In the middle of the bridge he set down his bag and gazed out past the Opera House and Langelinie Pier, toward Trekroner Sea Fortress and the open ocean. He tried to follow Anette’s theory through to the end. Oscar in some kind of jam with Malthe Sæther, maybe an unhealthy relationship? They had seen each other Friday night, argued, and then Oscar had strangled his teacher, thrown him in a trash can, and taken the boat out on the sea to disappear.

Or had someone murdered both him and Malthe? Maybe Oscar’s body was lying in the trash silo, rotting under those heaps of garbage. If so, they would probably never find him.

Jeppe picked up his bag and set off again. On the other side of the water he turned right and walked along the canal toward Overgaden Oven Vandet. He loved this section of cobblestone-lined pier with its houseboats and wooden dinghies under the old linden trees. In the mild evening air, the street glowed like some tale from the gilded days of Copenhagen’s past, before it had turned the cloudy gray it was now. When he reached Bodenhoffs Square he turned onto it and headed toward Burmeistersgade and Christiania. In just a few yards the feel of the neighborhood transformed from bourgeois idyll to scruffy chic, including big muscle dogs and the smell of pot.

He could hear laughter from the newsstand at the corner and muted music from someone’s phone.

Jeppe smiled as he walked through a crowd of teenagers. Nothing says spring like idle young people on the streets.

He stopped. In the group, amid all the hoodies and beer cans, sat Amina, ducking down. It was nine thirty at night. She should be in bed.

“What are you doing here?” Jeppe tried to keep the shock out of his voice but failed.

A girl in a cap who looked like she must be fifteen, sixteen, maybe even seventeen, eyed him with suspicion.

“Who’s he?” she asked.

“My mom’s boyfriend,” Amina mumbled at the ground, refusing to look him in the eye.

“Chill, man!” The girl in the cap laughed. “She’s spending the night with my little sister tonight, and they’re both here with me. We’re on our way home.” She stood up and got Amina and another girl Amina’s age onto their feet. “Come on, girls. Let’s go.”

Jeppe stopped them.

“Does your mother know you’re all down here?” he asked.

“Everything’s fine. We live right over there. We’re going now.” The girl in the cap waved for her little sister and Amina to follow and started crossing the street.

“I’ll walk you home.”

Jeppe followed the three girls and ignored the titters from the group of teenagers behind him. He felt at a loss. Should he take Amina home no matter what the consequences for her might be?