Saturday night than eat a good dinner. But afterward she was definitely planning on petting something other than the dog.
Chapter 14
MONDAY MORNING STARTED NORMALLY but things began running amok a little ways into morning prayers. The door opened and an inspector stuck his head in and said, “There’s a Dane on the phone. And he insists on speaking with Huss.”
Irene excused herself. She was escorted by her colleague to her office. He told her, “I said that you were conducting a case review and wondered if he could call back later. He told me to go to hell!”
“That sounds like a Danish colleague I know,” Irene said. She smiled.
She closed the door. The call had been transferred so she picked up the receiver.
“Hey, Jens,” she said.
“Hey, yourself. Hope you have plenty of time.”
“Plenty of time?” she asked, surprised.
“You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do!” Metz roared into the receiver.
Irene hadn’t noticed his anger until now. He was royally pissed off for some reason. Why? She had the uncomfortable feeling that the anger was directed at her.
“A lot of things have happened here in Copenhagen. Despite the fact that you’ve gone home! But you have left traces. Everywhere!”
Irene heard him pause in order to lower his voice a notch or two before he continued, “I’m sitting here with Tom Tanaka’s cell phone in front of me. There are about twenty numbers programmed into it. One of them has been traced to a cell phone belonging to Marcus Tosscander. Another is your cell phone number. How do you explain that?”
Irene’s pulse began to race from fear.
“What’s happened to Tom?” Her voice rose to a falsetto but she didn’t care. Not Tom! Not Tom! she said desperately to herself.
“He’s lying unconscious at the hospital. He was attacked and severely wounded, stabbed last night.”
“But he never leaves his apartment!” Irene burst out.
“The attack occurred in his apartment,” Metz said dryly.
How was that possible? Irene remembered his code locks and heavy doors. Had he let the perpetrator in himself? She became aware that Jens was speaking again and she straightened up in order to listen.
“Peter is on his way to you. He has two videotapes with him, which we found in Emil’s apartment. They’re very . . . interesting. For both you and us. And I can tell you that we’ve identified the owner of the hair you found in one of the sacks with Marcus’s body parts.”
He paused for dramatic effect and Irene realized that she was holding her breath.
“The hair comes from Emil Bentsen.”
“Emil?” Irene repeated, amazed.
Her brain went on strike. Then the wheels began to turn and she managed to say, “But Emil himself was murdered!”
“You’ll have to look at the tapes. Then you’ll understand. The stains on one of the police uniforms were human blood. We’re matching them against that of Carmen Østergaard and Marcus Tosscander. The results will be ready tomorrow morning at the earliest. Peter should be in Göteborg between eleven and twelve. Order a good lunch. It will be a long one.”
After a curt good-bye, Irene put down the receiver. Her thoughts were spinning chaotically. What was she going to do? Her attempt at keeping Tom outside the investigation had failed. He was alive but seriously hurt. And this was plainly her fault.
She made up her mind. She rose and went into the room where her colleagues were still meeting.
When she opened the door, they turned their questioning faces toward her.
“Some dramatic things have happened in Copenhagen, which make it necessary for me to add to my report,” she said decisively.
SUPERINTENDENT ANDERSSON had flown through the roof. Irene was used to it but this fit had lasted longer than usual. When he was done scolding, it was clear Irene had landed in the soup.
The reactions from her other colleagues were largely condemnatory. Tommy was the only one who smiled supportively.
When his irritation had abated, the superintendent decided that Hannu and Jonny should be present during Irene’s meeting with Peter Møller.
“So that we can be sure our Danish colleague walks out of here alive,” Andersson concluded, with a dark look in Irene’s direction.
She restrained herself from answering. Possibly, she hadn’t dealt with things in the best way when she consciously withheld facts. Despite this, she still felt convinced that she would have done the same thing if she had the chance to do it all over again. Her attempt to protect Tom had failed, but she had really tried.