Carl smiled and recalled the look on Mogens Iversen’s face when he had promised not to bother them anymore with false confessions. Then he smiled cheekily at Bj?rn and Assad, who were already holding their breath, their faces slowly changing from morning pale to red and then purple.
When the three of them couldn’t hold it in any longer, they exploded in a roar of laughter never before heard in this office. Pasg?rd looked more than puzzled.
52
Monday, May 30th, and Tuesday, May 31st, 2016
Anneli cried in shock and frustration.
The seconds during which she had freed herself from the car seat and made her escape were erased from her memory, and now only the sight of the unconscious young man and Denise’s lifeless body on the hood remained.
She had sprinted from the scene like never before. It would be untrue to say that she had ever been particularly agile, but it was scary that her body could suddenly feel so heavy and limp.
It’s the radiation therapy, she tried to convince herself while the sweat was dripping from her and her throat was burning.
How could it happen? How could a momentary lapse of concentration completely shatter her future? It was beyond comprehension. Now all her precautions, intentions, and visions were all for nothing. Her own pride had come back to hit her like a boomerang. And here she was now, standing on a deserted suburban street, completely bewildered.
Why did I use my own car for this? she scolded herself. Why didn’t I pull over and secure the body? Why did I lose my temper?
She sat down on a grey hybrid network box, frantically searching for solutions that could save her. Explanations that could support her version of the events. Precautions that could lead to solutions.
It was now fifteen minutes since the accident, and the sound of police cars and ambulances rose above the roofs of the houses. She had no time to lose.
—
She found an old beige van farther up toward Lyngbyvej, broke into it, and in less than three minutes had the engine running by inserting her nail file in the ignition. At least some of her detailed preparation wasn’t wasted.
The canvas bag containing the hand grenade and the money on the passenger seat next to her brought her some consolation on the journey back to Webersgade.
I’ll make my escape later, once I’ve been to the hospital. I’ll request my medical file and continue with my treatment somewhere else in the world. That was her first emergency plan. Take a flight and create a new life somewhere far away.
Basking in the sun for the rest of my life, she thought, throwing her woolen sweaters back into the wardrobe when she was packing. Take only the very best with you. You can buy anything you need when you’re there.
She was thinking about this while packing and up until the moment when she took her passport from one of the drawers, only to realize that it had expired.
So many years without travel or adventure brought their own punishment. She couldn’t just leave.
Anneli collapsed on her sofa and buried her head in her hands. Now what? As far as she knew, she couldn’t even get to Sweden without a passport. Denmark’s useless politicians had somehow ruined that option too.
Then it will have to be prison, she thought, trying to mobilize her former indifference toward the prospect but without any real success. Sometimes reality appeared in a very different light when the time came.
But was there any alternative? She didn’t even have the pistol or the gun so she could shoot herself.
Anneli shook her head and laughed reluctantly. How comical it all seemed.
Then she straightened up.
She could keep the money for later. If she hid it in the van for now, along with the hand grenade, and then erased all traces in the apartment from the past few weeks when she had been plotting the murders, she might get away with it. She could report her car as stolen. Why not? And if she waited until tomorrow morning, it might seem more plausible. She could say that she was signed off sick and had been sleeping since yesterday because she was feeling ill. Only first noticing the theft in the morning when she looked out of her window.
They would definitely ask her if she had an alibi. She would tell them that she had watched her favorite film for the tenth time that evening just to keep the pain at bay, and then fallen asleep. That she had the DVD and that it was still in the DVD player.
She got up, carefully chose Love Actually, and put it in the DVD player.
That was her alibi.
Then she looked around. Put the clothes back in the wardrobes and the suitcase back where it belonged. She collected all the cuttings and printouts that could be linked to the hit-and-run incidents and car thefts, and placed them all in the back of the van with the canvas bag and the hand grenade.
She changed her clothes and shoes, putting the things she had been wearing in a bag, and went out to put this in the van too.
If she left the house as quickly as possible, she would have time to drive around and deposit all this undesirable evidence in trash bins all over the town and suburbs. And then she could make her getaway.
Finally, there was her computer. She would have to sacrifice that too. And even if she were to toss it in a lake, she would still have to wipe all the evidence from it first. So she would have to go online one last time to find out how to do that.
—
When everything had been taken care of one hour later, and Anneli was convinced that there was nothing incriminating left in the apartment, she drove off.
When they ask me if I suspect anyone, I’ll tell them the same thing I told the police last time they questioned me. That it is my hypothesis that it must be the girls and probably also their boyfriends trying to pin it all on me, she thought. She would tell them that she was aware that they hated her but not to that extent.
—
Anneli was already back at the house by twenty-five minutes past two and was now lying in bed thinking that from now on, it was only a matter of keeping it together and getting a few hours’ sleep so she could endure the challenges that awaited her tomorrow. She put her iPad down next to her on the quilt and repeated to herself: No, my PC died, unfortunately. That’s why I have to go into the office once in a while to update my case files. Otherwise I just make do with this.
Anneli set her alarm for five thirty. That was when she would call and report her car stolen, and then drive the van far away and take the S-train back to town.
She would rent a bike with a basket so she could bring the canvas bag with the hand grenade and the money around with her. There was a bike rental shop on Gasv?rksvej that opened at nine. And from there she would cycle around Copenhagen to ask every parking attendant she met if they had seen her car. She would give some of them fifty kroner and her cell phone number so they could call her if they saw the Ka somewhere. And she would make sure to get some of their names and memorize them while she was cycling.