Jim clicked on it nervously. Henrik had sent it on Thursday, April 11, at 4:32 p.m.

He knows about the money and is threatening to blab. I’ll take care of it!

That’s all it said.

Jeppe pulled out his phone and called Henrik. The call went unanswered. He called Malin instead. She answered with a brusque hello.

“Hi, Malin, it’s Jeppe Kørner. I’m actually trying to get ahold of Henrik. Do you know where he is?”

An exasperated sigh.

“I can’t reach him, either. He was going to work, but he’s not answering his phone. Maybe he’s in a meeting.”

“Could you ask him to call me right away, when you talk to him?”

“I’m at the hospital, so you’d do better to find him yourself.” She hung up.

Jeppe turned around and looked at Larsen.

Kasper Skytte had disappeared, and Henrik Dreyer-Hoff wasn’t answering his phone. What the hell was going on?

CHAPTER 30

The tissue paper rustled between Jenny Kaliban’s fingers. She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and continued unpacking. One layer to the side, carefully, then the next. Her fingers were shaking so much that she had to take a break. She lit a cigarette, opened the atelier’s window to the backyard, and smoked with the adrenaline throbbing in her throat like an extra heart. It was messed up, doing this on her own. But what the hell was she supposed to do? Until her ship came in, there was no other way to get money.

The smoke burned in her throat and made her eyes water. Jenny let them water. The permanent knot in her stomach was just as much for herself as for Malin. To think that even now, in this situation, they couldn’t support each other.

It was Henrik who came between them. The last time she had seen him, two years ago, he had called her a leech and said that she wasn’t welcome anymore. And Malin hadn’t protested. Since then Jenny had seen her sister and the kids only on the sly. She exhaled the smoke. If anybody had backed those two up through thick and thin, it was her. Even when the whole world pointed fingers at their auction con, she had stood by them. And now they had turned on her.

When the going gets tough, you truly discover who your real friends are.

Jenny was still considering whether she should use what she had on Henrik. She had already let him know that his mistakes could benefit her. Not as a threat, just as a warning.