The Dinosaur Feather

things up. It always bothered me, though. Because it was so unfair. He was a good man.’ Mrs Helland smiled again. ‘A very unusual, but good man. He was a wonderful father to Nanna.’
    Anna was about to reassure Mrs Helland that there was no need for her to justify her late husband’s behaviour, whenMrs Helland said: ‘I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.’ She smiled and looked down at her hands. ‘Either I hide myself away, never to be seen. Or I tell everyone about Lars. The greengrocer, the bus driver, the cold caller, everyone is forced to listen to my grief.’
    ‘I know how you feel,’ Anna said. Mrs Helland poured more tea.
    ‘He often mentioned you,’ she said. ‘I think he was fascinated by you. And Lars was usually only interested in birds.’ She smiled wryly. Anna reddened and wanted to protest, but Mrs Helland carried on: ‘“She loathes me,” he would say about you. “But she would rather die than admit it.” He respected you, Anna,’ she said.
    Anna didn’t know what to say. Everything she had ever said about Helland suddenly tasted bitter.
    ‘I don’t know what to say,’ she admitted.
    Mrs Helland carried on looking at her.
    ‘We had our differences,’ Anna said, tentatively.
    ‘Well, of course you did. Lars had with most people. He was like that. He believed you had to court controversy to achieve anything at all.’
    A pause followed.
    ‘Do they suspect you, too?’ Mrs Helland asked out of the blue.
    ‘Do they suspect you?’ Anna was shocked.
    ‘They don’t say so openly. The superintendent does. He wants to come across as a friendly teddy bear, so he uhms and ahs. All he’s prepared to say is that Lars appears to have suffered from a tropical infection and that they’re treating his death as
suspicious
. And then he assures me that everythingwill be investigated very thoroughly. But he’s hiding something because he suspects me, I’m sure of it.’ Mrs Helland suddenly got up and sat next to Anna. She clasped Anna’s hands and looked desperate.
    ‘We’re losing our minds,’ she wailed. ‘Neither of us can sleep. Until last Monday, Lars was a perfectly healthy man, and now he’s dead. Why would anyone want to murder him? And what’s this about a tropical infection? It’s utterly ridiculous.’
    Everything inside Anna resisted. Mrs Helland was sitting too close to her and something in Anna’s throat tightened.
    ‘You’re lying,’ she croaked.
    Mrs Helland stared at Anna. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Your husband was ill,’ Anna said. ‘I saw him. He was seriously ill. Why do you say he was well when we both know that isn’t true?’
    Mrs Helland pulled back.
    ‘I don’t understand . . .’ Her lips quivered.
    ‘What was wrong with his eye?’ Anna continued.
    ‘That small polyp?’
    ‘Yes, what was it?’
    ‘His father had one of those.’ Mrs Helland faltered. ‘It was something inherited.’
    ‘No,’ Anna insisted. ‘It wasn’t. And you know it.’
    Mrs Helland looked stubbornly at Anna. ‘Lars wasn’t ill. I don’t understand why you keep saying he was. I loved him. He wasn’t ill.’ Mrs Helland started crying. ‘All I wanted to do was give you this,’ she said and picked up a small white box from a circular table next to the sofa. The tears were rolling down her cheeks.
    ‘It’s from Lars,’ she sobbed. ‘Your graduation present.’
    Reluctantly, Anna accepted the present.
    ‘Open it,’ Mrs Helland ordered her.
    Anna took the lid off the box and removed the bright yellow cotton wool. Underneath it was a silver chain with a pendant. The pendant consisted of two charms, an egg and a feather. Anna swallowed and looked up at Mrs Helland.
    ‘It’s beautiful,’ she gasped.
    Mrs Helland smiled, red-eyed. She was still sitting far too close, Anna could smell her tears, feel a vile heat from her body. Anna didn’t want to stay there any longer. Not another second.
    ‘I don’t know why you’re lying, but I know that you are. And, as long as you’re lying, don’t expect anything from me. Thanks for the tea.’
    She didn’t realise how much she was shaking, until she was outside in the street.
    Anna caught the bus back to the university. She called Johannes, but it went straight to voicemail. When she reached the junction with Bellahøj police station, and the bus turned into Frederikssundvej, she spotted Cecilie on the pavement. She was stooping and had covered her head with a scarf. When she looked up and saw the