“Now that’s my kind of music.” Heloise smiled and pressed her hands together to show her appreciation.

“She’s Johannes’s favorite singer. I can’t think of a single morning for the more than forty years we’ve known each other that he hasn’t played her at the breakfast table.”

They sat for a while listening without speaking. Mrs. Mossing closed her eyes and appeared to lose herself in the music.

“Where were we?” she asked, without opening her eyes.

“You told me that Christoffer was popular with the ladies. Did he have a girlfriend at the time of his death?”

“A girlfriend?” Ellen laughed and looked at Heloise. “No, that wasn’t Christoffer’s style. He had many women; there was never just one.”

“Did he ever introduce you to any of the women he was seeing?”

“No, God no. I don’t think he believed in that sort of thing.”

“What sort of thing?”

“Love, I mean. The committed exclusive relationship. I don’t think that appealed to him.”

“Why not? Didn’t he have an excellent role model in you and your husband?”

Mrs. Mossing pursed her lips and exhaled heavily through her nose. “I guess,” she said in a voice that suggested the opposite. “We had many good years, Johannes and I. But I was very young when we met, nothing but a big kid really, and old age can be so cruel.” She smiled awkwardly and straightened the belt around her fine, feminine waist. “Perhaps passionate love doesn’t last as long as one would like it to. But we’re wonderful friends, Johannes and I, and in the end, that’s what really matters.”

Heloise studied Ellen Mossing with a furrowed brow. True, she was no longer a young girl, but she still looked amazing at sixty-one. Christoffer hadn’t inherited his attractive nose, his impressive bone structure, and his big hazelnut eyes from his father. According to the pictures Heloise had seen of Mossing Senior, he was at least fifteen years older than his wife and nowhere near as attractive.

“I think you look great, if you don’t mind me saying so,” Heloise said. “If I look like you when I’m sixty—or forty, for that matter—I’ll be thrilled.”

“Oh, you’re sweet.” Ellen smiled.

“No, seriously, you are very beautiful. And Christoffer took after you.”

“He did.” She nodded proudly. “But only on the outside. He had his father’s mind, incredibly bright and hardworking like you wouldn’t believe. We were so proud of him. He made partner in record time at Orleff and Plessner, and did brilliantly until …” Her eyes filled with tears. She let them roll down her cheeks, making no attempt to stop them or wipe them away.