The Dinosaur Feather

wife.
    ‘Why would she kill him? She has no motive,’ Henrik objected. ‘And she knows nothing about parasites.’ The two men looked at each other.
    ‘Tybjerg, however, has a motive,’ Henrik continued. ‘He’s fed up with standing in Helland’s shadow and decides to getrid of him. He may not know much about parasites, but he is a biologist, so he can find out.’
    Søren remained unconvinced.
    ‘Birgit Helland is hiding something. I can feel it.’
    ‘So is Anna Bella Nor,’ Henrik said. ‘And she has a motive.’
    ‘Which is?’
    ‘She’s a killer bitch from hell who eliminates any man who crosses her path. Possibly even Johannes. You have to agree it’s odd that two men, whom Anna Nor has been around since she started her MSc, die within three days of each other, or is that just me?’
    ‘I don’t think Johannes Trøjborg’s death is related to Helland’s. I think we need to visit Count Dracula’s castle if we’re to have a hope of finding the man who killed him. Or woman.’
    Henrik nodded and they agreed to check out everyone who had been to the Red Mask on 7 September.
    ‘I still think that Anna is an enigma,’ Henrik insisted. ‘Perhaps she and Dr Tybjerg are an item and they killed Helland together? To be crowned the new king and queen of the dinosaur experts.’
    ‘I don’t want to talk shop any more,’ Søren said, stretching out.
    ‘Fine by me. But I don’t want to talk about you-know-what. I told her today that it’s over.’ Henrik’s eyes flickered.
    They drank more beer. Henrik leaned back and said: ‘Ahhh.’
    Then Søren told him a story about a little boy who went on holiday to the North Sea coast and got trapped in the car with his dead parents.
    They got drunk. Not very, but enough for Søren to relax. Just after midnight he called for two cabs. One to take himhome and another to drive his car back. When the cabs beeped their horns and Søren was about to leave, he went to shake Henrik’s hand, but Henrik would have none of it. He hugged him. For longer and harder than the other day.
    When Søren got home, he went to bed and slept soundly for thirty minutes, exactly, before his mobile rang. He was deep into a weird dream about dogs with thick, glossy coats. He was looking after them, or he owned them, and he could control them by winking. He was the only man in the universe who could do that. Dazed, he sat up in bed, clammy with sweat though there was frost on the outside of the window. The ringing stopped, but when he swung his feet over the edge of his bed, it started again. It was charging under his clothes, which he had left in a pile, and when he finally found it, it had switched to answer. He entered the pin code but before he had time to do anything else, it started ringing again.
    ‘Hello,’ he said in a rusty voice.
    It was Anna.
    ‘Why don’t you answer your phone? What’s the point of having a policeman’s mobile number if he isn’t there when you need him?’ Anna shouted. Søren wondered if her teeth were clattering as well. He looked at his alarm clock. It was 1.55 a.m.
    ‘I was asleep,’ he said. ‘What’s happened?’ He was awake now. He switched on the light and fumbled for his clothes.
    ‘I’ve just got a text message from Johannes,’ she informed him.
    Søren said, ‘Hang on two seconds.’ He quickly got dressed then he picked up his mobile again.
    ‘Where are you?’ he wanted to know.
    ‘Right across from Bellahøj police station, as it happens. I was in Herlev and I decided to walk home. I received the text just as I passed the Lyngby motorway exit and it was quite dark, so I ran. Now I’m here. It’s cold, I’m sweaty and I’m going home.’
    He was puzzled.
    ‘What were you doing in Herlev?’ he asked.
    There was silence down the other end.
    ‘I’m calling to say I got a text message from a dead man,’ she said at last, ‘and that perhaps you need to ratchet up your investigation a notch before his mobile is switched off again. It’s probably too late already, given what a heavy sleeper you are. It’s been a long day. Good night.’
    ‘Stop, Anna!’
    Søren was cut off.
    ‘Damn!’
    He called her. It went to answer.
    It was 2.05 in the morning and he was wide awake.
    ‘Damn!’ he said again.
    He called the station and spoke to the duty officer who had been just about to call him. Johannes Trøjborg’s missing mobile, which they had been keeping an eye on since last Wednesday, had just been active. The