—
Leo Andresen was standing with a bread roll in his hand when he opened the door. The epitome of retired morning bliss. They could hear a morning TV show blaring in the background, the type that still showed trivial and superfluous cooking features as the main content. When they entered the house, they could also hear the sound of a coffee machine spluttering and his wife shuffling around in her slippers. The entire table was covered in supermarket brochures—perhaps the top entertainment of the week.
“We need to get to the bottom of this, Leo. And let me tell you now that we don’t give a damn who you might hang out to dry, because the only purpose of our visit is to help Rose. So out with everything you know. Here and now. Do you understand?”
He glanced over at his wife, and even though she did all she could to hide it, Carl noticed that she shook her head discreetly.
Carl turned toward her and offered her his hand. “The nameplate on the door says Gunhild Andresen. Is that you?”
A small twitch at the corner of her mouth was supposed to resemble a smile and a confirmation.
“Good morning, Gunhild. Are you aware that you just gave your husband away?”
She certainly wasn’t smiling now.
“You just warned him that he should keep his mouth shut, and in my world that means he knows more than he’s telling us. And now he’s one of the main suspects in the murder of Arne Knudsen on May 18th, 1999.”
He turned toward Leo Andresen, who looked horrified. “Leo Andresen, the time is ten forty-seven and you’re under arrest.”
Assad was already rattling the handcuffs hanging from his belt, which had an immediate effect on both of them. They seemed frightened, helpless, and on the verge of fainting.
“But . . . ,” Leo exclaimed as Assad handcuffed him.
Then Carl turned toward his shocked wife, reaching for his own handcuffs. “Gunhild Andresen, the time is ten forty-eight, and I’m arresting you for withholding vital evidence relating to a murder case.”
And that was enough to really make her faint.
Five minutes later, the two of them were sitting at their usual place in the kitchen, shaking and despondent with their hands cuffed behind their backs.
“This is going to be a very long and hard day for all of us. Do you understand?”
The question didn’t revive them.
“Well, the first thing we’ll do is drive back to police headquarters in Copenhagen, where I’ll read the charges against you. Then you’ll be questioned and subsequently kept in custody. Tomorrow, you will be arraigned before a judge, who will decide whether to accommodate our request to keep you in custody. And when he has granted our request and a few weeks have passed, during which we’ll have made progress with our investigation, we’ll discuss what will happen prior to your trial. Your lawyer will probably want to . . . You do have a lawyer, don’t you?”
They both shook their heads. It was all they could manage.
“Okay, but you’ll be assigned a court-appointed defense lawyer to argue your case. Have you understood the procedure?”
The wife burst out crying uncontrollably. This couldn’t be true. They had always led an upright life and kept to themselves. So why them?
“Did you hear that, Leo? ‘Why us?’ Gunhild just said. Well, does that maybe mean that there are more of you involved?” asked Carl. “Because if the responsibility is shared, it might reduce your sentence a bit.”
That made Leo sing. “We’ll do anything you ask us to,” he implored. “As long as you . . .” He paused to choose his words carefully. “As long as you both . . . We have three grandchildren. They won’t be able to understand this.” He looked at his wife, who looked devastated, nodding to herself with a vacant expression.
“If we tell you everything, is that going to help us?” he asked. “Can you assure us that everything you’ve just told us won’t happen?”
“Yes, you have my word.”
Carl nodded to Assad.
“Yes, if you tell us everything, you have my word too,” he said.
“And it won’t affect any of the others?”
“No, we promise. Tell us the whole truth and everything will be fine.”
“Would you be so kind as to remove these?” he asked. “Then we can drive over to Benny Andersson. He doesn’t live far from here.”
There was a sound from Carl’s cell phone. Gordon had sent a photo of Rose’s face.
The sight made Carl forget to breathe. It was absolutely heartrending. Then he handed the phone to Leo.
—
The man definitely didn’t look happy when he opened the door and saw Leo Andresen’s pale face in front of the rest of the delegation.
“They know, Benny,” said Leo. “Just not how it happened.”
He would have slammed the door if he thought he could get away with it.
“Begin with the manganese poisoning, Benny,” said Leo when they were sitting down around the sticky, ash-covered coffee table.
“You can speak freely. Inspector M?rck has given his solemn word that nothing will be used against you or any of us.”
“What about that one? Does that include him?” he asked, pointing at Assad.
“I don’t know if I’d say it’s solemn, but you could try and ask me,” he said caustically.
“I don’t trust them one bit,” said Benny. “They can drag me to the police station and do whatever they want. I’m not saying a word, and I have nothing to hide.”
Leo Andresen had once been a foreman at the plant, and it showed. “Are you stupid or what? You’re forcing me to turn you in, Benny,” he said angrily.
Benny rummaged in his pockets and eventually found his matches. He blinked a few times as he lit his half-smoked cigar. “It’s my word against yours, Leo. You can’t prove a damn thing because there is nothing to prove.”
“Hey!” interrupted Carl. “This isn’t about you and what you have or haven’t done, Benny,” said Carl. “It’s only about Rose, and at the moment she’s in a terrible state.”
Benny Andersson hesitated for a moment and then shrugged as if thinking that it wouldn’t help her situation if he landed himself in it.
“What’s this business with the manganese poisoning, Leo?” asked Carl.
He took a deep breath. “It was before the millennium, when an occupational medicine physician and a neurologist discovered that working at the plant posed a health risk due to the dry manganese particles in the air. The manganese is added to the steel to fix sulfur and get rid of the oxygen, making the steel stainless and strong. But the doctors said that it was making people ill with Parkinson’s-like symptoms, even though it was actually a different part of the brain that was affected.