Mikkel Birkegaard - The Library of Shadows

Jon shook hands with him.

'Jon Campelli. I'm the owner of Libri di Luca.'

'You're the owner?' replied the claims assessor in astonishment, letting go of his hand as if he'd had an electric shock.

'Yes, is there something wrong?'

'I think there's been a misunderstanding,' said Mogens Verner, smiling uncertainly. 'You really must forgive me.'

'What do you mean?' asked Jon. He pointed at the windows. 'The fire damage isn't a misunderstanding.'

'That's not it,' explained the claims assessor, who was now bright red in the face. 'Although I generally work as a claims assessor, in this case I wasn't hired to evaluate the fire damage. My assignment is to evaluate the shop and its contents for the purposes of selling the property.'

'Selling?' Katherina burst out, giving Jon an alarmed look.

He shook his head. 'That's not something I requested.' He turned to look at the stranger. 'Who hired you?'

'The buyer and… well, I thought he was the owner,' replied the claims assessor, clearly embarrassed about the situation. 'I'm afraid I can't reveal their names.'

'Don't you think it's rather strange that one of them would purport to be the owner?'

Mogens Verner nodded. 'Yes, and again I apologize. I'm going to straighten this whole thing out as fast as possible.' He put out his hand again. 'I'm sorry for wasting your time.'

Jon shook hands with the man, and Katherina did the same before he vanished out of the door as quickly as he had arrived.

'What do you think that was all about?' asked Katherina.

'I have an idea,' replied Jon. 'Do you remember the article I had with me on the night the shop caught fire? The man in the photo is one of my clients who's been asking questions about Libri di Luca, wanting to know whether I plan to sell it or not. He was quite insistent.'

Katherina nodded and quickly went behind the counter to rummage through the drawer. In all the commotion when the shop was attacked, the article had ended up on the floor, but she remembered tossing a bunch of loose papers into the drawer when she was cleaning up. Triumphantly she pulled out the article and studied the picture.

It was definitely the same man she had glimpsed in the thoughts of the claims assessor.

'The strange thing is,' Jon went on, 'that I was actually talking to him, to Remer, a few hours before you rang. I even made it clear to him that I didn't want to sell.'

'Some people won't take no for an answer,' said Katherina and told him about the image she had picked up of the two men in the cafй.

'The other man could be Remer's bookseller friend,' said Jon. 'You didn't recognize him?'

Katherina shook her head. There had been something disturbing about the red-haired man. Images she received in this way were often strongly coloured by the individual's perception of the situation in question, and something had made the claims assessor nervous at that meeting in the cafй. In reality the man was probably not nearly so tall and his eyes weren't as deep-set or dark, but Mogens Verner had felt uneasy, maybe even threatened by the man, which made him appear as he did in Verner's memory.

'Do you think there's any connection with Luca?' she asked.

'No,' replied Jon hastily. 'Except that they're trying to snap up the bookshop at a propitious moment. I know Remer's type – always on the lookout for a good deal.' He paused, as if he were also trying to convince himself, before he went on. 'Besides, he's not part of the bookselling trade, so how would he know anything about what's really going on?'

'I have no clue about the business side of things,' said Katherina. 'But at least I can say that I've never seen either of them in Lector circles.' She raised her index finger. 'By the way, there's a meeting for receivers tonight. They've agreed to allow you to attend if you have time.'

'Hmm, I was actually supposed to work on the Remer case, but I'm not feeling very motivated at the moment, after that stunt he pulled today. Maybe I should get hold of him right now and tell him what he can do with his appraisal.' He got out his mobile phone and started pressing numbers.

'Is he an important client?' asked Katherina.

'Very important,' said Jon with a nod. He raised his eyes, stared straight ahead and his courage seemed to flag as she looked at him. Finally he gave her an embarrassed smile. 'Well, okay, maybe I should wait a while.'

When his mobile suddenly rang as he was holding it, they both flinched and Jon almost dropped it.

'Jon Campelli,' he said into the phone after fumbling it up to his ear. 'Kortmann,' he said, looking at Katherina. 'Yes, she's here.' He listened some more, shaking his head a couple of times. 'When?' He glanced at his watch. 'We can be there in fifteen minutes. Fine. Goodbye.'

Katherina expectantly studied Jon's face as he folded his mobile closed and stuck it in his inside pocket.

'Do you remember Lee? The IT guy from the meeting yesterday?'

Katherina nodded.

'He's dead,' said Jon. 'Suicide.'

'When?' asked Katherina, shocked.

'Last night,' replied Jon. 'He was found early this morning.'

'But suicide?' The man she had seen in the reading room of Шsterbro Library hadn't seemed like a candidate for suicide. On the contrary, he radiated an overbearing arrogance which, even though it was annoying, didn't seem outright self-destructive.

Jon shrugged. 'Kortmann isn't convinced either. He wants to meet us at the flat where it happened. I think it's best if we both go over there now.'

Katherina closed up the bookshop and they drove over to the Sydhavn district in Jon's car. Darkness was in the process of taking over the day, and by the time they reached the place, the sky was coloured from deep blue to red.

Lee's flat was in a complex with a view of a commuter-train station and several other grey blocks of flats. Katherina shivered as they climbed out of the car, both from the cold and from the surrounding atmosphere. The car park in front of the building was half-filled, but one car stood out. Among the Polos, Fiats and a long row of Japanese vehicles was a big black Mercedes. In the dark it looked empty, but as they approached a light went on above the back seat. In the glow of the light they could see the outline of someone in the driver's seat and another figure in the back.

When they reached the Mercedes, they recognized Kortmann as the person sitting in the back. He motioned them closer and gestured towards the back door. The inside of the black Mercedes had been customized. Half the back seat had been removed and the floor had been lowered so that Kortmann could easily roll his wheelchair right into the car. The front passenger seat had been turned round so that anyone sitting there would be riding backwards. Jon sat down on this seat while Katherina got in next to Kortmann.

As if on command, the driver got out as soon as Katherina closed the door. Kortmann made sure the driver was far enough away before he started talking.

'Lee was found this morning by one of his colleagues. They both worked in Allerшd, north of Copenhagen, and commuted together in Lee's car every morning. The colleague usually met Lee at his flat because he had a tendency to oversleep. He would often stay up all night, working. That's why his colleague even had his own key, and that was how he happened to find Lee, not asleep but dead.' Kortmann took a deep breath. 'The police found several empty ampoules of insulin on the nightstand. Lee was apparently diabetic. In addition, they found a letter which, according to the colleague, had Lee's signature on it.'

'So it was suicide?' asked Jon.

'All indications are that he took an overdose of insulin,' said Kortmann. 'The police are convinced and have closed the case.'

'But you don't agree?'

Kortmann glanced at Katherina for a moment. For once there was no trace of suspicion in his eyes; it seemed that he was trying to gauge her reaction to what he was telling them.