Mia Krüger broke the speed limit, but so what? She’d been wrong, wrong all along. It was the wrong Munch. The killer was not coming after Holger. She was the target. Not the right Munch. Not Holger. But Edvard Munch. Åsgårdstrand. It was her. Mia Krüger. She was the target. Not Holger. She was ashamed. She’d been wrong. Damn, why didn’t Munch pick up his phone? She passed a car, a camper, turned the steering wheel with one hand as she swerved back to the inside lane in the nick of time. She pressed the cell phone to her cheek, considered using the police radio but decided against it. You never knew who was listening in, and she didn’t want anyone to hear what she had to say.
She was just about to try Munch once more but was interrupted when her phone rang. It was Gabriel.
“Where is Munch?” Mia said.
“Where are you?” Gabriel said.
“On my way to the office. Where is Munch?”
“God only knows,” Gabriel said. “He’s not answering his damn phone, Mia.”
She realized how distraught he sounded. “What’s happened?”
“Marion is gone.”
“Jesus Christ!”
“She . . . she really is.” The young man was almost stuttering now. “I went to the apartment with some groceries, and I found her on the floor.”
“Who?”
“His daughter.”
“Miriam?”
“Yes.”
Fuck.
“Is she all right?”
Mia moved into the opposite lane again, passing three cars.
“She’s unconscious, but she’s breathing.”
Miriam must have been drugged. Had Mia not told them they needed to have an officer posted outside 24/7?
“And no trace of Marion?”
“None,” Gabriel said.
The young man was almost on the verge of tears now.
“Have you tracked Holger’s phone? The last time I talked to him, he was on his way to the nursing home. His mother had taken a turn for the worse.”
“His mother?” Gabriel asked.
“Forget it, I need to speak to him right now.”
“I’m not at the office,” Gabriel said. “I’m at the apartment.”
“Get back to the office,” Mia said, sounding her horn at a motorbike that was hogging the lane in front of her.
“We . . . work . . . noise red . . .”
“You’re breaking up,” Mia said. “Say it again.”
At last she had passed the biker and could hit the accelerator once more.
“We’re working on the film right now, noise reduction,” Gabriel said.
“Good, when will we have it?”
“As soon as it’s ready.”
“Yes, but when will that be?”
She was losing her temper and took a deep breath. This wasn’t his fault. He’d done a good job.
“I can’t say for sure,” Gabriel said.
“Get yourself to the office and call me when you’re there.”
She ended the call and rang Ludvig.
“Where have you been?” her colleague wanted to know. “All hell has broken loose here. Haven’t you heard?”
“Yes, I’ve heard. Where’s Holger?”
“No idea, he’s not answering his phone. Are you far away?”
“Twenty minutes, half an hour,” Mia said.
“Damn. This is a total mess.”
That was undoubtedly true. They’d had Marion under police protection, and now she was gone.
She ended the call and phoned information. It had started to rain now. The raindrops beat the windshield hard, and visibility was diminishing. She turned on the wipers but didn’t take her foot off the accelerator.
“Number, please?”
“Please put me through to Høvikveien Nursing Home.”
“Would you like me to inform you of the number?”
“No, damn it, just put me through!” Mia snarled, hitting the brakes when she realized that she was dangerously close to the shoulder.
It took a long time before anyone picked up.
“Høvikveien Nursing Home, Birgitte speaking.”
“Yes, hello, this is Mia Krüger. You wouldn’t happen to have Holger Munch there, would you?”
“He was here a while ago,” the voice said.
“I know, but is he there now?”
“No, I haven’t seen him.”
Shit.
“Is Karen there?”
“Yes, Karen is here, hang on.”
A million seconds passed. Mia felt like screaming into her phone. She had to turn the wipers up to max in order to be able to see out the window. A million more seconds passed before Karen finally arrived.
“Yes, Karen speaking.”
“Hi, Karen, it’s Mia Krüger.”
“Hi, Mia, nice to hear from you.”
“Have you seen Holger today?”
“Yes, he was here earlier. His mother had a turn, but fortunately it was nothing serious. The doctor gave her something to make her sleep and—”
“Yes, all right, fine,” Mia interrupted her. “But is he there now?”
“No, he’s left.”
“Do you know where he went?”
“No, I don’t. He was completely exhausted. I told him that . . .”
Mia swore under her breath. She did not have time for this.
“. . . so I woke him an hour later. He didn’t look all that well when he left, but—”
“But you don’t know where he went?”
“No, he got a call and ran out. He didn’t even say good-bye,” Karen said.
“Okay,” Mia said. “Thank you.”
“Listen,” Karen said just as Mia was about to disconnect.
“Yes?”
“I don’t know if this is important, but her car is outside.”
“Whose?”
“Malin. Malin Stoltz. Her car is here.”
It was now raining so heavily that Mia was forced to slow down. The raindrops battered the windshield almost like hailstones. She could see the cars in front of her hit the brakes, their red lights glowing at her in a blur. She eased off the accelerator and exhaled. Holger had gotten a call. Who from? Someone had called him, and he ran. Holger never ran. He hadn’t even said good-bye. But run? Who on earth made Holger Munch run?
The killer.
It was obvious. Marion had been abducted. The killer had called Holger. Holger for his part had not called anyone from the team. He’d run off without saying good-bye. It had to be Marion. He would never run for anyone else.
“Are you still there, Mia?”
“Sorry, Karen, what did you say?”
“Oh, it’s probably not important. We can talk about it another time.”
“No, what did you say? About her car?”
“It’s downstairs in the underground parking garage. I don’t know if it means anything, bu—”
“What kind of car is it?”
“It’s a white Citroën.”
A white Citroën.
Mia stared ahead of her. Trying to work out where she was. She saw a sign saying Slependen. She wasn’t far from the nursing home.
“I’ll be there shortly,” she said. “Is the car locked?”
“I don’t know,” Karen said. “But she might have left a spare key in her locker in the staff room. She can be a little distracted, misplacing things. I think I heard her say that—”
“Great, Karen,” Mia interrupted her again. “Please, would you find out for me. I’ll be there soon, okay?”
She ended the call and dialed Anette.
“Anette speaking.”
“Hi, it’s Mia.”
“Thank God, where have you been?”
“Åsgårdstrand. Has Munch called you?”
“No, have you heard?”
“Yes, what a nightmare.”
“Yes, it certainly is. And Mikkelson is here. He’s freaking out.”
Mia realized that she didn’t give a damn what Mikkelson thought.
“Who is in charge now?” she said, scouting for the exit.
“Mikkelson,” Anette replied.
“But he doesn’t have a clue about what’s going on. Anette, you have to take over.”
“What do you want me to do? By the way, where are you?”
“I’ll be in Høvik soon. We’ve found Stoltz’s car. Any news about her?”
“No, nothing. What do you want me to do?”
“Get hold of Gabriel and get the GPS location from that damn film. And make him put a trace on Munch’s phone. I think the killer might have called him and that he’s on his way to a meeting.”
“Okay,” Anette said. “Anything else?”
“We have to—”
Mia saw the exit for Høvik and turned off. The worst of the rain was easing up now, and she could actually see where she was going.
“Have to what?”
She couldn’t think of anything else. “Just get that lousy film sorted out and trace Munch’s phone.”
“Okay,” Anette said. “Oh, yes, Ludvig has something for you.”
“What is it?”
“A photograph. The therapy group in Hønefoss.”
Brilliant. Her hunch had proved to be spot-on.
“Ask him to forward it to my cell.”
“But nothing on Stoltz?”
“Not a word.”
“Okay, I’m just about to arrive. I’ll be in touch if the car turns out to be interesting.”
Mia ended the call and pulled into the nursing home.