“Among other people.” Jeppe turned around. “It appears that Jenny has been stealing small art objects for years and selling them to collectors with help from her brother-in-law. Via the auction house’s own website and through his personal contacts. He even wrote sales texts for her.”

“That’s like petty fencing. Why would he do that?” Johannes protested. “Pretty risky for a man in his position, no?”

“To help out his sister-in-law, as an alternative to loaning her money. Over time, there has probably been a financial incentive for him, too. Larsen is working to determine the scale of it, and how much he can be held responsible for.”

“And in thanks she took nude pictures of his son and sold them behind his back?”

Jeppe breathed deeply and tried to relieve some of the weight in his chest.

“Henrik must have known about that. I just don’t see how he could have avoided discovering it. We’ve found large foreign currency transfers to Jenny’s account and a number of simultaneously timed transfers that she’s made to Henrik. It looks like they cut off their collaboration two years ago. I’m guessing that he discovered Jenny selling pictures of Oscar and cut her off.”

“Without telling anyone?!” Johannes froze, holding a stack of clothes in his arms, his mouth hanging open. “Without reporting her to the police?”

“He couldn’t risk Malin finding out. The family couldn’t take any more scandals, neither publicly nor among themselves. I guess he wanted to protect both the company and his wife. And since the damage was already done, it was better to just break off contact with her and look ahead. Surely in his own way he was trying to save his family.”

“But… what about the boy?”

“Oscar tried to kill himself,” Jeppe said with a sigh. “He wrote a goodbye note to his parents, but they didn’t understand it.”

“That’s terrible. I don’t even know what to say.” Johannes dropped his clothes on the floor and sat down on the arm of the sofa.

“Yes, it’s depressing what people will do for money.” Jeppe looked out the window. He knew that the person who would be hurt the most if the story came out was Oscar. “I’ve requested a leave of absence.”

“You have what?” Johannes asked.

“I wrote to PC and asked to take an indefinite leave of absence.”

“But why?” Johannes shook his head, confused. “Because of you and Sara?”

“Maybe.” Jeppe shrugged. “I just don’t see how we could work together right now. But it’s also the new headquarters, and… I don’t know. I just need a break.”

“A break?” Johannes stood up. “Okay, I’m sorry, but you caught me off guard with this. What are you going to do?”