“Well,” Jeppe said, screwing a lid onto a freshly brewed carafe of coffee, “that makes plenty for us, then. Look, I’m sorry, Larsen, but we’re going to keep the investigation small and efficient for the time being. It’s just us three and Saidani, and she’s working from home today. The search for Oscar is going full force, but as long as we haven’t heard from the kidnappers, there’s not a whole lot we can do. I only dragged you two in here on a Sunday because Werner has… let’s call it a hunch.”

Larsen sat down at the table without taking off his leather jacket.

“A hunch?” he complained. “I just spent four hundred kroner at the bakery.”

“Oh, it’s worth the money, I promise you.” Anette grabbed a chair beside him. “What are we celebrating? Not that I’m complaining, but why did you bring goodies?” She raised the lid of the box and selected a cinnamon roll with a particularly large amount of icing on it and transferred it to her plate.

“Yeah, well, I was going to make an announcement, but I suppose there’s no getting out of it now.” Larsen sighed, looking like a little boy whose sandcastle had just collapsed. “Mette’s pregnant. I’m going to be a father.”

Jeppe caught Anette’s eyes from across the table and suppressed a laugh. There was something involuntarily comedic about Larsen’s self-importance, which tickled them both. A rare combination of good looks, carefully honed ambition, and no sense of humor whatsoever. Jeppe knew that his desire to laugh at Larsen also involved a touch of envy. Now this detective who was ten years younger would be a father before him. He pulled himself together.

“That’s wonderful. This really is a cause for celebration.”

Anette patted Larsen on the shoulder and said, “Congratulations, old boy!”

“Well, now, it shouldn’t all be about me,” Larsen said, looking mollified. “Let’s hear some more about Werner’s hunch!” He put air quotes around the word.

“Malin and Henrik Dreyer-Hoff are convinced,” Jeppe said, pushing his plate aside, “there’s a connection between the threat letters they received two years ago, Oscar’s disappearance, and the current quote that was left for them. They believe this is a kidnapping case, but Werner is not convinced.”

“I think they’re lying,” Anette interjected with her mouth full. “If he was abducted for ransom money, we would have heard from the kidnappers by now.”

Larsen was about to say something, but Jeppe interrupted him.

“On that we can agree. The family’s boat is missing. That could mean either that someone forced Oscar onto it or that he took it out on his own.”

“Unless,” Anette continued, “the backpack on the dock and the missing boat are red herrings planted by his parents and meant to lead us astray.”