The Dinosaur Feather

removed eight Buthidae scorpions, he explained over his shoulder to Søren, very likely to belong to the
Leiurus Questriatus
family. Their venom was poisonous, but a sting by only one scorpion, he continued, was unlikely to have killed Asger. A child or an older person might have died, but not a young man. However, no one could survive eight scorpions, the man said and shook his head gravely.
    ‘My guess is that he – or someone – placed the animals under his duvet,’ he added.
    ‘Why?’ Søren asked him.
    ‘As a rule scorpions don’t attack,’ he replied. ‘They’ll only sting if they’re trapped or provoked. By a duvet, for example.’ And off he went with the scorpions.
    Asger’s body was removed and the crime scene officers got to work. Everything reeked of suicide. There were eight empty transport tanks in a hidden angle behind the bed and belowAsger’s half-open hand which hung over the bed lay a book entitled
The World’s Most Dangerous Scorpions
. Søren watched the stripped bed. All that loneliness, he thought. He had found a note in the kitchen. The handwriting was microscopic and the space between the lines so small that Søren could barely read it. The letter was placed in a bag, which was then sealed. Søren sighed. He knew what it would say. Forgive me. My life is dreadful. I don’t want to live any longer. PS. I killed my dad. Apart from the latter, all suicide notes were written from a template. All that loneliness, he thought again. With a heavy heart, he made his way back to Professor Moritzen.

CHAPTER 20
     
    It was Monday 15 October, the first weekday morning of the autumn half term and Anna was woken up by Lily balancing a plate of fruit. Anna tried to appear awake. The previous night she had told Karen about Troels, Karen had cried and cried, and it had been past four in the morning by the time they got to bed.
    ‘Rabbit food,’ Lily said. ‘Auntie Karen says it’s called rabbit food.’ Anna could hear Karen light a fire in the stove in the living room, and she lifted her daughter up into the bed and made her comfortable.
    ‘Yum,’ she said, stroking Lily’s hair. ‘I love rabbit food.’
    ‘Do you know what it is?’
    ‘All rabbits know about rabbit food,’ Anna declared.
    ‘But you’re not a rabbit!’ Lily squealed with delight. Karen appeared in the door. She looked tired, smiled and said good morning.
    ‘My mum says she’s a rabbit,’ Lily informed her.
    Karen smiled.
    ‘Your mum is a biologist, so if she says she’s a rabbit, then she must be.’
    Lily started eating Anna’s carrot sticks, dropping only a few pieces on the bed linen.
    ‘Er,’ Karen said, looking at Anna, ‘are you free today?’
    ‘Not entirely,’ Anna replied, checking her watch. ‘I’ve got two things to do. One is at the Natural History Museum. You want to come along? There’s an exhibition about feathers and a real glacier you can touch and lots of animals and short films. Lily loves that kind of thing.’
    ‘What are you doing there?’
    ‘I’m meeting someone. In the Vertebrate Collection at eleven o’clock. I would like you to come. I’ll be an hour, max. You can have a hotdog in the meantime. Then I need to stop off at Bellahøj police station and . . . well, we’ll see.’ She smiled and Karen sat down on her bed.
    Anna felt a pang of guilty conscience.
    ‘Are you okay?’ She scrutinised Karen.
    ‘I still don’t understand it,’ she said and the tears welled up in her eyes.
    ‘Come on, lie down here,’ Anna said gently. Karen snuggled up and Anna held her close.
    ‘I hope they sentence him to treatment of some kind,’ Karen said. ‘That they help him.’
    Anna nodded.
    ‘Where do you think he is now?’
    ‘Bellahøj police station,’ Anna said. ‘I’m being interviewed at 1 p.m., then he goes before a judge and he’ll probably be remanded in custody.’
    ‘I would like to visit him, if I’m allowed to. Would you come with me?’
    ‘No,’ Anna said, stroking Karen’s hair.
    ‘Okay,’ Karen said into Anna’s arm.
    At 10.30 a.m. they arrived at the Natural History Museum. They looked at all the colourful plastic animals, pencils and posters in the museum shop by the entrance. Karen bought Lily a rubber dinosaur while Anna deposited their coats in the cloakroom.
    ‘I thought you were meeting someone?’
    ‘I am, in half an hour.’
    They strolled through the exhibition and lingered for a long time in front of the different displays.
    ‘I