Mikkel Birkegaard - The Library of Shadows

Whether it was Clara's soothing words or the exhaustion after the events of the night that made Katherina fall asleep, she had no idea. But she didn't remember anything else.

She could hear voices coming from inside the house. One of them belonged to Clara.

'Was it really necessary to sedate her?' said the other voice, which Katherina immediately recognized as Iversen's.

'She was really at her wits' end,' replied Clara. 'You should have seen her. She needed to get some rest, but she was too upset to fall asleep on her own. Sometimes the body needs to rest before the mind can calm down.'

'If you say so,' Iversen said, not sounding convinced.

Katherina heard footsteps approaching.

'How long will she be out?' asked Iversen.

'I'm awake,' said Katherina, turning towards the door.

Clara pushed past Iversen and hurried over to the sofa. 'Are you feeling all right?'

Katherina nodded. 'What time is it?'

Iversen sat down in an armchair across from her. The chair was covered with a multi-coloured crocheted blanket.

'It's ten in the morning,' he said, casting a glance at Clara. 'You've been asleep for nearly thirty hours.'

'Thirty hours!' cried Katherina, jumping up from the sofa. 'How could you…' She stopped as everything went black before her eyes and she had to sink back down on the sofa.

'It was for your own good,' Clara assured Katherina, taking her hands. 'You needed to rest.'

Katherina pulled her hands away.

'But what about Jon?' she said. 'We have to find Jon.'

'We're working on that,' Iversen reassured her. 'All of Remer's residences are under surveillance. As soon as he shows up-'

'Has he disappeared?' said Katherina.

Iversen nodded and looked down at his hands, which he had clasped in front of him.

'But what about the school?' said Katherina. 'We have to go back to the school.'

'The school burned down, Katherina,' said Clara and then hurried to add, 'But there weren't any victims. The building burned to the ground only a few hours after you escaped.'

'The fire department thinks it was due to faulty electrical wiring,' Iversen interjected. 'They realized quickly that it was a lost cause, so they concentrated on keeping the fire contained to the school.'

'They're in the process of erasing their tracks,' said Katherina. She looked at Iversen and Clara. They both nodded.

'There's been another fire,' said Iversen. 'Kortmann's villa went up in flames the same night. Kortmann's body was found in the ashes of the library. They think the cause of the fire was a smouldering cigarette.'

Katherina thought back to her last visit to the villa in Hellerup. Henning had carried Kortmann's body into the library, where he had now been cremated, as if on a funeral pyre.

'But he was hanged,' she protested. 'Surely they must be able to see that. The marks on his neck, no smoke in his lungs.'

'Nothing has come out about the circumstances surrounding his death,' said Clara. 'I wouldn't be at all surprised if Remer has contacts inside the police force and is able to influence the investigation.'

'And Remer hasn't been seen since?'

'No,' replied Iversen. 'It's as if he's dropped off the face of the earth. We've rung all the phone numbers listed in the documents about him, but we keep getting the same answer: "Remer is unavailable." ' He threw out his hands. 'As I said, we're keeping his residences under surveillance. In fact, I'm due to relieve Henning in a bit. Don't worry, he's bound to turn up sooner or later.'

Katherina wrung her hands. Sooner or later wasn't good enough. Jon was being held prisoner somewhere out there because she'd left him in the lurch. Unless he agreed to cooperate, it was just a matter of time before Remer would give up and need to get rid of Jon for good. She felt anger welling up inside her. Why had they let her sleep so long? Why hadn't they done more to find Jon?

'We've done what we could,' said Iversen, as if he'd read her thoughts. 'You have to believe us. We even considered going to the police to tell them the whole story.'

'But we gave up that idea pretty quickly,' said Clara. 'It wouldn't help Jon, and Remer's contacts would probably be able to prevent anything from being done about the case.'

Katherina realized they were right. With the information they had at their disposal, they couldn't have done anything more than they had. Her anger was replaced by frustration. What could she do? She had to do something. It was too painful to sit here waiting for Remer to turn up, if he ever did decide to reappear.

'What about Pau?' she asked, sounding agitated.

Iversen shook his head. 'The bedsit where he lived is empty. No one has seen him for the past three days.' He sighed. 'And of course Pau wasn't his real name, so that lead ends in a blind alley like all the others.'

Katherina slowly stood up. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she just couldn't sit here any longer. If she had to search all of Copenhagen to find Jon, she would do it. Anything but remaining passive.

'I'm going home,' she said.

Clara was about to object, but Katherina cut her off.

'It's okay. I'm fine.'

'I'll drive you,' said Iversen, getting to his feet.

'That'd be great. Thanks,' said Katherina as she gave Clara a hug. 'Thanks for everything, Clara.'

'If there's anything I can do, just let me know.'

Katherina nodded. Accompanied by Iversen, she walked through the house and out of the front door. The grass in the little front garden had been recently mown, and it reminded her of summer even though it was mid-autumn. On the pavement at the end of the path lay a bin bag that someone had tipped over, spilling rubbish all over the flagstones. Envelopes, coffee grounds and milk cartons were all jumbled together, soiling the pavement in that impeccable residential neighbourhood.

It was possible to tell a great deal about a person from the contents of his dustbin.

Now Katherina knew who would be able to help her.

Mehmet opened his eyes wide in astonishment when he saw Katherina standing outside his garden door. She had allowed Iversen to drive her home but then went straight to the bicycle shed in the basement to get out her mountain bike and head over to Nшrrebro. Something had kept her from telling Iversen about her plans, maybe because she needed to carry them out on her own.

'Well, if it isn't the Lawman's girlfriend,' declared Mehmet as he pushed open the door. He scanned the yard. 'Have you given Jon the slip?'

'You might say that,' replied Katherina, trying to smile. 'I need your help.'

Mehmet gave her a friendly smile as he studied her face inquisitively.

'Sure. Come on in.'

The living room still resembled a warehouse, with boxes against all the walls and cluttering the floor in teetering piles. Just inside the door stood a complete golf set, including bag, clubs and even a tweed sixpence cap hanging from the handle of one of the clubs. Katherina pulled out a club, weighing it in her hands.

'Do you play golf?' asked Mehmet with hope in his voice. 'I can let you have the set cheap.'

'No, I'm afraid not,' replied Katherina.

'I didn't think so,' said Mehmet. 'But that's not why you're here, is it?'

Katherina put the golf club back and shook her head. 'I need you to track down a couple of people for me.'

'No problem.' Mehmet sat down in front of his computer and interlocked his fingers at the same time as he stretched out his arms. His fingers produced an audible crack, and he smiled.

'I need to know where they are right now. You don't have to waste any time on their histories.'

Mehmet nodded.

'First of all, Otto Remer,' said Katherina, pausing as Mehmet typed the name into his computer. 'Next, a man in his mid-thirties who works as a chauffeur for William Kortmann.'