The Dinosaur Feather

you.’ Again she looked at Søren as though Henrik was of no consequence. ‘You know when you’re being played. You might choose to ignore certain signals at the time, but deep inside, you know. I believe that.’
    She swallowed and continued. ‘Johannes may have been carrying some heavy baggage, but he had changed himself into a capable and very loving human being. Someone who had dealt with his past, who faced the future with optimism.’
    ‘Was he bisexual?’ Henrik asked bluntly. Susanne heldSøren’s gaze for a moment longer, then she slowly turned to Henrik.
    ‘No,’ she declared.
    ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘Absolutely. We began our relationship with complete sexual openness. No code, no core, no truth. And this applied to our sex life, too. Everything was allowed, nothing was taboo, and no, Johannes wasn’t bisexual.’
    ‘But he wore a bloody dress,’ Henrik snapped, pointing furiously to the case file lying on the table in front of him. ‘I’ve seen several photos of him in a dress.’
    ‘Yes, he did. But wearing a dress doesn’t make you gay. Nor does wearing trousers make you straight.’ Susanne looked long and hard at Henrik’s eighties jeans.
    ‘Johannes got off on being dominated and he was a transvestite. He liked going to the Red Mask wearing a skirt and full make-up. And a slightly more adult outfit at Inkognito.’ Søren was aware of Henrik’s growing frustration.
    ‘But transvestites are gay,’ he snarled. Søren scratched the back of his head.
    ‘And bikers are thugs and all paedophiles have moustaches,’ Susanne Winther remarked calmly. Her gaze lingered on Henrik’s moustache which was in dire need of a trim. ‘I don’t think you’ve done your homework,’ she said. ‘Transvestites get a kick out of cross-dressing, wearing clothes traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Transsexuals are men and women who feel they have been born into the wrong body and want to switch to the right gender through a sex change operation. However, transsexuals aren’t homosexual, even though they are sexually attracted to their own sex,because . . . well, it’s obvious. If you’re 90 per cent female and love a man, but you happen to have a dick because hospital waiting lists in this country are so frigging long, then that doesn’t make you male. Being a man isn’t just about having a dick, is it?’ Again, she looked at Henrik’s jeans.
    Søren was aware that the situation was about to ignite.
    ‘We’re digressing,’ he piped up. Susanne Winther looked straight at him.
    ‘Johannes wasn’t bisexual,’ she declared. ‘Anyway, why is it even an issue?’
    ‘We have reason to believe that Johannes was killed by a man. Certain evidence from the crime scene, which I can’t discuss with you, reveals—’
    ‘That’s quite all right,’ Susanne said.
    ‘Er, thanks,’ Søren spluttered. A pause followed.
    ‘And to be honest,’ he said, driven by a sudden urge to confide. ‘I started off thinking he was gay. Because of his clothes and his way of life. We’ve seen photos on the home page of the Red Mask. It’s clearly unfortunate that we . . .’ Søren cleared his throat. ‘Well, that we . . . that I didn’t know the precise meaning of the terms. And our assumption . . . er . . . our very slender assumption . . . which . . . okay, here goes: traces of semen were found at the crime scene, and they didn’t come from Johannes.’
    Henrik’s jaw dropped.
    ‘And it looks like Johannes was subjected to a violent attack which caused his death.’
    ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Henrik shot up and jabbed his finger at Søren. ‘Are you out of your mind?’Henrik’s hand was ten centimetres away from Søren’s face and Søren grabbed his wrist.
    ‘Sit down,’ Søren said, guiding Henrik back to his chair. ‘I know what I’m doing.’
    ‘You’re leaking information to a witness, which she might abuse,’ Henrik hissed. ‘I’ve had it up to here with your ego trip, do you hear? You’ve lost your judgement, Søren. What the hell’s wrong with you?’
    ‘I trust her!’ Søren roared. Henrik and Susanne Winther were both startled. ‘I trust her, for Christ’s sake! I trust what I see.’ Incandescent, he pointed at his own two eyes. ‘Don’t you get it? We’ve got nothing to go on in this case, because we only see what we saw yesterday, the same old shit. We’ve been blinded.’ The pitch of his voice started to drop. ‘I’ve been