It is the day after the funeral and Iben is seated in the DCIGs small meeting room. There is only one other person in the room: Dorte Jrgensen, the plump woman detective who spoke to Iben after Rasmuss fall.

Dorte frowns and closes the door firmly. Iben is being interrogated. She doesnt intend to cave in to the tension that the detective is trying to create, but continues her line of thought.

It was nothing short of miraculous. The way human beings behave is subject to natural laws. Then, suddenly, from one moment to the next, an exception occurs. That I am alive is precisely because of such an exception, as extraordinary as an apple rising from the ground to attach itself to a branch on an apple tree. Or a malignant tumor regressing and disappearing without trace. Or blood dripping from a statue of Christ.

Interesting. Now, do you have any explanation for how the hard disk from Rasmuss computer couldve disappeared?

I guess Zigic must have thrown it away somewhere in or around the ministry.

You see, it contains data about his organization. We have searched everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Even the bottom of the ca.n.a.l. Weve drawn a blank every time.

Well, I really cant Dorte is getting on Ibens nerves.

That hard disk contained not only data on Zigic. It also held the name of your e-mail sender, who is based here in Denmark. Its not too hard to see what Im thinking, is it?

Im afraid it is. I dont understand.

I should have thought it was pretty obvious. The man you killed in the car couldve had the disk in one of his pockets. And you could have taken it before you ran. In all that excitement, n.o.body searched you.

But Id have no reason Well, now, thats questionable.

What do you mean?

One possibility is that it was you who sent the e-mails and that a file on the disk proved it. Rasmus might even have told you he knew when you helped him move.

But why would I send anyone threatening e-mails?

Why indeed? Why should anyone?

I had no reason at all.

Iben has heard from Malenes mother that the police have sealed Malenes apartment and that they cant start clearing it yet. And with the discovery that Zigic was in Denmark, the police are now considering the theory that Rasmus may have been murdered.

Dorte pauses deliberately before continuing. The special something I sensed between you and Gunnar when you were both at the station am I wrong about it?

What do you mean?

Iben knows that Dorte can see something in her face, and she scratches the bandages on her nose.

If before the e-mails were sent you had already fallen in love with the man who was Malenes lover it couldve caused bad blood between you, couldnt it?

Iben cant reply. She takes a deep breath.

Maybe you regretted sending the e-mails. Or maybe you didnt. One way or the other, the spyware found you out and Rasmus told you.

Does Dorte do this to other people she interrogates? Is making wild accusations part of her method, just to see if one of them hits home?

Iben tries to prevent herself sounding strained. Look, it doesnt make sense! Rasmus and I had a good time together that day. I helped him carry some of his things. There is no way wed get along so well just minutes after he accused me of e-mailing death threats.

Dortes eyes are still fixed on Iben. You might have told him that your laptop had been left in the office and that Anne-Lise had access to it. That would calm him down. After all, Anne-Lise is the one you people tried to pin the e-mails on.

Iben cant think what to say.

Dorte rests her arms on the table. But, if Anne-Lise did not have access to your computer at the time when the e-mails were sent, that could have been established the following day. And you would have lost your job, your old friend, and all hope of Gunnar ever becoming your lover.

Its unbelievable. This woman, Dorte Jrgensen, is installed here, in their lunch room, calmly accusing Iben of having killed her best friends partner! Certainly she doesnt go that far with everyone?

Iben feels like waving her arms about and shouting that this is all totally insane. Living through these last few weeks has upset her terribly, and somehow she feels that Dorte might even be right.

She pinches her thigh to wake herself up. She must concentrate.

What did happen? Should I give myself up? Should I say I did it and serve a life sentence in prison?

Once more her mind conjures up an image that has recurred since the first time she met Gunnar. She is in his kitchen, cooking lots of nice dishes; he stands behind her and puts his arms around her. And his daughters come running in, laughing, from the living room.

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