She unlocks her bike and rides along the water. It is early morning, and the air has a bite to it. The girl regrets not dressing warmer. She is wearing her school bag on her back, but she isn’t on her way to school. If everything goes well, the others won’t even realize that she has played hooky.

Breakfast moves uneasily in her stomach, cornflakes with milk and sugar. When they are home alone, they usually just have something in a bowl with milk on it. Now she wishes she hadn’t eaten at all. Later they’re all going to the hospital. In our family we stick together, her father always says, no matter what.

The wind plays with her hair. She has left her bike helmet at home, and it feels nice to let it blow freely. She is wearing her favorite top and her new sneakers, and she sings while the tires rumble over the cobblestones of the waterfront path and the sun rises over Copenhagen. A song from the radio… she doesn’t quite remember the lyrics, but that doesn’t matter. She sings to calm herself.

At the big intersection she gets off and wheels her bike across the street. Before crossing she looks left and then right and then left again. The cars always drive so fast here, but it is early and traffic isn’t that heavy yet. She isn’t scared. Well, maybe just a little.

People always think she is the delicate one because she is the youngest. The baby, the girl, the cute one. But they are wrong. She is stronger than they realize. Deep down she knows that she is unbeatable. Brave enough to say things out loud, brave enough to confront a murderer.

CHAPTER 29

The blackbird was singing. When Gudrun woke up, this year’s first playful trills were sounding over the roofs of Greve Strand. Anette hurried to her before she woke up Svend, too. She put her in the high chair with a bowl of yogurt and started the coffee maker. There was something particularly lovely about these early mornings alone in the kitchen with Gudrun. She was always so cheerful right when she woke up, and Anette enjoyed turning on the radio to hear her babbling along with the music.

Anette drank two cups of coffee, one right after the other, but couldn’t force any breakfast down. She, who always woke up hungry as a bear coming out of hibernation, was gradually losing her good appetite.