Heloise nodded.

“I got in touch with him, and I assured him that he could talk to me off the record …”

“And?”

He looked straight into Heloise’s eyes. “He told me the sickest things. Things you couldn’t imagine even in your most fucked-up nightmare.”

Heloise tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry. “What did he say?”

“You don’t want to know,” Ulrich said, shaking his head.

“No, I do want to know,” Heloise insisted.

“No,” he repeated. “If they find out that I talked to you … The less you know, the safer you are.”

“But what does this gambling operation have to do with the son’s murder?” Heloise asked.

“I don’t know, maybe nothing. Maybe Mossing just doesn’t want the police sniffing around his business activities.”

Heloise thought again about Schäfer’s theory that Mossing had assigned his own people to search for Anna Kiel.

“Do you think he’s willing to let his own son’s murderer go free in order to avoid that?”

“I don’t know, but one thing is for sure,” Ulrich said. “He is a raving lunatic. I went straight home from Klampenborg that day, and the next thing I know, I wake up in the middle of the night and there’s a man standing next to my bed, jamming a gun into my mouth.” A suppressed sob slipped from his lips. “It left abrasions way down inside my throat.”

“Jesus Christ, Ulrich.” Heloise held a hand up in front of her mouth. “Who was it? Mossing?”

“No, I’d never seen him before. He had dark hair, a stocky build. He said that my family would have to scrape me off the headboard if I didn’t stop asking questions about Mossing and his son’s murder.”

“Did you go to the police?”

“No, hell no. I just tried to put all this shit behind me. I quit my job and I thought that would help, but …” His voice broke. “It has fucked me up. I can’t sleep at night. I take pills to …” He searched for words for a moment and then gave up without finishing whatever he had started to say. “You have to forget all about this case, Heloise. Do not contact Mossing.”

“But I can’t—”

“Stay away from those people, I’m telling you! They’re fucking insane!” Then he opened the car door without warning and got out without closing it behind him.

Heloise called after him. “Ulrich, where are you going? Come back!”

He had already started walking away down the dirt road.

Heloise leaned across the passenger seat, grabbed hold of the door, and slammed it closed. She pulled up alongside him and rolled the window down.

“Come on, get in. You’ve got to go to the police with this.”