One of the police officers was quite fit, Benedikte Riis had to admit.
Kim, that was his name; smooth, dark hair falling to the left, quite cute. Not a patch on Paulus, obviously, and yet she could not help feeling flustered, as Helene asked everyone to settle down. The handsome police officer wanted to make an announcement about a piece of paper, a childish drawing, scribbles and a picture of an owl.
‘Please, everyone, be quiet. This is important,’ Helene said to them again.
‘So, if any of you have seen this note before, or something that looks like it, you must tell us at once,’ the police officer stated, also for the second time, as he circulated copies of the drawing around the tables.
‘Those of us who are here will make sure that anyone who isn’t will get to see it as well, won’t we?’
Helene smiled and nodded at the class, but Benedikte Riis’s mind was already on other things.
A drawing found in Camilla Green’s locker.
Whatever.
She felt a little sick at the thought.
Camilla Green.
Everything had been great until the day she turned up, with her silvery laughter and her sparkling eyes. Benedikte had felt it at once; she could tell from the way he acted around her. Paulus. That he liked her. Not that he and Benedikte had ever had sex, let alone kissed, but she had sensed that there was something between them. That he preferred her to the others. He certainly paid her more attention. And although, deep down, she had known that it would never, ever happen, she had not been able to stop herself from hoping that one day he would see it. That she loved him, and that the two of them were meant for each other.
Paulus and Benedikte.
She had carved their names into her desk in her room. Inside a heart. Covered it so no one would see. And every time she trailed her fingers over their names, she had felt that they were destined to be together.
And it had almost been real, it really had; he had shown her his hideaway in the woods, he had shown her the place where he would never bring any of the others; they had hung out together until the day she turned up.
Camilla Green.
Benedikte had scarcely been able to hide her jealousy when she realized how obsessed Paulus had become with her. How he showed her around. His arm on her back. His smile, his handsome brown eyes looking at the new girl in a way he had never looked at Benedikte.
She was glad that Camilla was gone.
It might be horrible to think such thoughts, but she did. She was glad Camilla was no longer around. All she did was ruin things. Because she did not love Paulus, not like Benedikte did. Camilla was just attention-seeking. The way she tossed her hair. Made eyes at him in the dining hall. That was not true love; it was not the kind of love Paulus and she shared. Benedikte had known it right from day one, when he helped Camilla get her suitcase out of the taxi. Welcomed her. Shown her to her room. She did not want to call her a slut, no, but ever since Camilla Green arrived, things between Paulus and her had not been the same.
She had to protect him; that was her role, because he did not know what was good for him. Like that business with the plants in the furthest greenhouse. The cannabis plants. Had he shown them to any of the other girls? No, he hadn’t. Only to her.
I want to show you something, but you can’t tell anyone.
Because she was the one he really wanted.
Paulus and Benedikte.
Her fingers touching the heart on her desk every evening before she kissed it good night.
‘So, girls, we’re going to help the police with this note, aren’t we? It’s important.’
She looked across the room, and then they were back outside, going their separate ways. Benedikte pulled up the hood of her puffa jacket; she could see her cloudy breath in the cold air.
Something was out of kilter with the world. This cold in October. It was not supposed to be like this. Perhaps it was a sign. That things were not as they should be. That someone had to do something. And now something had happened, hadn’t it? Camilla was gone. Perhaps Paulus would realize it now? The early frost? That he had made the wrong choice?
She had to see him right away; she could feel it. They had a lot to talk about. The others had been looking for him when the police turned up with that note, but they had not found him.
But she knew where he was.
Of course she did.
Benedikte Riis knew everything there was to know about Paulus. She would often follow him. Spy on him. It was better this way. That he did not always know. He needed someone to look after him.
The hideout at the far end of the Nurseries. Right up against the neighbouring fence. It was his den. It was where he would hang out. Not many people knew about it, but she did. Because he had taken her there. Shown her how to roll a joint. She had done it many times before, but she had pretended not to know because she liked it, him showing her how.
And they had smoked pot together, giggling at everything, and since that evening it had almost become a habit; Friday or Saturday evening, the two of them out there, laughing together. Right up until she turned up.
Camilla Green.
Sometimes Benedikte would stand outside. Below the window. Without them knowing. Listen to them whispering and laughing together inside.
‘Paulus?’
Benedikte knocked, but there was no reply.
‘Paulus?’
She knocked again, pushed open the small door and cautiously entered the shed.