“At home.” His answer came without hesitation. “I’m in this phase where I focus on taking good care of myself. I’m eating healthy, staying in, and I go to bed early. That’s what I did all weekend.”

“Do you live with anyone?”

Jeppe could tell that Sigurd knew why he was asking.

“No, alone. Unfortunately I don’t have anyone who can corroborate that I was home.”

“It’s standard procedure for us to ask.”

“I understand.” He nodded.

“And you haven’t spoken with him since Tuesday night? Any phone calls… or text messages?”

Sigurd appeared to think back and then said, “No, there hasn’t been anything.”

“What about the other chorus members? Do you think any of them might have seen him during the week?”

“I don’t think so.” He shook his head. “Malthe came to sing and have a good time; that was it. As do most of us. It’s not like a dating scene.”

Jeppe smiled.

“Did you ever discuss personal stuff?”

“No, not really. Although there was one night when he seemed down, a couple of weeks ago.” Sigurd was crumpling up his tissue into a little ball as he spoke. “We talked about the challenges the younger generations face today, and how social media makes new types of bullying possible. The topic really seemed to strike a nerve with Malthe.”

“Did he say why?”

Sigurd shook his head.

“He’s required to keep certain things confidential. But I got the clear impression that one of his students had experienced it firsthand.”

ESTHER COULD NOT find peace. She moved through her morning routines—long shower, oatmeal with raisins, and a walk around the Lakes with Dóxa—and settled at her desk with every intention of working on the biography she was writing. But she kept getting up for more coffee and found herself lost in her own thoughts at the keyboard. She went to the window to look out at the Lakes, where rain showers speckled the surface of the water, then sat back down at her desk again.

The notes she had written yesterday about the death masks at Thorvaldsens sat on her desk, as a reminder of her encounter with Jenny Kaliban. Esther tried to identify what it was about the woman that stirred unease. Her bluntness, of course—she had been almost rude, but there was something more than that. Her body language maybe, her vibe? There was a tense energy to Jenny Kaliban that Esther interpreted as egocentric.

Esther decided to allow herself five minutes to satisfy her curiosity. Five minutes and then she would get to work! She typed Jenny’s name into the search field on her browser and received a string of links to galleries, museums, night-school classes, and a Wikipedia article that she opened and read. The article was brief and relatively light on content.