She thought about that night they had eaten at Bistro Royal. Remembered how he had held her hands firmly behind her back and pushed her up against the wall of her bedroom, hard, as he pulled down her panties …

Had he crossed the line? Had she really enjoyed that? Had she considered the marks on her wrists the next day a souvenir from a night of rough play or evidence of an … assault?

Schäfer continued before Heloise had a chance to respond. “Could it be that Martin Duvall has something to do with all this?”

Heloise felt dizzy and closed her eyes. “No, I don’t think—”

“Could it be that he’s the one who took the picture from your balcony?”

“No.” Heloise looked up. “I didn’t know him when that picture was taken.”

“Come again?” Schäfer cocked his head to the side, and Augustin came back over and sat down at the table.

Heloise’s hand trembled as she took her phone out of her pocket.

CHAPTER

18

ANNA HAD VISITED Nick earlier in the day. She had rented a small apartment through Airbnb on Avenue de la Liberté, which ironically enough—considering the situation—was close to him.

She hadn’t told Nick she had arrived in Paris, and when he saw her sitting there on the metal bench, his face had crumpled like a failed soufflé. He had been hoping for someone else, and Anna almost pitied him.

Almost.

“I want access to the files,” she demanded.

“No, not yet. That wasn’t the agreement.”

“I don’t care. If you want me to help you, then you’ll give me what I’m asking for. Otherwise we don’t have an agreement anymore.”

She had expected him to put up a fight and was prepared to hit him with a whole range of colorful threats, but he surrendered to her demands in mere seconds. He had given up a long time ago, she could tell. There was no resistance left in his body.

He gave her the name of the website and a password and said, “Watch out for yourself now, okay?”

“It won’t be long now,” she responded, and gave him the number of the burner phone she had gotten herself.

“I won’t be coming back here, so the next time you hear something, it’ll be Heloise. Then you call me right away, you understand?”

He nodded. “Do you really think she’ll come?” he asked.

“She’ll come,” Anna replied.

CHAPTER

19

THERE WASN’T A soul by the main entrance of the Department of Forensic Medicine, which was located between Copenhagen City Hospital and Fælled Park. Sometimes the lobby was jam-packed with medical students from the Medical Sciences Faculty, but today it was dark and so quiet that Schäfer could hear his own breathing as he moved down the dark-brown brick hallway to the elevator.