“I don’t care about pillars and storeys, where’s the rest of it?”
“If you wait another two minutes, I’ll go through everything in detail. You will also have the opportunity to see a lot of pictures taken inside the building.”
“But is it just that one, Arne? I mean, what about other radar stations?”
“That one was out on its own on the ice cap, though there were four other DYE stations.”
“But they were far away, weren’t they?”
“Yes, they were, that was the whole idea, they were supposed to form a chain, although DYE-5 wasn’t quite . . . ”
“Damn! Then it doesn’t fit.”
“What can’t you get to fit?” he asked patiently.
Pauline hoped one day to be the one to solve a major case. Once she had found an important hard drive that no one else could locate, and still enjoyed thinking about that, but otherwise she did not have much to brag about. She knew that she was naive and romanticised things, so she kept her daydreams to herself, apart from a single occasion when she happened to say too much to Pedersen in particular . . . and maybe another time to the Countess . . . and possibly on a few other occasions too, but those were surely forgotten, and if her latest hypothesis was correct . . .well, she almost didn’t dare complete the thought. She was bubbling with enthusiasm and did not let herself be deterred by Pedersen’s admonition, when he sensed what she was thinking.
“Always bear in mind that investigation is teamwork.”
“Obviously it’s teamwork, but there is something I have to check out, so you’ll have to manage without me for an hour or two.”
Pedersen grabbed her by the wrist as she turned to go.
“Ouch, that hurts!”
“Nonsense, it doesn’t hurt at all.”
“The rest of you occasionally follow up an idea that’s too exciting to leave alone. For once I’m going to do the same thing. I’ve been here a while, after all.”
“We don’t keep information to ourselves. That’s a cardinal sin in any investigation.”
“Can’t you give me a little leeway, just today? I promise to call you no later than eight o’clock unless . . . You can come over too if you have time. So you can see my new house and maybe help me put my curtain rails up.”
“Your boyfriend can do that.”
“He can’t because he’s history.”
Pedersen was sincerely amazed. Mostly because Pauline hadn’t said anything about a break-up, although on the other hand she did not need to report on her personal life to him.
“But didn’t you just buy a house together?”
“He was a little too close to one of his fellow students. So close that he’s going to be a father soon, the jerk.”
“What about finances? Can you afford to stay there yourself?”
“The Countess is helping me get a loan, and I’ll have to teach a couple of dance classes at night school, but then it should all work out. Okay, will I see you or what?”
Pedersen let go of her wrist without answering. Instead he stood up and called out to his restless colleagues, “Sorry, but it will be another five minutes.”
Then he commanded Pauline, “Sit down.”
She obeyed him reluctantly. He too sat down.
“You saw those girls up there yourself, and under no circumstances do you have permission to go snooping around on your own without letting anyone know what you’re doing. This is not open to discussion, so either you tell me what you’re up to or you stay here where I can see you.”
“Okay, but remember now, this is my idea.”
“What is?”
“Try looking at the coordinates under the picture.”
“I’m looking, what about them?”
“They don’t fit the scene of the crime. If it’s not an identical error that is repeated in three places, then that DYE building was simply not located where Maryann Nygaard was found.”
Pedersen observed Pauline with equal parts distrust and excitement.
“Do continue.”
“I noticed it because the coordinates where Maryann Nygaard was buried correspond to my cell phone number . . . apart from the seconds obviously. So listen, DYE-5 was located at 68°47’02” North and 45°14’03” West, as you can see, but Maryann Nygaard was buried at 68°37’02” North and 45°41’03” West—that’s shown by the very first report from the chancellor’s helicopter to the control tower at Ilulissat Airport and corresponds to the technicians’ GPS measurements. So at first I thought such a DYE installation was pretty big, that is in terms of area, but that’s evidently not the case, and I think . . . well, I’m no expert in spherical geometry, but I’ve gone to school, and a north-south minute is equal to two kilometres, and an east-west minute is one kilometre in Denmark. So don’t you see, Arne?”
“No, don’t see a thing, you’ve lost me completely.”