Mikkel Birkegaard - The Library of Shadows

Katherina nodded. 'This evening I'm going over to the hospital to visit Iversen,' she said. 'So I'll tell him what we found out. I think we owe it to him to be the first to know.'

'Good. Then I'll tell Kortmann tomorrow.'

Katherina said goodbye and got out of the car. Jon started up the Mercedes, but she noticed that he didn't drive off until she was safely inside.

'Well?' said Pau even before she had shut the door. 'What happened down there?'

Katherina glanced around the room to make sure no customers were present.

'He's not the one behind it all,' she said. 'I can't tell you anything more right now.'

'Arghh! Come on, Katherina,' exclaimed Pau, disappointed. 'What was he like? Tell me. I dropped everything, you know, to take your shift.'

Katherina sighed. She told Pau about Tom Nшrreskov's solitary life and about the farm, but nothing about the Shadow Organization or his connection with Luca.

'What a weirdo,' muttered Pau when she was done talking, but she refused to be pressured by Pau to say anything more. 'I wonder what he's really doing out there on a farm in the middle of nowhere.'

Katherina escaped commenting because at that moment a customer came in.

For the rest of the day she evaded Pau's questions and then sent him home before closing time so she could be alone. After locking up, she got on her bicycle and rode over to the State University Hospital. On the way she bought a pepperoni pizza, and the aroma made everyone in the hospital turn to look at her with a pleading look in their eyes.

Iversen looked as if he'd fully recovered. The small man was sitting up in bed, and his face lit up with a big smile when she came into his room. He laughed out loud when he saw that she'd brought him a pizza.

'I actually just ate,' he said. 'If you can call it eating, considering the food in this place.' He patted the bedclothes covering his stomach. 'But there's always room for a pepperoni pizza.'

With great joy he bit into a slice of pizza as Katherina told him what she and Jon had been doing. She recounted everything Tom Nшrreskov had told them. Several times Iversen was so surprised by what she said he almost choked on his food. But he let her talk until she was done and he had finished his meal.

'I've always known that Luca was harbouring a few little secrets, but this goes way beyond my wildest imagination.' Pensively he wiped his mouth. 'Is it really true that I can't be trusted?'

'Of course you can,' said Katherina. 'You might say that it's your open heart that gives you away.'

Iversen shook his head. 'If I'd only known, I would have paid closer attention, and maybe I could have helped.'

Katherina took his hand. It was warm and dry.

'You did help him, as a friend and colleague. That was what he needed.'

Iversen shrugged. 'We'll never know now,' he said with a sigh. 'I'm glad you told me. But do you think it was wise? What if I happen to give away the fact that we know about the Shadow Organization?'

Katherina squeezed his hand. 'Everybody in the Society is going to know about it now,' she said solemnly. 'We're going to need the help of every single person if we want to fight back.'

They sat together for a couple of minutes, holding hands and not saying a word.

'How blind I've been,' Iversen then said bitterly. 'So many pieces of the puzzle are suddenly falling into place. Tom's banishment, Luca's reaction to Marianne's suicide, Jon being sent to a foster home. It's incredible how that little man could have kept such big secrets to himself.'

'Luca probably found support with Tom,' Katherina suggested.

'Tom,' said Iversen to himself, shaking his head. 'They sure pulled the wool over our eyes.'

'But they paid a high price,' Katherina pointed out.

'We have to take Tom back,' said Iversen firmly. 'After the way we treated him, we have to make it up to him somehow.' He slapped the bedclothes. 'And we need him. Who better to help us against the Shadow Organization? He's the expert.'

'I don't think you should count on him wanting to leave his farm,' said Katherina. 'All Tom seems to be interested in is looking out for himself. Not that I blame him, after what he's been through.'

'There must be something we can do.'

'It would probably be best to leave him in peace.'

'That'll be difficult if we're going to convince the others. Will Kortmann – or Clara, for that matter – accept this explanation without having Tom here to confirm your story?'

'They'll have to. And they'll listen to Jon. He's the one who has been most affected by what happened. Tom chose his own fate, in a way. While Jon was cheated out of his. But who knows what would have happened if he had stayed with Luca?'

'How did Jon take it?' Iversen asked with concern.

'Considering the circumstances, he was surprisingly calm,' said Katherina. 'It's hard to say what he's feeling. In that sense, he resembles Luca – he's much too good at keeping secrets. I think he's bitter that he was never told the truth.'

'I suppose we all are, to some extent. Whether it was justified or not, it's never fun to be kept in the dark. Maybe this will present an opportunity for reuniting the Bibliophile Society – which was always Luca's dream.'

'There might still be traitors among us,' Katherina pointed out.

'True enough. It could be more true than ever, in fact, but it's time to smoke them out, and for that we'll need everybody's help. Especially Jon's.'

'And Kortmann?'

'Kortmann and Clara are just going to have to bury the hatchet,' exclaimed Iversen furiously. 'Even if I have to force them to pick up the spade to do it.'

Katherina noticed that the ECG, still hooked up to Iversen's body, was making some rapid upswings. She patted his hand.

'Take it easy, Iversen, or you're going to bring the whole hospital running.'

The next day was the first time Katherina opened the bookshop with the knowledge that the contents of the numerous shelves were not always used for a good purpose. Until then she had regarded the job of selling books as honourable – an occupation whose intention was to enlighten people and provide them with valuable experiences. Now she had the feeling that she might as well be working in a gun shop. There were individuals who would use the books she sold them to hurt others. She'd known for a long time, of course, that the risk existed, but this was the first day that she realized it was being done deliberately, and in an organized manner.

Her new insight made her involuntarily study the customers who turned up, and she caught herself slinking after some of them in order not to let them out of her sight. She also used her powers to gather all the impressions that she could, and if she found any of the customers to be suspect, she made sure that they lost any desire to read and then quickly left the shop.

In mid-afternoon, Jon rang. In her hypersensitive state, Katherina could hear at once that something was wrong.

'How's Iversen?' he asked.

'He's going to be discharged today or tomorrow,' said Katherina, and then went on to tell him about her visit to the hospital the previous evening. But judging from Jon's brief comments, she gathered his thoughts were elsewhere.

'Is anything wrong?' she asked after a pause in which neither of them said a word.

Jon gave a curt laugh on the other end of the line.

'Yes and no,' he replied. 'I've come to… or rather I should say that I've been forced to make a decision.'

'Yes?' Katherina held her breath. Her brain was swiftly summoning up one horror scenario after another. A decision about what? Libri di Luca? Was he going to sell the shop after all when faced with the prospect of landing in the middle of a battle with the Shadow Organization? Had he been threatened? Bought?