There were no dissenting opinions, so that line was drawn. They could move on.
The Countess quickly dispatched with the topic of neighbors as no one had registered anything unusual, whereafter it was Poul Troulsen’s turn. He stood up. The unnecessary gesture caused some of them to roll their eyes, but unfairly as it would turn out, as he took less than ten minutes to give an overview of the day’s meager harvest. Troulsen had managed an impressive bit of research, which had turned out to be tedious, dull, unsuccessful, and at times difficult. Some teachers had acted impulsively and tried to leave, and one had actually escaped out a window, claiming that he had a legal right to his day off whatever was going on. He was now holed up at Gladsaxe police station, where he had been arrested for damaging public property, owing to the dirty boot prints on the windowsill. After that episode, no one left the school before they had given both oral and written accounts of their vacation travels. With the exception of two lovers who had spent the time together in Paris and who tried to conceal this from the police as they had concealed it from their spouses, there was nothing to dig into. No one had a past that indicated a predilection for mass murder. All in all, the school staff were law-abiding and the labors of the day resulted in nothing.
Or almost nothing, except for an incident that Poul Troulsen concluded with.
“The school counselor, Ditte Lubert. She is impossible. I interrogated her twice, if you can even call it that. She is … I can’t describe it exactly. I actually think she is trying to hide something, but I have no idea what, so either someone else should take over or I need permission to hit her. Preferably both.”
If one didn’t know Poul Troulsen one could be fooled by his kindly and trustworthy appearance: an amiable, gray-bearded grandfather. Simonsen, who knew that his kindness had limits, reacted promptly at the suggestion of violence.
“Countess, haven’t you—”
“I’ll talk to Mrs. Lubert tomorrow,” Berg interrupted.
Everyone turned to her with astonishment. Their new colleague was apparently a woman with some self-confidence, perhaps a stroke too much. Simonsen grunted his consent and after a couple of seconds Troulsen realized that he had been relieved of his duty.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You have no idea what you are walking into, but good luck … and for heaven’s sake, don’t ask any leading questions or you won’t hear the end of it.”
Then it was done, and the miracle complete. Troulsen sat down.
Simonsen resumed the proceedings. He had pumped the Countess as well as Arne Pedersen about the janitor. Neither of them had made any objections but he knew they were wondering what he was up to. For others, the work and the presentations could well have waited until the morning, as Pedersen had so correctly observed, but Simonsen had insisted.
“On to Per Clausen. The fact that I didn’t detain him is nagging at me. Perhaps it was a mistake, and although I know all too well that you believe I am attaching too great an importance to him, I think you are wrong. Time will tell. Our main priorities right now are clear: to establish the identities of the victims, how they ended up at the school, and why they were hanged. Nonetheless, Clausen is our best angle for the moment. Arne, Countess: you have done some fine work, and much faster than I believed could be accomplished.”
Pedersen commented, “It is because we don’t have to wait, regardless of whom we ask for what. Overtime at headquarters will increase exponentially if this goes on.”
“Which is not your problem, so forget about it. I see that you have prepared a complete little sideshow. We’re all waiting with bated breath.”
The Countess took over, but surprisingly did not start with Clausen’s life.
“Tomorrow I will get some computer assistance from a new co-worker. That is to say, our student intern. His name is Malte Borup. Be nice to him.”
She parried Simonsen’s evident surprise rather elegantly.
“As you recall, I was given permission to recruit him. Now he has been freed of his other duties so we should all be happy. He is an IT genius and you’ll love him, although he is a little rough around the edges.”
She beamed like a little girl at having gotten her student. It was something she had been working on for a long time.