The Dinosaur Feather

involved.’ Johannes looked shattered.
    ‘I really—’ Anna began. Then her mobile rang for the second time. ‘Damn it,’ she fumed and checked the display. It was Dr Tybjerg again.
    ‘Dr Tybjerg?’ she answered.
    ‘Anna,’ Tybjerg whispered. ‘Have you heard what’s happened?’
    Anna gulped.
    ‘Yes,’ she replied.
    ‘I have to cancel our meeting today. I can’t . . .’ The signal was bad. ‘You’ll have to come some other time. Next week.’
    ‘Next week?’ Anna pushed her chair away from the desk.‘You’re not serious? We have to meet, Dr Tybjerg. I have my viva, and I want . . .’ She took a deep breath and braced herself. ‘I
have
to have that viva, please,’ she insisted. ‘It’s terrible what’s happened. But my viva has to go ahead, do you hear?’
    ‘I can’t,’ he said, and hung up.
    Anna turned to Johannes. Her eyes filled with tears.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ she said in a thick voice. ‘You’re not the only one to let me down.’
    ‘Anna . . .’ Johannes pleaded. ‘I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I said it. And that’s what I told the detective, Marhauge. I told him that you definitely had nothing to do with Helland’s death. I was beside myself.’
    Anna got up.
    ‘Where are you going?’ Johannes whispered, as she headed for the door.
    ‘To the museum to find Dr Tybjerg.’
    ‘Does it have to be right now? Can’t you stay for a while? I have to go soon and I don’t want to leave . . . until we’ve made up.’
    ‘That’s not my problem,’ Anna said, icily.
    She heard Johannes heave a sigh as she walked down the corridor to the museum.
    Dr Tybjerg could invariably be found in one of three locations: his basement office, the refectory or at the desk below the window by the door to the Vertebrate Collection, measuring bones. She tried the collection first. No sign of Tybjerg. Then she tried the refectory. Still no Tybjerg. Some young scientists had gathered around a table. Anna could smell pipe tobacco. That left only his office.
    Anna had been puzzled by Tybjerg’s office ever since she first saw it. Dr Tybjerg was one of the world’s leading dinosaur experts, but his office was small and damp as though the faculty was trying to keep him out of sight. Two walls in the tiny room were filled with books from floor to ceiling, Tybjerg’s desk stood against the third wall and at the fourth, below the basement windows, was a low display cabinet with dinosaur models and Tybjerg’s own publications. The door to his office was locked and Anna peered through the window, but it was empty and the light was off. She called him on her mobile. No reply. Finally, she found some scrap paper in a bin and wrote him a note:
We need to talk. Please call me to arrange a new meeting
. She stuck the note to the door.
    At that moment the light in the corridor timed out and she realised just how dark it was. Outside, someone walked past the low basement windows and she saw a pair of legs wearing red boots, whose heels slammed against the cobblestones. Her heart raced as she stumbled along the corridor. She found the switch near the door to the stairwell and turned on the light. It was empty and quiet.
    Anna and Karen had been friends since they were children. They were in the same class at school and were always together in the village of Brænderup, where they grew up. One day, while roaming around Fødring Forest, they met Troels. A hurricane had raged recently and there were fallen trees everywhere, their roots ripped out of the earth like rotten teeth. The girls had been told not to play in the forest under any circumstances.
    They were jumping on the slimy leaves and daring each other to leap into the craters because they had heard stories that the wind might cause the trees to swing back up and crush you. Karen was the braver; she stood right under the roots of a dying tree and clumps of earth sprinkled onto her shoulders as she reached out her hands towards the sky in triumph. They had strayed further and further into the forest, until they remembered a giant ladybird made from the stump of a tree that had been felled. They wondered what might have happened to it during the storm and decided to investigate; after all, they weren’t far away. What if the ladybird had been uprooted and was lying with her legs in the air?
    They discovered Troels sitting on the ground, leaning against the ladybird. They didn’t notice him at first. They were busy chatting and patting the