Terrified, incredulous eyes. No answer.

‘I said, do you recognise me?’

‘Yes, Billy. I recognise you.’

Her voice is thin and breaks into a whimper.

‘And why are you here, Luna? Tell us why you’re here now.’

‘I don’t understand . . .’

She tries to stand up and the picture wobbles when a hand shoves her back onto the cot. Her head hits the wall behind her, not hard, but she lets out a yelp.

Karen bends over the phone, turns the volume up as far as it will go and listens. Luna’s sobs are not the ones she can hear. Is there someone else in the room, or is that Billy crying?

‘Why are you doing this?’ Luna says after a long while. ‘What did I ever do to you?’

The picture wobbles again and the video ends. The display shows the first frame once more.

At this point, Karen picks up her own phone.

Chapter 48

48

She asks Leo to drive. Granted, if they get pulled over, it would be better if Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby were driving. And that risk is considerable, given the speed at which they’re travelling, she realises and reaches up to cling to the grab handle with one hand while clutching Billy Formby’s phone in the other.

‘You’re not going to watch?’ Leo asks, rounding the Hare and Crow so fast gravel sprays from their skidding tyres.

‘I’ll wait until we get to the main road. Would you mind slowing down just a little? We don’t have time to end up in the ditch.’

He nods mutely and eases off the accelerator.

*

Jounas Smeed had listened without interrupting while Karen quickly explained the situation and what had to be done. With equal parts relief and surprise, she had noted that her boss hadn’t objected to being told what to do.

A unit had to be dispatched immediately to Frisel to search the house Luna had been staying in, including any secondary areas and sheds. Another to Billy’s flat. All available investigative personnel were to meet at the station as soon as they could get there.

‘Copy that, I’ll start calling people,’ Smeed had said. ‘How soon can you be there yourself?’

‘Forty minutes. Half an hour,’ she had corrected herself. ‘And don’t forget to tell the officers you send to the house on Frisel to bring something back the dogs can sniff.’

After giving Smeed all the information and addresses, she’d ended the call, laced up her boots, and shouted for Leo to get behind the wheel.

*

The substandard maintenance of Langeviksvej makes the car bounce as Leo drives far too fast through the village. Karen grits her teeth and pictures angry and surprised neighbours watching them race by from behind closed curtains. Her jaw remains clenched until Leo finally turns onto road 32. Then she turns her attention to Billy’s phone.