“I can see that Mossing started investing in thoroughbreds back in 1982, and I know he has his own stud farm on the island of Funen. There are also a bunch of pictures of him at the racetrack in the newspaper’s photographic archives, so he’s definitely spent a lot of time out there.”

“Thoroughbreds? That’s what they use for harness racing at Klampenborg?”

“Yes, but Klampenborg is flat racing,” Heloise said.

Gerda stared at her blankly from across the table.

“The track at Klampenborg is for flat racing, not harness racing,” Heloise said. “Okay, so it’s like this: There are nine racetracks in Denmark. Eight of them are for harness racing, but the ninth one is Klampenborg, which is a flat racing track.”

“What’s the difference?”

“In harness racing, the horse pulls a sulky with the driver sitting in it. Flat racing, on the other hand, is where a jockey sits on the horse’s back. That’s what they do at Klampenborg, like at Ascot or the Kentucky Derby. Anyway, Mossing’s investments don’t reveal anything other than him being interested in horses. Anything beyond that is baseless nonsense. For the time being, anyway.”

“But this guy Ulrich thinks that Mossing has been acting as a loan shark, and that he—what—offs people who can’t pay their debt?”

“Pretty much.”

“Huh.”

“Not a very realistic scenario, though, right?”

“I don’t know about that,” Gerda said with a shrug. “Every day I’m amazed at how fucked up the world actually is. While people are sitting around Instagramming their avocado toasts from a variety of lunch places in Copenhagen, the most grotesque things are happening in the apartments right above them.”

“Surely not in all of them.”

“No, but in too many of them.” Gerda pushed her plate aside and leaned back in her chair. “What does all this have to do with his son’s murder? Was Christoffer Mossing involved in the horse racing scene too?”

“No, according to the police, his murder was a fluke. They think Anna Kiel targeted a random person. She reportedly suffers from psychopathy.”

“It’s not called that anymore,” Gerda said.

“Oh, come on. You know what I mean.”

“What are they basing this on?”

“Statements from her school psychologists. Apparently, she has been pretty aggressive and unpredictable since she was about twelve years old.”

“But again: what does harness racing have to do with Christoffer Mossing’s murder?”

“Flat racing.”

“Oh, come on. You know what I mean.” Gerda smiled at Heloise.

“I don’t know if there’s a connection,” Heloise said. “But Johannes Mossing hasn’t been willing to cooperate with the police.”

“No, and of course he wouldn’t if he had something to hide.”

“The policeman I talked to—”

“The one who looks like a mobster?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. His theory is that Mossing has his own people searching for Anna Kiel.”