The Dinosaur Feather

technically happened three to four months ago.
    The previous day Søren had been informed that Professor Freeman had checked into Hotel Ascot. He was briefly cheered up by this; but a) Freeman was clearly here for the bird symposium, and b) Søren didn’t for a moment believe that an ageing ornithologist from Canada had travelled to Denmark four months ago to infect Professor Helland with parasite eggs. Nevertheless, Søren and Henrik went to pick him up at his hotel, and while in the car, Søren wondered if his decision to interview Clive Freeman was an act of desperation rather than real investigation work. When you had nothing to go on, you clutched at straws. The interview did indeed prove to be a waste of time, and when he sent the professor home two hours later, the case had progressed no further. It remained bizarrely devoid of clues.
    Søren spent the rest of the day at his desk growing increasingly frustrated. Finally, he decided to turn the spotlight back on Erik Tybjerg, and just after 4 p.m. he returned to the Natural History Museum. This time, his first port of call was the reception, but staff were unable to help him.
    ‘By the way, you’re not the only person looking for him,’ the young woman behind the counter added. Søren was exasperated. What kind of workplace was this where you could just vanish without anyone taking the slightest notice? He asked to speak to the head of the institute. The young woman gave him a sceptical look, but picked up the telephone and rang a number. Ten minutes later a man appeared and introducedhimself as Professor Fjeldberg. He was bony and grey, but his eyes sparkled.
    ‘How can I help you?’ he said, politely.
    ‘I’m Superintendent Marhauge,’ Søren said, showing him his badge. ‘I would like to see Dr Tybjerg’s office. I’ve been looking for him for the last two days in connection with the death of Professor Helland. I would like to stress that Dr Tybjerg isn’t a suspect, but I would very much like to talk to him to establish Professor Helland’s movements up to his death.’ Søren sounded like he was reading from a script and the older man looked at him for a long time.
    ‘You know very well that I can’t let you into Dr Tybjerg’s office without a warrant.’
    Søren looked resigned. Professor Fjeldberg continued: ‘But I’ll allow it this once. I, too, have been wondering where he is.’
    They followed a different path through the confusing building and it wasn’t until they reached the windowless corridor that Søren realised where they were: in the basement facing the University Park. They entered the laboratory in front of Tybjerg’s office, and Søren had a look around. The room looked unused. The bins were empty and the microscopes were shrouded.
    ‘Here you are,’ Fjeldberg said when he had unlocked the door to Tybjerg’s office. ‘How long will you need?’
    ‘Twenty-five minutes,’ Søren said.
    Fjeldberg lingered in the doorway. ‘Is it true about the parasites?’ he asked, hesitantly.
    Søren groaned inwardly. ‘What do you mean?’ he said, feigning ignorance.
    ‘Is it true that Helland died because he was riddled with parasites?’
    Søren laughed briefly. ‘You know I can’t discuss the case with you. But the parasite story is news to me.’
    ‘I knew it couldn’t be true!’ Fjeldberg exclaimed triumphantly, and marched down the corridor.
    ‘Damn, damn, damn,’ Søren muttered to himself as Fjeldberg’s footsteps faded away. The parasite rumour was spreading like wildfire. He entered Tybjerg’s office. It was small and full to bursting without being messy. There were bookcases on two walls, a display cabinet against the third and a desk against the fourth. No old mugs or glasses, no journals lying around. Tybjerg had around fifteen classical music CDs lined up next to his computer, but otherwise very few personal possessions were in evidence.
    Søren studied the room for a long time. It looked like something out of an IKEA catalogue, rather than the office of a real human being. He read the book spines and discovered that Dr Tybjerg’s own publications took up almost two shelves. They were mostly journals with post-it notes attached to the pages where his articles appeared, but there were also a dozen books with his name on the title page. His most recent work was a reference book on birds which had been published earlier that year, Søren read on the title page.
An A–Z of Modern Dinosaurs
, it was