“How can we reach your mother?” Jeppe asked. “I understand she lives in Spain? We want to ask her to come to Denmark, you shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“Forget about it!” she said, shaking her head. “My mom has a new family. She won’t come. I just need a ride and some money for a locksmith, then I can go home.”

“I can arrange that, but since you’re only fifteen, you can’t be home alone. I’ll ask one of the officers here at the station to help you when we’re done talking. Do you know where your dad is?”

The corners of her mouth curled up into a small, unexpected smile, which was immediately replaced with distress.

“On his way down through Europe with a bottle of booze in the passenger’s seat.”

“Without you?”

“I didn’t want to go.” She gathered the crumbs from the sandwich and left them in a little pile. “I ran when we stopped for gas and my dad went inside to use the bathroom, I didn’t even have time to put my shoes on. I got a ride, slept in the handicap accessible stall in a café in Vordingborg and then hitchhiked back to Høje-Taastrup and caught the train from there back to Copenhagen.”

There was no point in lecturing her about the hazards of hitchhiking alone, even though Jeppe shuddered at the thought.

“Ironic, isn’t it? My dad is on his way to Switzerland to withdraw money. My dad, who taught me to turn down the heat and attend climate marches, is on his way to Zürich to empty out his tax-shelter accounts.” She shook her head. “My dad cheated on the CO2 numbers!”

Jeppe took out his notebook and wrote Kasper’s name on the top of a page.

“Do you know if he did it on his own?”

“Henrik was in on it and probably a few others who want to pollute without paying. The CEO, I think.” She flung up her hands. “Oscar was the one who discovered it. He found his dad’s notes, figured it out, and called me. They didn’t really do very much to try to cover their tracks.”

“Did you and Oscar tell your fathers what you had discovered?”

She reached for the soda, then seemed to realize that idealistic teenagers weren’t supposed to drink soda, and pulled her hand back again.

“Oscar did. He told his father that we were going to report them to the police if they didn’t own up to it.”

“Is that why Oscar ran away?”

She looked at him as if the answer was obvious.

“He’s afraid of his dad.”

Somewhere on the back of Jeppe’s head, a blood vessel beat rhythmically, threatening to become a throbbing loop of unwanted background music.

“Iben, was your dad home last Friday night?”