Three days later, after complaining of headache and nausea, he was readmitted to the ward. A CAT scan revealed an intracerebral haemorrhage in the posterior fossa. Following surgery to repair the bleed, Mr Nielsen lapsed into a coma, with a GCS of 4. During the subsequent days, his condition continued to deteriorate.

This morning, at 6.32, Mr Nielsen was pronounced dead.

It is my understanding that the man who attacked Mr Nielsen is receiving psychiatric treatment at your clinic in Saint-Odile, Switzerland. Since this case now concerns a capital offence under Danish law, I expect the municipal authorities will shortly bring charges against Mr Kiraly for either grievous bodily harm or manslaughter.

If Mr Kiraly is charged in absentia, and his case is considered a forensic one, the courts will likely allow Mr Kiraly to continue his treatment at your clinic, pending a diagnosis. Under Danish Penal Code 69 (see enclosed), he would need to receive a diagnosis of ‘diminished responsibility’ or ‘temporary psychosis’ to continue receiving medical treatment at a recognised facility. Otherwise, Mr Kiraly will be subject to sentencing under Danish criminal law.

I hope I have sufficiently informed you of the circumstances to date. I have passed your contact details to the metropolitan police in Copenhagen, and they may be in contact with you for additional information.

Cordially yours,
Henrik Larssen, MD
Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen

Gessen smoothed out the letter and placed it in Vidor’s file, absently lining up the stack of documents as he digested this turn of events. Bad news, indeed. Not only for Mr Nielsen and his family, of course, but for Vidor, as well. Proving diminished responsibility would not be easy now. Not when he had pages of case notes from Ursula’s sessions with Vidor describing his insistence that he was perfectly fine, and that the attack on Mr Nielsen was an unfortunate consequence of low blood sugar and nervous exhaustion.

Such a flimsy defence would not keep Vidor out of prison. The psychotic rage observed in amok syndrome might work as a diagnosis, though Gessen had little to base it on. If Vidor’s violent outburst was due to something organic, like temporal lobe epilepsy, he could build a case around that, though Vidor had no history of seizures. Vidor’s only hope was to stop pretending he was fine and allow his doctors to explore his past, something he’d adamantly resisted with Ursula. Of particular interest to Gessen was the repressed trauma that surely lurked below the surface of Vidor’s polished demeanour. Time was of the essence, and if his unwilling patient refused to cooperate, Vidor was looking at a murder charge.

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