“Yes, it’s unusually bad, but the poor boy—I mean, Climber—he returned to revenge himself on the past? At least physically, you could say.”
Simonsen pointed to the tree stumps all around. “Well, what’s strange is that he didn’t, if the old man is to be believed. He paid others to do it. They brought a map where the trees were marked. He couldn’t stand to come back himself.”
Simonsen stared thoughtfully out into the air. Then he said, “What brought you up here?”
“The killing of the brothers was personal. That was the starting point, and with a lot of hard thinking you can get far. Suddenly the truth shines through. Like a falling angel that stands on your doorstep one night and illuminates your mind. And when the puzzle has been laid it gives meaning to many other things.”
This was a little too lofty for Simonsen’s taste, not to say incomprehensible.
“Can’t you be a little more down-to-earth?”
“It was because the hot-dog vendor absolutely had to have five tons of copper beech in the head after all life had been beaten out of him. Our good man Andreas had to raise himself back up by the tree where he had been taken down. And his big brother had to dangle in the middle and witness the executions of his traveling companions.”
“Andreas Linke, you know the name. Have you been in the church records?”
Planck patted his coat pocket. “Brugs-Katrine gave me a photocopy but I’m assuming that all your electronic brains also have spit out the name. Where does he live now? You’re bringing him in, aren’t you?”
Simonsen hesitated. They started to walk back to the village. Then he said, “There are certain problems. In the citizen’s registry he is down as having emigrated about half a year ago, and if I put out a search for him I risk having the public work against me. I think I’ll keep him to myself for a couple of days and see if your idea with the Dagbladet bears any fruit. If it does, I may be able to pick him up quietly.”
Planck stopped and looked suspiciously at his former employee. “Be careful, Simon. We’ve both seen this before and it’s thin ice you’re stepping on. He isn’t yours and your explanations sound a bit thin.”
“Only a couple of days.”
Planck shook his head. “It’s always only a couple of days.”
“I will get him. He’s not going to get away with killing six people and the others won’t either.”
“No, they won’t.”
“If I can’t get a confession with some information that only he and we know, I risk ending up empty-handed. The prosecutor almost laughed in my face when I talked about eventual charges filed against Stig ?ge Thorsen, and Erik M?rk is nowhere near an arrest.”
“Yes, it’s not easy living in a constitutional state, but we should be able to pin those two and it is just a question of time and you know that very well.”
“Climber also has to be put away. He can’t be allowed to go free.”
“Of course he can’t, that’s not what I’m saying. This is not about him. This is about you.”
Simonsen filled his mouth with Piratos. They walked for a little while, then Planck said, “If I was your boss I would take you off this case and send you home.”
He received no answer, just a shake of the head.
“You’re not like them, Simon.”
“No, of course not. Why do you say that?”
“Oh, stop with this nonsense. Do you really think that you can repair fourteen years of neglect of Anna Mia by behaving like Popeye?”
“How the hell do you know why I’m behaving like this?”
“You have always been an open book, even if you try to convince yourself otherwise. But that’s of no consequence. The important thing is that you realize that you aren’t like them. It’s that simple. Think it over.”
Simonsen stopped and spit his half-dissolved piece of licorice into the forest. Then he looked back at his old boss and shook his head. What did he know about being a father, childless as he was?
Planck changed the subject: “How did your interview go?”
“Above our expectations. Anni Staal swallowed the whole thing and Anita Dahlgren has already been out to get the article from me that she will take to Erik M?rk’s business tonight. In the middle of their so-called online program with Stig ?ge Thorsen. Wait and see, this is going to stir things up in the duck pond.”
“Keep an eye on her. Remember that they are killers.”
“She is diligently guarded until she’s back at the Dagbladet, and then when she is ready, she and Malte Borup will go on a state-sponsored vacation. I have three officers looking after them. Pauline Berg is one of the three, but that’s mainly to get her out of the way. There’s no point in her putting her career on the line. It’s enough that the rest of us are.”
Planck nodded, satisfied, and asked, “Do you think it’s a coincidence that Andreas ‘the Climber’ Linke—or whatever we’re calling him—has devoted his adult life to felling trees?”
“Is that what he does?”
“Yes, he attended a forestry school in Germany. Brugs-Katrine’s son met him once in Odense, where he said so.”