Louise finally caught up to Ian Davies on the phone. “I think we’ve found something. We’ll email you a list of names and contact information.”
At first, she had tried the Nailsea Police Station, but he had been out. Then she called Jones, who was also out. She was in the Search Department lounge when Davies finally returned her call. She’d expected he would be happy to hear what she had to tell him, but his reaction was surprisingly brief.
“We’ll also send a summary of some interviews we’ve conducted.” It annoyed her when he mumbled something she couldn’t understand. “Is this a bad time? Should I call back later?”
“No, no. I’m sorry! It’s just because the Parker daughter has disappeared. We’ve been out looking for her since early this morning.”
“Stephanie?” Louise walked over and sat down in the windowsill, worried now. “What happened?”
She had the feeling Davies wasn’t alone. A door slammed in the background.
“We brought her in for an interview yesterday evening after you left. In fact, she called us.” He sounded preoccupied again.
“And?”
“She told us she saw the man who shot her mother. She’d remembered. She’d been in shock when we first spoke with her, that’s understandable.”
Louise gestured to Olle to stay when he walked in holding his coffee cup. “Stephanie has disappeared,” she said, adding that the daughter had seen the killer. She put her cell phone on speaker and held it up.
“Can she identify him?” Louise asked. “Did she give a description?”
“She agreed to come down to the police station today after school, so we could put together a description and send it out. But she never showed up. We drove out to the house, but her father was the only one there. It looked like someone had gone through her mother’s office. We still don’t know if anything was taken. We’re afraid the perpetrator returned, that he might have been inside the house. He could have taken Stephanie, because he knows she can identify him.”
Eik had been standing in the doorway, but he stepped aside when Rønholt stopped out in the hall. Annoyed, Louise shushed them.
“Our entire force is out looking for her, but no one has reported having seen her,” Davies said, his voice audible in the room.
She sensed Eik’s eyes on her. It bothered her that he and Rønholt were listening.
“Fill me in later,” Olle whispered, and he left to give her privacy, but the others didn’t take the hint. Louise punched off the speaker and stood by the window with her back to them.
“As I said, we followed up on the donations,” she said. She filled him in on the home hospice service and the volunteers working for it. “We suggest you take a closer look at the relatives of dying people who gave most of an inheritance away. And it might be interesting to check the amounts withdrawn from the Swiss account, to find out what they’ve been used for. But, of course, the first priority is to find the girl. Please keep me informed of any news.”
She ended the conversation. Eik was gone when she turned to go back to her office, but Rønholt was waiting for her.
“Take a look at this,” he said, handing her a blue sheet of paper. It was a job application.
“Slagelse?”
“Yes. Of course I’ll put in a good word for you. I know the police chief down there.”
She laid the job application by the coffee machine. “I’m going nowhere. If someone has to leave, talk to Eik.” She walked out.
* * *
It was almost 5:30 p.m. when Louise, sweaty from ninety minutes of intensive training in the police fitness room, walked up to the department in her workout clothes. She didn’t like running in the winter, but she did it anyway. Today, however, it had been easier training on the machines.
She was late. Jonas would soon be home from boarding school. There was an introductory meeting at Frederiksberg High School at eight, and they had to eat before then.
On her way to the office to pick up her bag, she heard a whining sound. For a moment she stood listening before walking slowly down the hall to the door of Olle’s old office. Her skin tingled at the sound of Charlie on the other side.
She opened the door while talking to the German shepherd, and he wagged his tail while trotting over to her. The desk was empty, the computer monitor black. Eik’s jacket wasn’t hanging over the chair. He had left the office without the dog.
For a long moment, she gazed around the office. Then she lifted Charlie’s leash off the hook behind the door and took him with her.
Her phone rang as she walked to her car. She was so angry that she almost didn’t answer, but then she reminded herself it could be Jonas, who might be home by now. She took the phone out of her pocket; it was her son’s number.
“Hi!” She stopped abruptly when she didn’t recognize the dry voice or the name of the woman who introduced herself as Bente, who lived on the second floor of their building.
“Your son asked me to call you,” the woman said.
“Has something happened?” Louise couldn’t control her voice, which sounded like a hoarse whisper.
“Melvin fell down out in the hallway; your son found him. He’s doing CPR. You’d better come home.”
Louise had reached her car, and now she leaned against the front grille. She felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. Images flew by of Melvin on the steps, maybe after walking Dina in Frederiksberg Gardens. No, it was too dark, she thought. Maybe he’d been down shopping.
“The ambulance is on its way.”
“I’m coming,” Louise said. She let Charlie hop in back.