“WHAT ARE YOU doing?” Augustin looked over at Schäfer as he pulled the car over. “Why are we stopping here?”

“I’ve gotta do this thing—it’ll only take a second.”

He opened the car door and nearly caused a pileup of hipsters on Tokyobikes when he crossed the bike path.

The glass door slid open automatically as he approached the entrance to the local Municipal Services office, and he pulled his expired passport out of his back pocket. It was bent from having been sat on all morning.

“Good morning!” he exclaimed in his friendliest, most cheerful tone. The new lead in the investigation meant he was in a better mood than he’d been in for months. He felt all bubbly inside, a feeling he always had when a case started to unfold.

Despite the fact that his greeting echoed through the deserted office space, the woman behind the counter completely ignored him. Schäfer leaned his hefty body against the counter and studied her intently. After a quick inspection, he determined that she was neither blind nor visibly hearing impaired and concluded that it was probably a classic case of unmotivated animosity.

Ah, well.

One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand …

“Yes?” barked the woman, still not looking up.

Schäfer politely told her why he was there, and she made a big production out of demonstrating that she got off her ass exclusively at a pace that suited her, underlining that she cared neither about him nor her job.

Under normal circumstances, he would have responded to this type of nonservice with a snarky comment of sorts, but today he just smiled through clenched teeth, thinking of Connie, who’d tell him to try to kill that kind of rude behavior with something as un-Danish as friendliness.

Smile, baby. Just smile.

“Did you fill out the right form?” the woman snapped.

“Yup, it’s right here.”

Schäfer pushed the document and his old passport across the counter to her.

She typed on the computer in front of her, making a point of doing it slowly, one finger at a time, provokingly calmly and methodically.

Click … click … click …

“Good thing we’re not in a hurry,” Schäfer smiled.

“Look into the camera.”

She pushed the trigger, and his fleshy face appeared on the screen in front of her.

He leaned over the counter to look at the picture. His strained smile made him look like someone who was getting his teeth whitened.

“Again. And this time, close your mouth!”

Schäfer did as she asked.

“Is that it?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Thanks for your help, ma’am. Have a nice day.” He patted the counter a couple of times by way of good-bye before turning and proceeding toward the exit.

“Oh, please. Spare me,” the woman hissed quietly from behind him.

Schäfer stopped and looked back. “I’m sorry?”