“Of course I did! But he didn’t pick up, so I figured he’d probably started gaming or drawing instead, or that he had fallen asleep, or whatever. We see each other all the time, it wasn’t like a plan that was written in stone—”

Anette interrupted the girl.

“One of the seniors, Joakim, says that he saw Oscar talking to the driver of a black car. Did you see that, too?”

Iben shook her head.

“And you never wondered why he didn’t cancel?” Jeppe insisted.

“No.” She looked at him with a teenager’s disdain for the conformity of adult life. “I just figured he would call me when he woke up this morning”

Kasper eyed her seriously.

“Have you been lying about sleeping over at each other’s places?” he asked.

A pulse began beating in the middle of the birthmark on the father’s temple, and it occurred to Jeppe that the man was exerting himself. As if he had to rein in the strength that ran through those muscular arms so that it fit in the small apartment without breaking anything.

Jeppe turned back to Iben and asked, “You have no idea where he might have gone?”

“No.” Her eyes were back on the teacup.

Jeppe was overcome by a desire to yell at the indolent teenager, to make her grasp the seriousness of the situation. He’s been kidnapped. Help us! But of course he didn’t. Witnesses must be treated with care, otherwise they clam up.

“You have no idea where he slept last night?” Jeppe said calmly.

Iben sat still for a second and then shook her head.

The kitchen faucet dripped monotonously onto the dirty dishes in the sink, and Jeppe counted the drips in his head. One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three heartbeats.

His next question broke the rhythm. “Oscar’s parents found a note with a quote on it, printed out on a piece of paper. Does that ring a bell?”

“I don’t know anything.” Her voice thinned and faded into a whisper.

Kasper put his arm around her again, and this time her reaction to the physical contact was impossible to miss. She hit his arm away like a small child who doesn’t yet have the words to express boundaries.

Anette took out a card.

“If you happen to think of anything you want to tell us, call this number right away. The sooner we find him, the better.”

It was Kasper who took the card. He looked at them nervously.

“Do you think he could be in danger?” he asked.

Jeppe waited just a bit before responding.

“In the vast majority of cases like this, people turn up again unharmed.”

That wasn’t a lie, he thought, while saying goodbye to the father and daughter. Most missing people turn up unharmed within the first twenty-four hours. After twenty-four hours, the odds drop significantly.