“I’ll be there at three. See you then.” He hung up.

Jeppe had left his coffee behind on Sara’s desk but couldn’t be bothered to go get another cup. He contemplated buying a sandwich until he remembered that there was nowhere in the neighborhood to get food besides a horrible fast-food joint around the corner.

He walked over to the window and watched the smoke billowing up from a factory smokestack on the horizon, letting his thoughts drift with the smoke, until the ringtone from his cell phone reverberated through the office.

“Kørner.”

“Hi, Jeppe. It’s Esther. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“It’s fine.” He dumped himself into his office chair, and it sank slightly under him with a hydraulic hiss.

“I’m calling to ask if you’ve talked to Oscar Dreyer-Hoff’s aunt, Jenny Kaliban?”

Jeppe sighed. What was Esther up to now?

“Not yet. Why?”

“Well, you see, I happened to meet her at Thorvaldsens Museum yesterday, and she left me with a strange impression, so I read up on her a little. Are you familiar with the Nordhjem auction scandal?”

“Yes, Esther, I am.” A little irritation crept into Jeppe’s voice, and he took a deep breath before continuing. “We’re investigating all aspects of the missing boy’s life.” And his dead teacher’s, he thought, but chose not to say that part out loud.

“It’s just, because… well, the aunt had a large exhibit canceled following all the bad press in the media and the legal charges against the auction house, and I think it is conceivable that that caused a dispute in the family. In the sense that one sister’s business ruined the other sister’s career.”

“Hmm,” Jeppe replied noncommittally.

“She has an atelier in Østerbro…” Esther hesitated, and he knew that she was debating how hard to push him.

He looked at his watch again. Strictly speaking they should talk to the aunt to find out if she knew anything about Malthe Sæther. He could probably just squeeze her in before questioning Kasper Skytte.

“Do you have her address?”

She supplied it to him in an apologetic voice.

“She doesn’t have a cell phone as far as I can tell. I’m really not trying to get mixed up in your work, you know. I’m just curious.”

“I have to talk to her anyway,” Jeppe said, smiling against his will. “By the way, Esther, since I have you, I want to ask you about something… personal.”

The words tumbled out of him before he really had a chance to reflect. Why would he be asking advice specifically from her? Even though they were friends, they rarely discussed their personal lives this way.