Anette found her phone and walked over to the tape recorder to turn off the music. Jeppe got up and turned around slowly, letting his eyes linger on the canvases and cans of paint, jars of brushes, and stacks of books. Malin Dreyer-Hoff’s sister had stuff piled on every horizontal surface in her atelier. He could hear Anette barking commands into her phone and tried to block out her voice.

“Essie,” he called out, “we’re from the police. I’m Jeppe and that’s Anette. Do you remember us? You can come out now. It’s safe.” He closed his eyes, knew instinctively that Oscar’s little sister was here. “You haven’t done anything wrong, do you hear me? Nothing is going to happen to you,” he tried, and waited.

The whimper was faint, like a newborn kitten’s, and it came from the bookshelf behind the white blanket. Jeppe undid the blanket and took it down. Oscar’s little sister was hiding on the bottom shelf, her arms wrapped around her knees.

He squatted down and held out his hand. Essie hesitantly took it and let him help her out. She was shaking.

“Werner, bring us a blanket, will you?”

“Help is on the way,” Anette said, hurrying over to wrap the black cloth around the girl’s shoulders. “We’re calling your parents, too.”

Jeppe could tell from the tension in her voice that she was as angry as he was.

“Essie, are you okay?” he asked.

“I told my aunt she had to tell the police what she had done, for Oscar’s sake. I explained to her that you guys thought he had done it, and that he might go to jail.” She pulled the blanket around her more tightly. “She agreed and said that she had already been thinking the same thing. We were going to figure it out together. Then she asked me if I wanted a soda.”

Essie’s eyes looked over at the figure on the floor.

“Then what happened?” Jeppe asked gently.

“I felt so sleepy. When I woke up, Aunt Jenny was standing over me, and she looked weird. I… I hit her with the heat lamp. Is she dead?”

“No, she just got a bump.” Jeppe smiled reassuringly at her. “Don’t worry. Just sit and warm up. Your mom will be here soon.

Essie started sobbing.

“Don’t tell her about the pictures. Oscar will be so mad at me!” Her plea was full of childlike desperation.

Jeppe looked over at Jenny Kaliban’s outstretched form on the floor. The lowermost circle of hell isn’t for traitors, he thought. It’s for people who hurt children.

FRIDAY, APRIL 19

CHAPTER 35

“Thank you for letting me come by. I know it’s early.” Jeppe stood in the doorway to Sara’s apartment, unsure whether he should come in or stay out. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Is the little girl okay?”

He nodded.