Mercy aka The keeper of lost causes

23

Carl had made appointments for two meetings at Christiansborg. He was received by a lanky woman who seemed to have frequented the place since childhood. She was able to lead him through the labyrinthine halls and up to the office belonging to the vice-chair of the Democrats with such familiarity that a snail in its shell would have envied her.

Birger Larsen was an experienced politician who had succeeded Merete Lynggaard as vice-chair of the party three days after she disappeared. Since then he’d distinguished himself by acting as the glue that was needed to hold the two vying wings of the party in reasonably close contact. Merete’s disappearance had left a gaping void. The veteran leader had almost blindly selected his new heir, a female airhead with a big smile, who initially became the political spokesperson. No one, except the designated successor, was happy with his choice. It didn’t take two seconds for Carl to sense that Birger Larsen would have preferred making a career for himself in some tiny business out in the sticks to working at some point under this self-satisfied potential prime minister.

The time would no doubt arrive when he wouldn’t be allowed to make that decision on his own.

“Even today I still can’t make any sense of the idea that Merete supposedly committed suicide,” he said, pouring Carl a cup of lukewarm coffee. It was so tepid that he could have stuck his thumb in it with no ill effects.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone here who seemed more vital and glad to be alive.” He shrugged. “But when it comes right down to it, what do we really know about our fellow human beings? Haven’t we all had some sort of tragedy happen in our lives that we couldn’t foresee?”

Carl nodded. “Did she have any enemies here at Christiansborg?”

Larsen displayed a row of exceedingly crooked teeth when he smiled. “Who the hell doesn’t? Merete was the most dangerous woman here in terms of the future of the government, the influence of Piv Vestergård, and the likelihood of the Radical Center Party grabbing the prime minister position. She was actually dangerous to anyone who pictured themselves in that position, and Merete would undoubtedly have achieved it for herself if only she’d been here a couple more years.”

“Do you think she’d received threats from anyone here?”

“Oh, Mørck. We MPs are too smart for anything like that.”

“Maybe she had personal relationships that could have led to jealousy or hatred. Do you know anything about that?”

“As far as I know, Merete wasn’t interested in personal relationships. For her it was all work, work, work and more work. I knew her since she was a political science student, but even I was never permitted to get closer to her than she would allow.”

“And she didn’t allow it?”

The man’s teeth appeared again. “You mean, was anyone interested in her romantically? Of course, I can think of at least half a dozen men here who would gladly have given up their wives for ten minutes alone with Merete Lynggaard.”

“Did that include yourself?” Carl permitted himself a smile.

“Hmm, well, who wouldn’t?” The teeth disappeared. “But Merete and I were friends. I knew what my limits were.”

“But maybe there were others who didn’t?”

“You’ll have to ask Marianne Koch about that.”

“Merete’s former secretary? Do you know why she was replaced?”

“Well, not really. They’d worked together for a couple of years, but it could be that Marianne got a little too personal for Merete’s taste.”

“Where can I find this Marianne Koch today?”

A slyness appeared in Larsen’s eyes. “Where you just said hello to her ten minutes ago, I would imagine.”

“She’s your secretary now?” Carl put down his coffee cup and pointed toward the door. “The woman sitting out there?”

Marianne Koch was the complete opposite of the woman who had escorted Carl up to the office. She was petite, with thick, curly black hair that seemed fragrant with temptation even from the other side of the desk.

“Why weren’t you still working as Merete Lynggaard’s secretary during the period just before she disappeared?” he asked, after the requisite introductory remarks had been exchanged.

She knitted her brow in thought. “I couldn’t understand it either. Not at the time, at any rate. I was actually quite ticked off at her. But then it came out that she had a disabled brother she was taking care of.”

“And?”

“Well, I thought she had a boyfriend since she was always acting so secretive and was in such a hurry to go home every day.”

He smiled. “Was that what you told her?”

“Yes, it was dumb. I can see that now. But I thought we were closer friends than we really were. You live and learn.” She gave Carl a wry smile, revealing a whole set of dimples. If Assad ever met her, he’d never be able to get on with his life.

“Did anyone ever try to make a pass at her, here at Christiansborg?”

“Oh, yes. Men were always leaving her messages, but there was only one who made a serious attempt.”

“Would you care to reveal who that might be?”

She smiled. She was willing to reveal anything if it pleased her.

“Of course. It was Tage Baggesen.”

“OK, I’ve heard that name before.”

“That would really make him happy to know. I think he’s held chairman positions for the Radical Center Party for at least a thousand years.”

“Have you ever mentioned this to anyone else?”

“Yes, to the police, but they didn’t seem to think it was relevant.”

“Do you?”

She shrugged.

“Were there others?”

“Lots of others, but nobody serious. She took what she needed whenever she was traveling.”

“Are you saying she was an easy lay?”

“Good Lord, is that how you interpret it?” She turned away, trying to suppress her laughter. “No, she definitely was not. But she was no nun either. I just don’t happen to know who she went into the convent with. She never told me.”

“But her preference was for men?”

“Well, put it this way, she always laughed when the gossipmongers hinted otherwise.”

“Could you think of any reason why Merete might want to put her past behind her and create a whole new life?”

“You mean whether she might be sitting out there in Mumbai, soaking up the sun?” Marianne looked indignant.

“Some place where life might be less problematic, yes. Could you picture her doing anything like that?”

“That’s totally absurd. She was extremely conscientious. I know that some people collapse like a house of cards and one fine day they just disappear, but not Merete.” She paused for a moment, looking pensive. “But it’s a lovely thought.” She smiled. “I mean, that Merete might still be alive.”

Carl nodded. Plenty of psychological profiles had been done of Merete Lynggaard just after she disappeared, and all of them had come to the same conclusion. Merete had not simply run away from her old life. Even the tabloids dismissed that possibility.

“Did you ever hear anything about a telegram that she received during her last week here at the castle?” he asked.

“A valentine telegram?”

The question seemed to annoy Marianne. Apparently she was still upset that she hadn’t been part of Merete’s life at the end. “No. The police asked me about that, but just as I told them I have to refer you to Søs Norup, who took over my job.”

He raised his eyebrows as he looked at her. “Are you bitter about that?”

“Of course I am. Wouldn’t you be? We’d worked together for two years without any problem.”

“Do you happen to know where Søs Norup is today?”

She shrugged. Nothing could have interested her less.

“What about this Tage Baggesen? Where can I get in touch with him?”

She drew Carl a little map showing the way to Baggesen’s office. It didn’t look easy to find.

It took Carl nearly half an hour to find his way to the domain of Tage Baggesen and the Radical Center Party, and it was no cakewalk. It was a mystery to him how the hell anybody could work in such a hypocritical environment. At least at police headquarters you knew what you were dealing with, where friends and enemies weren’t afraid to show their true colors, and yet everyone was able to work side by side toward a common goal. Here it was just the opposite. Everybody pretended to be the best of friends, but they were all thinking only of themselves when it came to settling scores. Everything was based on kroner and øre and power, not so much on results. A big man in this place was someone who made the others seem small. Maybe it hadn’t always been this way, but that’s how it was now.

Tage Baggesen was obviously no exception. His role was to safeguard the interests of his distant constituency and handle the traffic policies of his party, but after one look at him, you knew better. He’d already secured himself a nice fat pension, and whatever he took in before he retired was spent on expensive clothes and lucrative investments. Carl looked up at the walls that were covered with certificates from golf tournaments and detailed aerial photographs of Baggesen’s country homes all over Denmark.

He considered asking whether the man might have misunderstood which party he belonged to, but Tage Baggesen disarmed him with a friendly slap on the back and a cordial welcome.

“I suggest that you close the door,” said Carl, pointing to the corridor.

That prompted a jovial squint from Baggesen. A little trick that he used successfully in negotiating new motorways in Holstebro but it had no effect on a deputy detective superintendent whose specialty was bullshit.

“I don’t think we need to do that. I’ve got nothing to hide from my fellow party members,” said Baggesen.

“We’ve heard that you took a great interest in Merete Lynggaard. You sent her a telegram among other things. And it was a valentine telegram at that.”

The man’s complexion turned a bit paler, but his self-confident smile was back.

“A valentine telegram?” he said. “I don’t remember that.”

Carl nodded. The lie shone out of the man’s face. Of course Baggesen remembered. Now Carl had an opportunity to really go to work on the MP.

“When I suggested that you close the door, it was because I wanted to ask you bluntly if you were the one who murdered Merete. You were in love with her. She rejected you, and you lost control. Was that what happened?”

For a split second every cell in Tage Baggesen’s brain, otherwise so self-confident, considered whether he should stand up and slam the door or whether he should work himself up into an apoplectic fit. His complexion was suddenly almost the same shade of red as his hair. He was deeply shocked, completely exposed. Sweat trickled from every pore of his body. Carl knew all the tricks in the book, but this reaction was something entirely different. If the man had anything to do with the case, and judging by his response he did, then he might as well write his own confession. If he didn’t, then there was still something pushing him to the wall. His mouth gaped. If Carl wasn’t careful, the man would clam up for good. Never before in his finely tuned life had Tage Baggesen heard anything like this; that much was certain.

Carl tried to smile at the man. Somehow his dramatic reaction also seemed conciliatory. As if somewhere inside that body, nourished on highclass reception delicacies, there still might be a human being.

“Now listen here, Baggesen. You left notes for Merete. Lots of notes. I can tell you that her previous secretary, Marianne Koch, kept a close eye on your advances.”

“Everyone writes notes to each other in this place.” Baggesen tried to lean back nonchalantly, but the distance to the back of his chair was too great for it to look casual.

“So you’re saying the notes contained nothing of a personal nature?”

At this point the MP hauled his bulk out of his chair and went over to quietly close the door. “It’s true that I harbored strong feelings for Merete Lynggaard,” he said, looking so sincerely mournful that Carl almost felt sorry for him. “It’s been very difficult for me to get over her death.”

“I understand. I’ll try to make this brief.” Carl’s words were met with a grateful smile. Now the man was getting realistic.

“We know that you sent Merete Lynggaard a valentine telegram in February 2002. We received confirmation of this from the telegram company today.”

Now Baggesen looked dejected. The past was truly gnawing at him.

He sighed. “Of course I knew that she wasn’t interested in me in that way. Unfortunately. I’d known that for a long time, even back then.”

“But you still kept trying?”

He nodded without saying a word.

“What did the telegram say? Try to stick to the truth this time.”

He tilted his head a bit to the side. “Just the usual. That I’d like to see her. I don’t remember the exact words. And that’s the truth.”

“And so you killed her because she wasn’t interested in you?”

Now Baggesen’s eyes narrowed to thin slits. His lips were closed tight. A second before the tears began running down the side of the politician’s nose, Carl was inclined to arrest him. Then Baggesen raised his head and looked at him. Not as if Carl were the executioner who had placed a noose around his neck, but as if he were a father confessor to whom he could finally open his heart.

“Who would kill the one person who made life worth living?” he asked.

They sat there for a moment, looking at each other. Then Carl looked away.

“Do you know whether Merete had any enemies here? Not political adversaries. I mean real enemies.”

Baggesen wiped his eyes. “All of us have enemies, but not what you’d call real enemies,” he replied.

“Nobody who might have had designs on her life?”

Baggesen shook his head. “That would really surprise me. She was well liked, even by her political opponents.”

“I have a different impression. So you don’t think she was working with key issues that might have proved so problematic for someone that they’d do anything to stop her? Special-interest groups that felt pressured or threatened?”

Baggesen gave Carl an indulgent look. “Ask her own party members. She and I were not what you’d call political confidants. Far from it, I must say. Have you found out anything in particular?”

“Politicians the world over are always held accountable for their opinions, right? Opponents of abortion, animal-rights fanatics, people with anti-Muslim attitudes, or the opposite-anything at all can elicit a violent reaction. Just look at Sweden or Holland or the United States.” Carl made a motion to stand up and noticed the look of relief already appearing on the face of the MP sitting across from him. But maybe he shouldn’t read too much into that. Who wouldn’t want this sort of conversation to come to an end?

“Baggesen,” Carl went on. “Maybe you’d be kind enough to get in touch with me if you happen to stumble on anything at all that I should know.” He handed the man his card. “If not for my sake, then for your own. Not many people in this place felt as positive about Merete Lynggaard as you did, I’m afraid.”

That hit home. The tears would undoubtedly begin flowing again, even before Carl was out the door.

According to the Civil Register, Søs Norup’s last place of residence was the same as that of her parents, right in the middle of Copenhagen’s snooty Frederiksberg district. On the brass plate next to the front door it said: “Wholesaler Vilhelm Norup and actress Kaja Brandt Norup.”

Carl rang the bell and heard the sound reverberating behind the massive oak door. A moment later it was supplemented by a quiet “Yes, yes, I’m coming.”

The man who opened the door must have retired at least a quarter of a century earlier. Judging by the waistcoat he was wearing and the silk cravat around his neck, his fortune hadn’t dried up yet. He stared uneasily at Carl with eyes ravaged by illness, as if this stranger on his doorstep might be the Grim Reaper. “Who are you?” he asked bluntly, ready to slam the door.

Carl introduced himself, and again took his badge out of his pocket. He asked if he might come inside.

“Has something happened to Søs?” the man demanded to know.

“I don’t know. Why do you ask? Isn’t she at home?”

“She doesn’t live here anymore, if she’s the one you’re looking for.”

“Who is it, Vilhelm?” called a faint voice from behind the double doors to the living room.

“Just somebody who wants to talk to Søs, dear.”

“Then he’ll have to go elsewhere,” she replied.

The wholesaler grabbed Carl’s sleeve. “She lives in Valby. Tell her we want her to come and get her things if she’s planning to go on living like that.”

“Like what?”

The man didn’t answer. He gave Carl the address on Valhøjvej, then slammed the door shut.

In the small co-op building there were only three names next to the intercom. In the past the place had undoubtedly been home to six families, each with four or five children. What had previously been a slum was now gentrified. It was here in this attic apartment that Søs Norup had found her true love, a woman in her mid-forties whose skepticism regarding Carl’s police badge manifested itself in pale lips that were pressed tight.

Søs’s lips were not much friendlier. Even at first glance, Carl understood why DJØF and the Democrats’ office at Christiansborg hadn’t fallen apart when she left. One would have to search far and wide to find someone who presented a less sympathetic aura.

“Merete Lynggaard was a frivolous boss,” she remarked.

“You mean, she didn’t take her job seriously? That’s not what I heard.”

“She left everything up to me.”

“I’d think that would be a plus.” He looked at her. She seemed like a woman who’d always been kept on a short leash and hated it. Wholesaler Norup and his wife, no doubt once very prominent, had probably taught Søs the meaning of blind obedience. That must have been hard to take for an only child who saw her parents as gifts from God. Carl was convinced it must have reached the point where she both detested and loved them. Detested what they stood for, and loved them for the very same thing. In Carl’s humble opinion, that was why she’d moved back and forth from home all her adult life.

He glanced over at her girlfriend. Dressed in loose-fitting garb and with a smoldering cigarette hanging from her lips, she sat there making sure he wouldn’t try to molest anyone. She was determined to provide Søs with a permanent anchor here from now on. That much was obvious.

“I heard that Merete Lynggaard was very satisfied with your work.”

“Oh, really.”

“I’d like to ask you about Merete’s personal life. Was there any reason to think that she might have been pregnant when she disappeared?”

Søs frowned and drew back.

“Pregnant?” She said the word as if it were in the same category as contagion, leprosy, and the bubonic plague. “No, I’m positive that she wasn’t.” She glanced over at her lover and rolled her eyes.

“How can you be so sure?”

“How do you think? If she was as together as everybody thought, she wouldn’t have had to borrow tampons from me every time she got her period.”

“You’re saying that she had her period just before she disappeared?”

“Yes, the week before. We always got our periods at the same time when I was working for her.”

He nodded. That was something she would know. “Do you know if she had a lover?”

“I’ve already been asked that a hundred times before.”

“Refresh my memory.”

Søs took out a cigarette and tapped it firmly on the table. “All the men stared at her as if they wanted to throw her down on the table. How would I know if one of them had something going on with her?”

“In the report it says that she received a valentine telegram. Did you know it was from Tage Baggesen?”

She lit her cigarette and disappeared behind a blue haze. “No, I didn’t.”

“So you don’t know whether there was something going on between them?”

“Something going on? This was five years ago, as I’m sure you’ll recall.” She blew a cloud of smoke right at Carl’s face, eliciting a wry smile from her lover.

Carl moved back a bit. “Now, listen here. I’m going to take off in four minutes. But before I do, let’s pretend that we want to help each other out, OK?” He looked Søs right in the eye; she was still trying to hide her selfloathing behind a hostile expression. “I’ll call you Søs, OK? I’m usually on first-name terms when I share a smoke with someone.”

She moved the hand with the cigarette to her lap.

“So now I’m going to ask you this, Søs. Do you know about any incidents that happened just before Merete disappeared? Anything we ought to investigate further? I’m going to rattle off a list of possibilities, so just stop me if I come to anything relevant.” The nod he gave her wasn’t returned. “Phone conversations of a personal nature? Little yellow notes that were left on her desk? People who behaved toward her in an unprofessional manner? Boxes of chocolates, flowers, new rings on her fingers? Did she ever blush while staring into space? Was she having a hard time concentrating during those last few days?” He looked at the zombie sitting across from him. Her colorless lips hadn’t moved a millimeter. Another dead end. “Did her behavior change in any way? Did she go home earlier? Did she leave the parliament chamber to make calls on her cell phone out in the corridor? Did she arrive later than usual in the morning?”

Again he looked up at Søs, giving her an emphatic nod, as if that might wake her from the dead.

She took another puff of her cigarette and then ground the butt out in the ashtray. “Are you done?” she asked.

He sighed. Stonewalled! What else did he expect from this cow? “Yeah, I’m done.”

“Good.” She raised her head. For a moment he saw a woman who possessed a certain gravitas. “I told the police about the telegram and about her meeting someone at Café Bankeråt. I saw her write that down in her appointment diary. I don’t know who she was going to meet, but it did make her cheeks flush.”

“Who could it have been?”

She shrugged.

“Tage Baggesen?” he asked.

“It could have been anybody. She met so many people at Christiansborg. There was also a man who was part of a delegation who seemed interested. But there were lots of men who were interested.”

“A delegation? When was that?”

“Not long before she disappeared.”

“Do you remember his name?”

“After five years? God, no.”

“What sort of delegation?”

She gave him a surly look. “Something to do with research on the immune system. But you interrupted me,” she said. “Merete also received a bouquet of flowers. There was no doubt she had some sort of relationship that was quite personal. I have no idea what was connected with what, but I’ve told the police all this before.”

Carl scratched his neck. Where had this information been recorded?

“Who did you talk to about this, if I might ask?”

“I don’t remember.”

“It wasn’t Børge Bak from the Rapid Response Team, was it?”

She pointed her index finger at Carl, as if to say “Bingo.”

That damned Bak. Did he always leave out so many details when he wrote up his reports?

Carl looked over at Søs’s chosen cellmate. She wasn’t exactly lavish with the smiles. Right now she was just waiting for him to disappear.

Carl nodded to Søs and stood up. Between the bay windows hung various tiny studio photographs in color, as well as a couple of large black-and-white pictures of Søs’s parents, taken in better days. They must have been quite attractive at one time, but it was hard to tell, given the way Søs had scratched and scored all the faces in the photos. He leaned down to look at the small framed pictures. From the clothes and posture, he recognized one of the many PR photos of Merete Lynggaard. She too had lost most of her face in a network of scratches. So Søs collected pictures of people she hated. Maybe he could have won a place for himself if he’d made an effort.

For once Børge Bak was alone in his office. His leather jacket was even more creased than usual. Indisputable proof that he was working hard, day and night.

“Didn’t I tell you not to come barging in here, Carl?” He slammed his notepad on the desk and glared at him.

“You fucked up, Børge,” said Carl.

Whether it was the use of his first name or the accusation, Bak’s reaction was instantaneous. All the furrows on his forehead went vertical, reaching right up to his comb-over.

“Merete Lynggaard got a bouquet of flowers a few days before her death. And from what I’ve heard, she never used to receive flowers.”

“So what?” Bak’s expression couldn’t have been more condescending.

“We’re looking for someone who might have committed a murder. Has that slipped your mind? A lover could be a likely candidate.”

“We looked into all that.”

“But it wasn’t included in your report.”

Bak shrugged. “Take it easy, Carl. You, of all people, should talk about other people’s work. The rest of us are working our asses off while you’re just sitting on your backside. Don’t you think I know that? I put what’s important into the report, and that’s that,” he said, smacking his pad on the desktop.

“You neglected to include the fact that a social worker named Karin Mortensen observed Uffe Lynggaard playing a game that indicated he remembered the car accident. Maybe he also remembers something from the day when Merete disappeared. But apparently you didn’t pursue that angle very far.”

“Karen Mortensen. Karen spelled with an e, not an i, Carl. Try listening to yourself. And don’t come here trying to teach me anything about being thorough.”

“Does that mean you realize how significant this piece of information from Karen Mortensen could be?”

“Shut the fuck up. We checked it out, okay? Uffe didn’t remember shit about anything. That kid’s got nothing upstairs.”

“Merete Lynggaard met a man a few days before she died. He was part of a delegation on research into the workings of the immune system. You didn’t put anything about that in your report either.”

“No, but we looked into it.”

“So then you must know that a man got in touch with her, and there was clearly strong chemistry between them. That’s what her secretary, Søs Norup, says she told you, at any rate.”

“Yes, damn it. Of course I know that.”

“Then why isn’t it in your report?”

“I don’t know. Probably because it turned out that the man was dead.”

“Dead?”

“Yes, burned to death in a car accident the day after Merete disappeared. His name was Daniel Hale.” He enunciated the name carefully, so that Carl would take note of what a good memory he had.

“Daniel Hale?” Apparently Søs had forgotten his name over the years.

“Yes, he was working on the placenta research that the delegation was trying to get funded. He had a laboratory in Slangerup.” Bak presented these facts with supreme self-confidence. He had a good handle on this part of the case.

“If he didn’t die until the following day, he still could have had something to do with Merete’s disappearance.”

“I don’t think so. He came home from London on the afternoon she drowned.”

“Was he in love with her? Søs hinted that might be the case.”

“If so, I feel sorry for the man. She wasn’t having any of it.”

“Are you sure, Børge?” His colleague clearly wasn’t comfortable hearing Carl use his first name. So that settled things-he was going to hear it nonstop. “Maybe it was this Daniel Hale she had dinner with at Bankeråt. What do you think, Børge?”

“Listen, Carl. There’s a woman in the cyclist murder case who’s talked to us, and now we’re hot on the trail. I’m busy as fuck right now. Can’t this wait until some other time? Daniel Hale is dead. He wasn’t even in the country when Merete Lynggaard died. She drowned, and Hale didn’t have shit to do with it, OK?”

“Did you try to find out whether Hale was the person she had dinner with at Bankeråt a week earlier? There’s nothing about it in the report.”

“Listen to me! The investigation finally pointed to the likelihood that her death was an accident. Besides, there were twenty of us on the case. Go ask somebody else. Now, get out of here, Carl.”