Call Me Princess Part 25

Lars packed up his things and got ready to head home to his wife and twins. Louise hoped for his sake that they were already in bed. He must also be more exhausted than he was letting on. She waved at him as he left and thanked him for all his help.

Camilla said, "My editor ordered me out to Roskilde when we heard about it, but I figured the whole thing would be over before I got there and that it would make more sense for me to come here."

Smart, Louise thought, wondering how her friend had made it through security downstairs, since she apparently didn't have an appointment with anyone. It wasn't that easy to sneak into police headquarters, was it?

"What happened out there?" Camilla asked, training her eyes intently on Heilmann, but Heilmann shook her head and said, "Rick is the one who knows most about it."

Camilla looked surprised and said, "It was you? I heard the negotiating team was down there, so I a.s.sumed one of them had gotten Susanne out."

Louise wasn't surprised that the story was already getting out.

"He's a major sociopath, then, huh?" Camilla continued, scandalized. "What the f.u.c.k kind of person does something like this?" She shook her head, seemingly shocked. "He could have f.u.c.king killed Susanne... or you, for that matter!"

Yes, or you, Louise was about to add, but stopped herself. That wasn't the way to break the truth to Camilla.

"Do you think you could go home with Rick so she doesn't have to be alone?" Heilmann asked, giving Camilla a somber look.

"Of course, Sergeant," Camilla answered without hesitation.

Heilmann didn't know about Henning and the details that tied Camilla very closely to the drama in Roskilde. Heilmann will need to be filled in, Louise thought, but that would have to wait until after she'd had a chance to talk to Camilla.

"What about your editor?" Louise asked. "Are you sure you're free to take me home?"

"Of course. Terkel will just have to find someone else-"

They were interrupted by voices and footsteps in the hallway. It sounded like an invasion, there was so much commotion erupting through the silence.

When Suhr spotted Heilmann, he and his retinue stopped outside Louise's office.

"We're going to take Jrgen Zacharia.s.sen out to Vestre Prison once we're done here," he announced.

Louise didn't have a chance to react before she felt his eyes on her. "Prinzz" was surrounded by Toft, Stig, and his newly appointed defense attorney. Their eyes met the instant Louise glanced over in his direction. She tried to look away, but his eyes held hers.

"What the f.u.c.k is going on here?" Camilla burst out.

She was heading out into the hall when Heilmann grabbed her arm.

Jrgen reached out toward her and in an instant Stig was all over him.

Suhr waved them on so no more words or looks could be exchanged.

"How much do you know about Jrgen Zacharia.s.sen?" Suhr asked, coming in and standing in front of Camilla.

Camilla walked over and took a seat in Lars's chair. "He's, uh, my boyfriend's brother. He didn't do this-it can't be him!"

Louise could tell that Camilla was starting to put two and two together.

"How much did he know about your set-up with Susanne?" Louise asked.

Suhr moved closer to Camilla.

Camilla said, "Nothing! Nothing at all. You listen to me. He's a totally normal guy," she defended him. "He's a computer consultant, and he's totally normal. I simply cannot believe he raped anyone at all. Besides, he lived with a woman for years. They broke up two years ago, when she left him, but he has a totally normal life." Camilla was talking loudly and quickly. "You cannot seriously think it was him!"

"It's hard to think anything else since he was the one holding a knife to Susanne's throat a few hours ago. We just took a blood sample so we can run his DNA, and then we'll know for sure."

Camilla sat shaking her head as Suhr spoke. "What about Henning? Does he know Jrgen is here?" she asked, no longer listening to Suhr.

Suhr seized on the topic. "What was the relationship between the two of them like?" he asked, and was about to proceed when Heilmann signaled him to stop. With a brief arm gesture, Heilmann motioned toward his office.

Louise vaguely registered that Jrgen Zacharia.s.sen had been taken into Suhr's office, and the last thing she heard was Suhr's authoritative voice telling him, "You can take a seat there."

Then Suhr's door closed behind them.

Suddenly it was completely quiet. Louise looked over at Camilla, who was sitting there staring straight ahead as if in a trance. Slowly Louise summoned the energy to move. She stood up, a little wobbly, walked over, stood right next to her friend, and started stroking her hair.

Call Me Princess is fiction. Everything could have happened, some of it did, but most of it came from my imagination, so the characters in this book do not bear any likeness to real people. The world in which the story is set has a fair amount in common with the real world, but I used authorial freedom to allow the homicide division to work throughout Copenhagen, even though they normally don't deal with cases in Frederiksberg. Morgenavisen and Night.w.a.tch.dk are purely fictional.

As I wrote, it was crucial for me to familiarize myself with the real version of this world so I could create as realistic a portrayal as possible. Thus I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who so graciously and helpfully welcomed me and took the time to answer my questions. My friend at the Forensic Pathology Inst.i.tute and my friends at Unit A with the Copenhagen Police deserve special thanks. Without their help, I could not have created this story about Louise Rick.

Thanks as well to Lotte Thorsen, who read along and backed me up, and my clever editor, Lisbeth Mller-Madsen.

Any errors there may be are exclusively my own.

SARA BLAEDEL.

end.