The Girl in the Ice aka A Price for Everything

CHAPTER 40

“Someone has to stop him.”

Jeanette Hvidt’s brown eyes flashed with anger, but the girl’s outburst also contained a touch of anxiety. Pauline Berg did not answer; she did not know what to say. Jeanette repeated, this time almost shrilly: “Someone has to fucking stop that crazy psychopath.”

The two women were sitting on a lawn with a view of the Isefjord. A fresh breeze from the water was blowing towards them, and Berg had its salty taste in her mouth. The shadows were long, the late-summer day waning. A short distance away, out of earshot, sat a handful of young people drinking beer. They were Jeanette’s third-year classmates at the Frederiksborg High School in Hillerød, who were patiently waiting for her. The group was on their way to a party when Pauline Berg caught up with them and after a brief discussion isolated her witness. A young man turned his head and watched for a long time when he saw Jeanette waving her hands in the air, but it was doubtful he could hear what she had called out. The wind snatched away the words. Berg noted that despite his age he looked big and strong, and thought that was exactly the type of protector the girl could use. That is, may have use for-hopefully it would not be necessary.

“What about men… do you have a boyfriend?”

Berg indicated the girl’s friends with a toss of her head.

“Do you call them men? What does that have to do with you anyway?”

“Wait a minute, Jeanette. I didn’t come up here on a Friday evening just to annoy you, and you know that perfectly well. If it makes you happy, I had to cancel a date this evening that I’ve been looking forward to for days, but some things in life are more important than others, and at the moment you’re more important than my date. My boss thinks so, and I think so too.”

The girl thought for a moment and then said, “Your boss is named Simonsen, but you call him Simon, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Is he a good boss?”

“Now and then he can be tough, but all in all, sure, he’s good.”

“I’ve met him, did you know that?”

“I know.”

“I liked him, he was really sweet with my grandma, in a nice, quiet way.”

“Yes, that sounds like Simon. It doesn’t surprise me.”

“I didn’t know she had been assaulted. No one ever told me that. It’s strange, there are so many people I know who knew it, but they never told me a thing. It feels kind of false-you think you know people, and then you don’t at all when it comes right down to it.”

“I know just what you mean. Some secrets are known by a whole generation, but never talked about, as if everyone would prefer to forget. I’m sure we’ll be that way ourselves when we get old.”

The girl looked at Pauline Berg with surprise.

“Do you think so?”

“Definitely.”

“I never looked at it that way. Would you like a beer?”

“No, thanks, I’m driving, and besides I’m on duty.”

“Don’t cops ever drink on the job?”

“Occasionally, it’s like with everyone. Most rarely drink during work hours. Tell me, where are you going exactly?”

“Copenhagen, the train leaves in half an hour. We’re going to a party.”

“Why don’t you go over and ask the others to leave without you, and I’ll drive you to Copenhagen when we’re finished?”

Jeanette thought for a moment about the proposal, after which she got up. Pauline Berg observed her body language while she explained to her friends. It was clear that she had a central place in the group. Shortly after that her friends left.

“Were they upset?”

“Really upset, really upset. No, they weren’t, I’ll see them later. The psychopath gets out Sunday at the earliest, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, Sunday morning.”

“So I can party the whole night without looking over my shoulder. This may be my last party.”

Her smile was lovely, but Pauline Berg shuddered anyway.

“Let’s not say things like that, this is not something to joke about.”

“No, I know, it just seems so unbelievable. Suddenly, in less than a week, there may be a monster like that chasing after me. Tell me, is he big?”

“Bigger than you.”

“If he tries to do anything to me, I’ll kill him if I can.”

Berg thought that sounded like a splendid idea, but was doubtful what she could allow herself to say, so instead she commented, “We were talking about boyfriends.”

“I don’t have one at the moment, but I can get one by Sunday if that’s what you mean. Are you thinking as a kind of bodyguard?”

“Yes, I am, and don’t say that you can manage by yourself. It’s not only about having a man taking care of you, it’s also about being two. That is, that you aren’t alone.”

Jeanette Hvidt had common sense.

“But that’s impossible, you can’t be together all the time. I mean, glued to each other day and night, who could stand that? And how long would it go on?”

Pauline Berg chose to be honest, apart from not directly saying that the investigation at the moment was at an impasse, and that the Homicide Division had produced no results worth mentioning in the past few days.

“Admittedly that’s a problem, but as you can imagine we are working at full steam. I’m talking here about many people whose sole job is to render Andreas Falkenborg harmless. We are turning over every stone in his life, and at one point or another I am convinced we will find something we can nail him with. The problem is that I can’t tell you when that will happen. Actually I want to hear whether it’s possible for you to go somewhere else for a while. A place that only you and I know about.”

The girl seriously considered the suggestion, while she finished her beer and reached for another from the plastic bag by her side. Pauline Berg considered suggesting a soft drink, but refrained. Jeanette did not seem intoxicated, nor even affected. She said, “It won’t work.”

“Because?”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’m one year older than the others.”

Berg nodded that of course she had. The truth was she hadn’t noticed, but she could remember how, when she was nineteen, one year more or less had major significance.

“I really have to slave to finish school, almost all the others are more academic than me. That’s just the truth. Where they only need to study for fifteen minutes, I need an hour, and even though I really worked at it, I had to do second year over. It won’t do for me to be away from school for a long time, because then I won’t be able to prepare for my exams. I’m not that smart.”

“You seem very goal-oriented. Do you know what you want to be?”

“A doctor, and I’m going to be one some day.”

“I believe that. But tell me one thing, have you considered cutting your hair short? It could be very attractive on you.”

Jeanette looked at Pauline Berg’s hair and answered soberly, “The same for you.”

Berg said temptingly, “Okay, let’s get our hair cut together, it’s a deal! I’ll find a fancy salon in Copenhagen, and you won’t pay a thing.”

The girl shook her head.

“It won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Because.”

She shook her hair away on the left side and exposed her ear. It was deformed, curled together to half size.

“I’m saving up for an operation, but it’s expensive. I’ll have to go abroad, England or Germany, so there will be accommodation and travel on top of that.”

“Good Lord, it’s not that bad.”

“Well, you don’t think so.”

“You’re not just for decoration.”

Jeanette’s reaction was surprisingly aggressive.

“Do you really think I want to show off an ear like this? Are you stupid?”

Pauline Berg ignored the insult, but dropped the haircut idea. She tried an alternative.

“If we disregard your education for a moment, do you have a place you could go?”

“Yes, I have. And you’ll have to excuse me for snapping at you, I just had a few ugly experiences when I was younger. But that’s not your fault.”

Berg placed her hand on the girl’s arm and said kindly, “That’s all right. Where could you possibly go?”

“Helsingør, my uncle lives there, and he would be happy to have me stay with him for a while.”

A quick calculation told Berg that based on security-related as well as economic considerations this solution would be preferable. If the girl refused to leave her home, the police would be forced to protect her, and that sort of thing was very expensive. She said, “They have high schools in Helsingør too, and we’ll arrange all the practical aspects. I can also promise you competent tutoring to ease the transition, which we can suitably define as until you have earned your diploma, regardless of whether you move back or not. How does that sound?”

All things considered Pauline Berg did not know whether she had any authority to promise this, but surely the government would save a lot of money with such an arrangement and be better served besides. Jeanette Hvidt quietly shook her lovely head.

“It’s so strange, all this, like a bad dream.”

“Yes, I understand how you feel, but what do you say about Helsingør?”

“I say that I don’t believe in it that much. What about my subject combination? And then I’ll have new teachers too, not to mention new classmates.”

Pauline Berg swore to herself; it would be so much easier if the girl voluntarily found an arrangement.

“We have found traces of your picture on Andreas Falkenborg’s computer, and he has read your interview on the Internet.”

Jeanette reacted as Berg had both hoped and feared.

“That’s disgusting.”

“Yes, disgusting. But the truth is that he has his eye on you.”

“It was those retarded reporters. I didn’t want to say anything at all, but they persisted and persisted. Obviously that’s beside the point now. Is there more? I want to know.”

“When we questioned him, he said that they were breeding and putting new ugly cuttings into the world. We think he was referring to your grandmother and you.”

“I’m a new, ugly cutting. Is that how it is?”

“Yes, that’s how it is.”

Jeanette Hvidt started crying, and Pauline Berg held her quietly. Before she drove the girl home, they decided on Helsingør. She never made it to the party.

During the drive back to Copenhagen Pauline Berg daydreamed about the honour and prestige she would achieve if she could pressure Andreas Falkenborg into irrevocable confessions. Information he could not retract, and that would hold up in court. She had the means, if she dared. But it had to succeed, because if it did not… “Then the shit will hit the fan, Then the shit will really hit the fan,” she chanted to herself.

It was an expression she had learned from her grandfather, and she liked saying it. It sat well on the tongue.

When she hit Lyngby, she called Simonsen. After some difficulty she got hold of him on the landline in his own apartment where he was picking up a few things. She informed him that Jeanette Hvidt would go to stay with her uncle in Helsingør, and about the funds needed for various academic support arrangements, which he immediately accepted with the comment that he too could count. After the call she decided to stop by Police Headquarters briefly, after which she intended to devote the rest of the evening to Ernesto Madsen, although she’d had to reduce her plans considerably after she was sent to Hundested.

At Police Headquarters she ran into Arne Pedersen, who was happy to see her. And surprised.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was going to use some data.”

“Then you could have called. You knew I was here.”

“Hmm, it’s… Well, it’s somewhat personal. It’s for a girlfriend.”

“You’re well aware that it will cost you your job if you’re caught doing that sort of thing? It’s actually illegal, and logs are kept.”

She shrugged, unconcerned.

“Malte showed me how to get around the log months ago.”

“That doesn’t make it legal, but of course that doesn’t concern me.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t concern you.”

She smiled and had a desire to kiss him. Instead she tossed her hair back and laughed without really knowing why.

“Has anything happened?”

“No, unfortunately. I have people who are busy with Elizabeth Juutilainen alias Liz Suenson, but we won’t find her right away, not to mention link her to Andreas Falkenborg. Yes, and I’ve talked with Simon, he told me about your work in Hundested, but you know that yourself. That was a good result, by the way.”

“Thanks. Was that all?”

“Hello, you haven’t been gone more than three hours. What did you really expect?”

“Nothing, but one can always hope.”

“Oh, by the way, we have received a long official report from the Americans. It’s a bang-up piece of work they’ve done, and it must have cost a bundle, but there’s nothing sensational. We can now definitely connect Falkenborg to that helicopter trip. On the other hand it turns out that unfortunately DYE-5 was in possession of two snowmobiles, which expands the inhabitants’ action radius considerably.”

“The helicopter and the distance between DYE-5 and Maryann Nygaard’s body were otherwise the only thing that really damaged him.”

“Yes, but that part is weakened by those snowmobiles, although it’s hard to imagine that you can transport two people on such a machine.”

“We don’t have much.”

“Almost nothing. The fact is, we need a miracle, if we’re going to hold him.”

“And the fact is also that we’re not getting anywhere, isn’t that right, Arne?”

“Yes, it is. Are you coming in tomorrow?”

“Unfortunately not until Monday, I have a hair appointment in the morning and a family gathering the rest of the weekend. Simon gave me time off, unless something earthshaking happens.”

“We’ll cross our fingers for that. How did Jeanette Hvidt take it?”

“Reasonably. She cried a little, but she’s a strong girl. And then she said something that I keep thinking about: Someone has to stop him.”

Pedersen sounded almost desperate when he answered.

“Well, that’s what we’re working on.”

She gave him an affectionate farewell hug, thinking that life was full of compromises.