Thirteen, Fourteen... Little Boy Unseen (17 page)

“Well, good. Tell him to feel better, and then bring that David guy. He’s quite the photographer. I mean, for a journalist.” Jens-Ole chuckled. “No, we’ve been very impressed with his work. He’s a great replacement for Sune.”

48

D
AVID ARRIVED
while I was thinking about my editor’s bad choice of words.

Replacement. As if anyone could ever replace Sune.

“Everything all right?” he asked, with his handsome smile.

“It’s a long story. I got a job for you. Jens-Ole wants us to go and talk to her colleagues in the law firm and paint a picture of her. We don’t have much on her the way it is, and it is fairly rare that an associate in a prestigious law firm is found murdered.”

“Sure,” he said. “I wasn’t doing much today anyway.”

I looked at David, and wondered for a second why he was still here anyway? Why was he sticking around? He didn’t have a job here. He didn’t have any family here, to my knowledge. Was he just here for me? Because he thought I could somehow make him feel better? Because he enjoyed my company?

Maybe it was as simple as that.

Or maybe because he’s madly in love with you and is just waiting for you to split up with Sune to make his move.

“You coming?” he asked.

I smiled and grabbed my jacket. “Sure. Let’s do this.”

There was another thought that occurred to me while we walked to my car. The killings had started just as David arrived in town.

Don’t be an idiot, Rebekka. You know the guy. He saved you and took care of everyone else down in the sinkhole. He’s a freaking hero.

No, it was stupid. There was nothing linking him to any of them, as far as I knew. I shook the thought and we drove to the law firm.

“So, any news on finding the twins?” David asked on the way.

“I haven’t had the time to look into it myself,” I said. “But I asked Sara to try and locate them, starting with Hans Toft. She has contacts in the strangest of places. She’s good at stuff like that.”

We arrived at the building where the law firm had their offices. It was an old beautiful white villa in a residential neighborhood just outside of Karrebaeksminde. Inside, it had wooden floors all over, high ceilings, and big windows overlooking a lake. I recognized the lake as being the same that one Steffen and his dog had found the bodies in. It was a huge lake, and his grandparents lived on a farm on the other side of it. I stared at the frozen landscape outside the big windows. Could it be a coincidence that the bodies turned up next to the law firm?

A secretary approached us. “What can I do for you?”

“We’re from
Zeeland Times
. I’m Rebekka Franck, this is David Busck. We called earlier?”

“Yes. Mr. Kragh will be with you in a minute. Please take a seat.”

We did, and soon after, a good looking man in his mid-forties came out of his office and approached us. His shoes clacked as he walked across the parquet. He was wearing an expensive suit and had thick black hair.

“Hello,” he said, and we shook hands. He stared at me very intensely, undressing me with his eyes. It was very uncomfortable. “Let’s go into my office and talk.”

“So, you want to know about Leonora, huh?” he said, when we had sat down inside his office. He was still smiling and staring at me. I didn’t smile back and avoided his eyes.

“Yes. We really don’t have much information about her, but would like to do a portrait of a sort. Maybe you could help?”

Mr. Kragh leaned back in his leather chair behind the big desk. “Sure. If you think I can contribute anything, then by all means. What do you want to know?”

49

W
E DIDN’T
get much from Mr. Kragh, who was slick and slithered his way out of any question that wasn’t about Leonora’s work. He painted a very nice picture of a hard worker and a nice girl, who didn’t stand out much in the crowd, but did as she was told. One of the rising young stars in the company.

But, after we left his office, we had a very good chat with the secretary.

“She did have an ex-boyfriend, who was sick with jealousy,” she said, when we asked if she knew anything about her personal life.

“Really?”

“Yes. He would come to her place every now and then and attack her. He was jealous because she had found someone else.”

“And, who was that?” I asked.

The secretary shook her head. She seemed to suddenly have to go. “I…it doesn’t matter,” she said, and her eyes landed on the door to Mr. Kragh’s office.

“I see,” I said.

“No, you can’t write that,” she said. “Morten will kill me.”

“Oh, I won’t. No need to worry,” I said.

She put a hand to her chest. “Ah, good.”

“But he is married, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” she said whispering. “The poor girl thought he was going to leave his wife, but he never intended to. She’s not the first, you know. I’ve seen it so many times before.”

I nodded and looked at the wall behind her. A big picture of Morten Kragh was displayed for everyone to see as the first thing when they approached the counter. Next to it was an empty spot, but the wood wasn’t faded like the rest of the wall.

“What used to be on the wall there?” I asked.

The secretary turned. “Oh that. There used to hang a picture of Mr. Toft.”

My eyes widened. “Mr. Toft as in Dan Toft?”

The secretary looked sad. “Yes,” she said sniffling. “So tragic.”

“So this company used to be Kragh & Toft?” I said, and looked at the logo, where I could tell the last part of the name had been removed.

The secretary sniffled again. “Yes. They had been partners for so many years. We miss him around here. He was the good one, if you know what I mean.”

“Say, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about where his children are these days, would you?” David asked.

“Dan’s children?” she asked. “The twins?”

“Yes. We’re looking for them.”

She shook her head. “No. We haven’t seen either of them for years. They both ran away from home when they were sixteen. I don’t believe they had any contact at all with them after that. It was all very tragic.”

“Okay,” I said, a little disappointed. “I think we have what we came for. Thank you so much.”

I was about to turn around and walk away, when I looked at her again.

“Do you happen to know the name of Leonora’s ex-boyfriend?” I asked.

“Yes. His name is Henrik Pedersen. He’s a cop.”

“Do you know if Henrik knew Dan Toft from somewhere?” I asked.

“I don’t believe they knew each other at all, no.”

“I know this is going to sound strange, but do you know how Leonora felt about homosexuals?”

The secretary wrinkled her forehead. “About homosexuals? I don’t think she had any issues with them. Her younger brother is gay. Came out of the closet just two years ago. She loved him more than anyone.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

In the car on the way back to the office, I couldn’t keep my thoughts from flickering in my head. A lot of new information had appeared, but it didn’t seem like there was any silver lining here. Henrik Pedersen had a baton. He could have killed Leonora in an attack of rage because she was with someone else. That was obvious. But why would he kill Dan and Tina Toft? Why would he kill the therapist or the pastor? And what about the clothes and the mutilated genitals?

It made no sense.

50

“
M
AYBE HE
thought Leonora was having an affair with Dan Toft and not that Kragh guy?” David asked, when we were back at the office eating lunch.

We had been discussing Henrik Pedersen and his possible motives ever since we got back, and I hadn’t been able to write a single word on my article yet. I simply couldn’t focus.

“You’re thinking he knew she was seeing one of the partners and then killed the wrong one. That could be a motive,” I said, my mouth filled with herring. “But it doesn’t explain the wife, the therapist, or the pastor.”

“Could Henrik Pedersen be Hans Toft? Could he have changed his name?” Sara asked.

“It’s a possibility. But the secretary knew him. She would have known if Henrik were Dan’s son. She would have recognized him,” I said. “Besides, he told me he grew up on my street. He could be lying about that, but why should he?”

“True,” David said. He drank his soda.

“Okay, so what do we know? The twins. The sister had identity issues,” I continued, and found the picture in my pocket. I stared at the young girl, who looked like she was trying to hide from the world behind her long hair. “According to the neighbors, she wanted to look like a boy. If she was transgender, the story doesn’t tell yet. But we know she was being bullied.”

I paused and thought for a little while. I drew on a piece of paper and wrote the names of the people who had been killed. “She could have been one of Dr. Korner’s patients. We were told he had this program where they tried to help children.” I rubbed my forehead in frustration. “The pastor was against homosexuals. Maybe the killer is just killing people who are against homosexuals?”

“Like a reverse hate crime?” David said.

“Something like that. But where does Leonora fit into this category?”

David leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “She’s clearly not a lesbian; she’s not anti-homosexual either. It makes no sense.”

Sara served us coffee and cookies after lunch, and I started writing my article about the hardworking rising star in the law firm, and then another about how this serial killer now had killed a second person in the same firm. I wasn’t sure I was going to publish that one until I had confirmed that she was killed by the same killer, and I needed Sune to get that confirmation. Only he could give me access to the autopsy file.

“Maybe she wasn’t killed by the serial killer after all?” I said, and looked at David. “What if Henrik Pedersen took advantage of all these killings and made a copy, so no one would suspect him?”

“There would still be differences in the way it was performed,” David said. “Copycats can be accurate, but never completely the same. We need access to that file. You’re sure you can’t get ahold of Sune?” he asked.

I looked at my phone. Not even a text from him all day. He had threatened to move out. Was that really what he had done? Was it that easy for him to simply cut me off?

“I can try and call him,” I said.

David nodded. “Tell him we really need him.”

I sighed and picked up the phone. I found his name and pressed the button. It started ringing. I looked at Sara, who bit her lip with anxiety.

“How are we on finding the twins?” I asked.

“I’ve been in contact with thirty-three men with the name Hans Toft so far, but haven’t found the right one yet.”

“Keep it up. I want to find this guy or his sister. At least to give them the picture.”

“I will.”

“Hello?”

It was Sune. My heart stopped.

“Rebekka?”

“Hey, it’s me. Did I wake you up?”

“At one in the afternoon? How old do you think I am?”

“I’m sorry. You just sounded so tired, that’s all.”

“Well, I’ve been busy all day searching for apartments. Guess I am tired. I didn’t sleep at all last night.”

“Me either. Listen, I…”

“Could you find background information on Henrik Pedersen?” David asked Sara in the background. Sune went quiet.

Uh-oh.

“Are you at the office? Was that David?”

“Yes.”

Sune took in a deep breath. “So, he’s replaced me completely, has he?”

“I…I didn’t think you…”

“No, that’s great. Thank you,” he said and hung up.

51

“
S
O, IS
S
UNE COMING?”
Sara asked. She knew the answer right away when she saw my face.

“Guess not,” she said, and sat down at her desk.

I pushed back my tears. I was getting so tired of being sad and angry at Sune. I couldn’t do anything right in this, so maybe it was time to just move on.

“I’ll just revise the article,” I said. “I’ll write that it isn’t confirmed yet that Leonora was killed by the same killer. But there’s still a story about two people being killed from the same firm. Jens-Ole will like that.”

“What about this Kragh guy?” David said, tapping his pencil rhythmically on the table.

“What about him?”

David shrugged. “He has a motive for killing his partner and taking over the company, and for killing the girl, since he had slept with her through the years and now he wanted to get rid of her.”

I shrugged too. “I guess it’s a motive, even if it’s a little farfetched.”

“Maybe Leonora threatened to tell his wife? Maybe she was pregnant?” Sara said.

“You watch way too many soaps,” I said, laughing. “I guess Hans Toft had a face transplant as well, so that’s why he could come back with a new identity and no one recognized him?”

Sara chuckled. “It could happen, you know? I heard they do some very good ones in Sweden and South Korea.”

I shook my head and returned to my screen while Sara’s phone rang. This was too far out even for me. I had to admit I liked the theory of the lawyer guy. I didn’t like him one bit from the moment I saw him. And he did have a motive. I wondered if the police had looked closely at him. Only Sune could help me answer that and…well, I wasn’t going to count on him anymore. I had to figure out a way to get my stories on my own, at least for now.

“What about the fact that he was supposed to be a policeman?” I suddenly blurted out.

David looked at me. Sara was busy chatting on the phone.

“It was the theory in the beginning, remember?” I continued. “I even wrote an article telling how hard it was to get a hold of a real baton. That sure puts Henrik Pedersen in the hot seat, doesn’t it?”

“I just got some info about him,” Sara said, and put the phone down.