Christian Jungersen - The Exception

She hears Iben laugh. ‘But, Grith, if we stick to just these two emails … then what? Could they have been sent by anyone? Apart from ourselves, that is?’

Grith appears to flounder momentarily. ‘What I’m about to say isn’t that … Of course, they can’t … but in purely theoretical terms …’

At last she finds a way of saying what she really means.

‘Look, if I didn’t know you, I would have guessed that the likeliest possibility would be that a split personality would send messages to herself. We aren’t talking about two sides of the same personality, but two separate individuals, even though they inhabit the same body. One of them might remember everything from the other’s life, but not vice versa. It’s usual for one identity to hate the other, accusing it of being “evil” or “self-righteous”.’ She pauses for a moment and stares at Malene.

Dropping her professional manner, she becomes more relaxed. ‘But why should it be one of you? Why should the emails have anything to do with a split personality? People who develop deeper than normal splitting usually have other psychological problems, like a traumatic childhood.’

The atmosphere in the room has changed. It seems so strange to be in this place, sitting on this sofa, watching and wondering about each other. Twenty years of science have proved that strange things could be hiding inside their mind. Absolutely anything. Or anybody. And at the same time, they are looking at you and wondering about you.

For a while no one speaks.

This atmosphere — did Grith plan to create it?

Malene can’t help but remember how Iben told everyone so many times that she was ‘someone else’ in Nairobi. And though the police were positive that no one had broken into her flat, Iben had insisted that the door was open and a stack of papers had been arranged more neatly than she had left it. Iben is so knowing about aspects of her personality and uses scientific terminology when she discusses her own psychology with Malene and Grith. But perhaps there is another hidden self, one she couldn’t know of ‘logically’, to use her own word.

Malene makes a pact with herself not even to think about this, regardless of what Iben’s other best friend and her science might say.

It’s late when Malene phones Iben.

‘Are you in bed?’

‘Yes I am.’

‘Sorry. Did I wake you?’

‘No, don’t worry. I was reading.’

‘I can’t stop thinking about how it could’ve been anybody.’

‘I shouldn’t have brought you along?’

‘Of course you should! It was good. Fascinating.’

‘That’s what I thought. Grith often says something unexpected.’

When Malene steps into the office the following morning she notes that the library door is closed, as usual.

She tries to catch Camilla’s attention. ‘Is she in?’

Camilla nods.

Malene checks the corridor. Sure enough, the door from the hallway to the library is open, so Anne-Lise did come in today.

She whispers to Camilla: ‘What happened?’

‘Nothing special.’

‘Did she say anything?’

‘No. Just “Good morning.”’

Camilla is always curt in the mornings. Malene sits down at her desk. Something is wrong, but she can’t quite put her finger on it. As her computer goes through its start-up routine, she ponders the odd atmosphere in the office. What might have caused it? Nothing seems out of the ordinary. Is it she who has changed?

After a good night’s sleep Malene has decided that they all overreacted yesterday. If you’re attacked, that’s what you do: go on the defensive. They should be able to rise above their anger, though. Working here brings certain obligations. They spend every day compiling and passing on information about the tragedies that follow when anger overrules common sense. So, if not even Malene, Iben and Camilla can show self-control, who can?

Obviously Anne-Lise is in bad shape just now. Maybe her home life isn’t that great and, if so, her colleagues should support her. Malene considers dropping in on Anne-Lise in the library and asking her how she is, but feels it would be overdoing it. Instead she stays where she is, dealing with a few jobs she didn’t complete yesterday afternoon. She’s waiting for Iben.

Iben turns up at a quarter past nine. She and Malene talk in low voices, leaning across their desks. It’s hard to know how much Anne-Lise can hear through the closed door. To catch what they’re saying, Camilla has to walk over to them.

Malene explains what she’s figured out: ‘When someone behaves like Anne-Lise the normal response is for her co-workers to crucify her. We didn’t and that’s good. But it isn’t good enough.’

The others are listening attentively.

‘We could carry on as if nothing happened, or be more distant than before, because she behaved so aggressively. That sort of treatment would make anyone resign, sooner or later.’

Malene says, while she looks at Iben: ‘It would be so easy to do: just let things take their natural course. We’d get everything we wanted: peace and quiet, and a new colleague who might be an asset to the Centre. Great, but it would be the same as deliberately shutting her out and we must try to do better than that.’

‘What then?’

‘We should learn from the conflict-resolution projects we write about. The first, crucial step is to get the opposing sides to sit down together and talk about their problems. And we know that an independent adjudicator must be present at the meetings.’

Camilla is taken aback. ‘It’s a bit heavy, don’t you think?’

But Iben agrees. ‘I’d like to have a meeting with her.’

‘I’m sure she’d like the idea,’ Malene says. ‘Usually it’s the stronger party that has the most reservations about a reconciliation process. In this situation, we are the strong ones. And we should tell Paul. We’ll need a neutral adjudicator, someone with authority.’

Camilla looks sceptical. ‘But the projects deal with international conflict resolution. And you’re suggesting Paul is to be our judge and peacekeeping force all rolled into one?’

Malene gives a little laugh.

When Paul arrives, they chat about this and that, then he disappears into his office. Malene stares at the closed door and hesitates. The presentation of their case could wait until lunch time.

Her working day is taken up mainly with phone calls to foundations in Germany on behalf of a research team at the Institute of History at Copenhagen University. The team is arranging a conference focused on the crimes against humanity at the end of World War Two when Germany was defeated. Fifteen million Germans were expelled from East and Central Europe and some two million women were raped. The researchers turned to the DCGI for help in raising funds, and Malene suggested that they should appeal to German, as well as Danish, sources of grant money. Her first lead was a human-rights institute called Schutzgemeinschaft für Menschenrechte, Humanität und Toleranz.

Her hands feel tender. She hopes it doesn’t mean that another attack of arthritis is on its way. It would be so irritating now, when it’s important to be in the office. Besides, tonight Rasmus comes back from Cologne.

The whole morning passes without Paul emerging from his room. Anne-Lise is also lying low. Nobody has spotted her outside the library.

At eleven thirty Paul puts a call through to Camilla — despite the fact she’s only a few steps away — to say that he’s going out for lunch. Camilla passes this on to the others, and they all exchange glances. In the end Malene responds with an ‘Oh, I’ll do it’ shrug.

She walks slowly towards Paul’s office and knocks on the door.