She nodded briefly, almost politely, a controlled reaction—obviously the way to safeguard her against this horrible news.

“I’m sorry. How well did you know him?” Jeppe asked.

“We weren’t friends, but I spoke with Malthe often in a professional context, right from when he was first hired two years ago. He was a sweet young man.”

Lis didn’t seem bothered by the low temperatures, even though her breath showed in the chilly air when she spoke.

“He didn’t have an easy start at the school, although I did my best to help him. Malthe and I had many conversations about teaching and how to tackle problems in the classroom.”

“What kinds of problems?”

She looked at him skeptically, as if the question were somehow inappropriate, and it took a little while before Jeppe realized that that was just her neutral expression. A long life of teaching naughty kids had left its mark.

“Malthe was idealistic. People often are when they arrive fresh out of the university. Full of ambition and ideas. That’s great of course, but the reality of a classroom is… something else.” She sighed and smoothed the fabric of her pants with her hands. “Young people don’t sit on the edges of their seats, eager to learn. School bores them. And unlike when I was young, they’re not exactly receptive to discipline. Well, sorry.”

“No need to apologize!” Jeppe said with conviction. “Was Malthe well-liked among the faculty?”

“Yes, definitely. He was easy to get along with and had great ideas for subject-focus days and ways to vary the teaching. Some coworkers may have found him to be a bit of a handful with all his energy, but there wasn’t anyone who didn’t like him.”

She turned and looked out at the pond. A gray heron flew in low over the water’s surface and landed on the bank.

“Can what I tell you remain between us?”

“Not if it contributes to our investigation,” Jeppe replied. “But I’ll do my best to make sure your name isn’t mentioned.”

She contemplated him skeptically but collected herself. It was clear that she had decided to share her thoughts, even before they met.

“We had an episode at the school about six months ago that Malthe was involved in, an episode with a student…”

“Victor Dreyer-Hoff?” Jeppe guessed.

She nodded.

“Malthe very nearly got fired over it.” She took a breath as if to continue, then looked away and sighed, clearly affected by what she was telling him.

“What kind of episode?”