quiet, sitting there with her headphones on,
just staring with an empty look in her eyes. I stood up and walked to her desk.
She lifted a finger and put it over her lips to ask me to be quiet. She was
definitely onto something. I waited a few seconds until she took off the headphones.
She looked at me with excitement in her brown eyes.
“There has been one more,” she said.
“Another murder?”
“Yes. The police are freaking out. They have never seen anything like
this before, they keep saying.”
I sat down on the corner of her desk. “I’ll be damned …”
“You can say that again. Looks like we’ve got ourselves a real serial
killer.”
I nodded speculatively. “Any names, yet?”
“Victim's name is Henrik Holch. Son-in-law of the creators and owners of
DECCO shoes. He was the CEO of the company.”
I got up in a hurry and rushed over to my desk. In my bag I found the
picture Irene had given me. I looked at the back where she had written the
names of the six who raped her that night on the boat.
Henrik Holch was the last guy on the right. A slim blond boy with lots
of pimples and a bright smile. And a bright future to go with it, I thought. I
felt dizzy. I had actually found a connection between the two murders. So I
picked up the phone and called Michael Oestergaard. He was busy, he said. But
he would love to talk to me another time, just not right now.
“I have a connection between the two murders,” I said.
He got quiet in the other end. “How do you even know there has been
another murder? We haven’t told the press yet. I just got here myself.”
“Doesn’t matter. The two murders are linked. They used to go to the same
school. Herlufsholm boarding school. And they used to hang out together all
summer. Down on Didrik Rosenfeldt’s parents’ boat. They were both accused of
raping a girl in 1985 on that boat.”
Michael was very quiet in the other end, and then he spoke with a little
harshness in his voice. “Let us do the investigating, okay? I don’t know where
you get all that from, but we don’t think the murders are related. They are too
different in modus operandi, in the way the victims are killed. There doesn’t
seem to be any link between them according to our investigation. You are a
reporter, so write that in your paper. Goodbye.” He hung up.
I put the phone back in the cradle, stunned at his sudden change of
attitude. Why didn’t he want to see a connection between the murders?
Sune entered the editorial room with sandwiches. I explained everything
to him while we ate.
“Maybe he’s afraid you will write there’s a serial killer on the loose,
and that would create a lot of panic in the little town of Karrebaeksminde.” Sune
spoke with his mouth full and made me smile.
“You might be right. It would cause a lot of disturbance and anxiety among
the locals.”
“And keep the tourists away.”
I nodded. He was right. Spring was on its way and with that came a lot
of tourists and all the rich people living up north came to live in their
summer residences. People came in their boats and ate fish on rye bread at the
port, drinking beer and schnapps That was a big deal for the small town. A lot
of businesses survived only because of them. It would be a disaster if they
stayed away.
But inside of me the thoughts buzzed around. Who was killing the boys
from the picture? Could it be Irene Hansen finally getting her revenge?
I wrote my article about Didrik Rosenfeldt, another one about the other
murder of a high-profile businessman and a small story about who he was. I
didn’t mention the connection between the two killings I had discovered since I
didn’t want to scare the people and I certainly didn’t want to make detective
Michael Oestergaard mad at me. I needed a good contact at the police. That was
worth a lot.
Sara had left me a note on my desk that Giovanni Marco had called three
times while I was with Irene Hansen. I decided not to call him back.
just staring with an empty look in her eyes. I stood up and walked to her desk.
She lifted a finger and put it over her lips to ask me to be quiet. She was
definitely onto something. I waited a few seconds until she took off the headphones.
She looked at me with excitement in her brown eyes.
“There has been one more,” she said.
“Another murder?”
“Yes. The police are freaking out. They have never seen anything like
this before, they keep saying.”
I sat down on the corner of her desk. “I’ll be damned …”
“You can say that again. Looks like we’ve got ourselves a real serial
killer.”
I nodded speculatively. “Any names, yet?”
“Victim's name is Henrik Holch. Son-in-law of the creators and owners of
DECCO shoes. He was the CEO of the company.”
I got up in a hurry and rushed over to my desk. In my bag I found the
picture Irene had given me. I looked at the back where she had written the
names of the six who raped her that night on the boat.
Henrik Holch was the last guy on the right. A slim blond boy with lots
of pimples and a bright smile. And a bright future to go with it, I thought. I
felt dizzy. I had actually found a connection between the two murders. So I
picked up the phone and called Michael Oestergaard. He was busy, he said. But
he would love to talk to me another time, just not right now.
“I have a connection between the two murders,” I said.
He got quiet in the other end. “How do you even know there has been
another murder? We haven’t told the press yet. I just got here myself.”
“Doesn’t matter. The two murders are linked. They used to go to the same
school. Herlufsholm boarding school. And they used to hang out together all
summer. Down on Didrik Rosenfeldt’s parents’ boat. They were both accused of
raping a girl in 1985 on that boat.”
Michael was very quiet in the other end, and then he spoke with a little
harshness in his voice. “Let us do the investigating, okay? I don’t know where
you get all that from, but we don’t think the murders are related. They are too
different in modus operandi, in the way the victims are killed. There doesn’t
seem to be any link between them according to our investigation. You are a
reporter, so write that in your paper. Goodbye.” He hung up.
I put the phone back in the cradle, stunned at his sudden change of
attitude. Why didn’t he want to see a connection between the murders?
Sune entered the editorial room with sandwiches. I explained everything
to him while we ate.
“Maybe he’s afraid you will write there’s a serial killer on the loose,
and that would create a lot of panic in the little town of Karrebaeksminde.” Sune
spoke with his mouth full and made me smile.
“You might be right. It would cause a lot of disturbance and anxiety among
the locals.”
“And keep the tourists away.”
I nodded. He was right. Spring was on its way and with that came a lot
of tourists and all the rich people living up north came to live in their
summer residences. People came in their boats and ate fish on rye bread at the
port, drinking beer and schnapps That was a big deal for the small town. A lot
of businesses survived only because of them. It would be a disaster if they
stayed away.
But inside of me the thoughts buzzed around. Who was killing the boys
from the picture? Could it be Irene Hansen finally getting her revenge?
I wrote my article about Didrik Rosenfeldt, another one about the other
murder of a high-profile businessman and a small story about who he was. I
didn’t mention the connection between the two killings I had discovered since I
didn’t want to scare the people and I certainly didn’t want to make detective
Michael Oestergaard mad at me. I needed a good contact at the police. That was
worth a lot.
Sara had left me a note on my desk that Giovanni Marco had called three
times while I was with Irene Hansen. I decided not to call him back.
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