The Dinosaur Feather

and make a statement.’
    Anna was surprised.
    ‘My hunch isn’t enough. I need to interview you, as I would any other witness. When can you get there?’
    ‘Tomorrow’s not good for me,’ Anna squirmed. ‘I’m going to Odense.’
    ‘No, you’re not.’
    ‘Yes, I am.’ Anna looked defiantly at Søren.
    ‘What are you doing in Odense?’ he asked, irritably.
    Anna twirled a box of matches between her fingers.
    ‘There’s something I need to find out. I’m going with Lily. It’s a long story,’ she added and sighed when she saw the way Søren was looking at her. ‘Okay,’ she explained. ‘I’ve discovered that my parents have been lying to me. On top of everything else.’ She threw up her hands in despair. ‘They’re lying and I don’t know why.’
    ‘Sorry, but you’ll have to cancel,’ Søren insisted.
    Anna rose and looked resolutely at him. ‘I’ll take Lily to nursery tomorrow morning, then I’ll come to the station to be interviewed.’ She weighed her words. ‘Ten o’clock. I’ll be at your disposal until one o’clock. Then I’ll pick up Lily and go to Odense. I have to go. I’ll be back tomorrow night, and if you’re going to Helland’s funeral on Saturday you’ll see me there.’ She closed her eyes. Johannes was dead. ‘Christ, Johannes.’ Her face crumpled. ‘It makes no sense at all.’
    Søren watched her in silence, then he said: ‘Okay. I’ll let you go to Odense between one and midnight tomorrow. But you promise not to hurt anyone and you won’t do a runner.’
    ‘This isn’t a joke,’ Anna objected weakly.
    ‘No,’ Søren emphasised. ‘It isn’t. And I want you to start taking this seriously. Do you hear? Do you know where Dr Tybjerg is?’ His question came out of the blue.
    Anna’s eyes flickered. If she told him where Dr Tybjerg was, the police would pick him up immediately and her viva would be cancelled.
    ‘No,’ she lied.
    Søren locked eyes with her. ‘Okay,’ he said and went on, ‘Is there anything at all you want to tell me now?’
    Anna looked at him for a long time. ‘I know what killed Professor Helland. I know about the parasites.’
    Søren groaned. ‘How?’
    ‘The rumour’s all over the Institute of Biology,’ she sent him a knowing look, ‘and from Professor Moritzen. She called me into her office, told me you had visited her in her cottage and why. She wants me to contact her if I hear any suggestions that the parasites might have come from her department. Though I can’t imagine how anyone could know. It’s not as if the little bastards are ringed. But if you can determine their origins, or whatever, and trace them back to her stock, then she wants to know.’
    ‘Why?’ Søren asked.
    ‘They’re closing Parasitology. Hanne has three years to complete her research, then her department will be dismantled. However, she’s convinced that the Faculty Council would love to get rid of her before her three years are up, given half a chance. They would need a reason to dismiss her and if it turns out that the parasites came from her department, if she has so little control of her stock that parasites ended up in her colleagues’ tissue, they can sack her on the spot. Obviously. She wants to be prepared and doesn’t want to go down without a fight.
    ‘And I’m sure Mrs Helland is lying.’ Anna fed the shark, hoping he would forget all about Tybjerg.
    ‘What makes you think so?’ Søren was fascinated.
    ‘She claims Professor Helland was fit and healthy. There were no limits to his vigour and vitality, according to hiswife and that’s bullshit. I saw him, I know he was sick as a dog.’ Anna told Søren about the incident in the car park, suddenly embarrassed that she hadn’t mentioned it earlier. ‘He scared the living daylights out of me and he was clearly seriously ill,’ she concluded.
    ‘When did you speak to Mrs Helland?’ Søren asked.
    ‘I visited her today,’ Anna admitted. ‘I got this.’ She lifted the pendant free from her blouse and looked shyly at Søren. ‘Helland must have had it made for me. My graduation present. Mrs Helland wanted to give it to me before the funeral.’
    Søren was in deep thought.
    ‘She’s lying,’ Anna repeated.
    ‘Anything else?’ Søren asked, scrutinising Anna. She had never felt so cooperative in all her life.
    ‘I think Professor Freeman is in Denmark.’
    Søren nodded slowly. He already knew that.
    ‘How do you know?’ he said.
    Crap. She had this