“This has really shocked you,” Søren said, scrutinizing her. “You’re trying to hide it, but I can sense it.”
“Death is shocking,” Hanne Moritzen replied in a neutral voice. “And I, more than anyone, can appreciate the hell he must have been living in, if Dr. Bjerregaard’s time line is right. Of course I’m shocked at such an unpleasant death, and of course I want to know how it could have happened. I’m also sorry for his daughter. It’s hard to live without your father.” She flashed Søren a look of defiance.
“So you didn’t know Lars Helland personally?”
“No,” she replied. “He taught ‘Form and Function’ in the second term when I was a student. He was a good teacher. When I started working in the same building as him, we would run into each other from time to time and we would say hello. That’s all.”
“Are you married? Do you have children?” Søren asked.
“Excuse me, how is that relevant?”
He just stared at her and repeated his question.
“No, I’ve never been married, and I have no children,” she then said. “Getting to this level in my profession requires many sacrifices.”
Søren nodded. “Do you know if Professor Helland had any enemies?”
Hanne Moritzen laughed a hollow laugh, but didn’t look even vaguely amused.
“Of course he had enemies. Professor Helland was a brilliantly gifted man who was never afraid to take center stage. If the rumors are to be believed, he drove his closest colleagues to the brink of madness. That’s a recipe for making enemies, some might say. People who court controversy are often hated. Like I said, I barely knew him, but I instinctively liked him. He had drive, and he entered the arena of academic debate with all guns blazing—it made him a real asset to the faculty. For example, for years he has been at the forefront of a completely ridiculous and—allegedly—scientific row about the origin of birds. It provided the faculty with loads of press coverage even though, in my opinion, it’s a total waste of column inches.”
“Why?”
“Because birds are dinosaurs. The end. Kids can read that on the back of cereal boxes. When Anna told me it was the subject of her dissertation and she would be spending a year or more explaining Helland and Tybjerg’s storm in a teacup, I was outraged. That dissertation will do nothing for her career, and I tried telling her that. It’s much ado about nothing, if you ask me. That Canadian, whom Tybjerg and Helland are squandering their grants doing battle with, is a fool, and—”
“Are you saying that Clive Freeman—”
“Oh, yes, that’s his name,” Professor Moritzen interrupted him.
“Do you think he might have infected Helland with parasites as an act of revenge?”
Hanne Moritzen laughed out loud.
“No, I promise you I don’t think that for a second! I can’t imagine why anyone would go around infecting other people with parasites…” She hesitated. “That would be completely insane.”
“I understand that you know Anna Bella Nor. Do you know anyone else from Helland’s department?” Søren asked.
“Yes, I know them all, of course. Though I don’t know the man Anna shares a study with very well. I’ve said hello to him a couple of times, when I popped in to see Anna.”
“But you and Anna Bella Nor are friends?”
“In a way, yes…. She attended one of my summer courses, and we got along really well.”
Søren saw a hint of warmth touch Professor Moritzen’s eyes.
“I always wanted to have a daughter,” she said and almost looked shy. “Anna reminds me a little of myself when I was younger.” She smiled a wry smile before she continued. “I also know Professor Ewald and Professor Jørgensen from the faculty. The three of us have been working there a lifetime.”
She got up and lit the fire in the fireplace. Søren had run out of questions. He got up to leave and she saw him out. It had started to snow. Large fluffy snowflakes descended in columns toward the ground, which was already white.
“Snow at this time of the year,” Professor Moritzen commented, and shivered.
“Yes, it’s a very odd autumn,” Søren said, and shook her hand.
“I’ll be driving back to Copenhagen early tomorrow morning,” she said. “If there is anything else, I’ll be in my office.”
Søren nodded.
As he drove toward Copenhagen, he suddenly missed Vibe. Uncomplicated, gentle Vibe, who always held her blond head high and looked on the bright side of life. The department of Natural Science could do with a few people like her.
Chapter 7
Tuesday night Anna lay awake and it wasn’t until four o’clock the following morning that she fell in to a deep, dreamless sleep. She woke up at 8:30 a.m. and called Cecilie. Everything was fine. Lily was happy and hadn’t missed her mom at all. Anna took a bath and ate a bowl of muesli.
“She hasn’t missed you at all,” she sneered as she put on her army jacket and boots. She would pick up Lily at 4:10 p.m., and she would be with her daughter tonight. At last.
It was past ten when Anna entered the department of Cell Biology and Comparative Zoology. In the corridor she met Professor Ewald, who was carrying four thermoses. They had last seen each other at the police station where Professor Ewald had been in tears, and yesterday neither Professor Ewald nor Professor Jørgensen had come to work.
“Ah, there you are,” she said, looking straight at Anna. “Could you give me a hand, please?”
“What are you doing?” Anna asked, baffled.
“Making coffee. We’re holding a memorial gathering for Lars in the senior common room in half an hour. Just the department and people who knew him through work.”
Anna blinked and took the thermos Professor Ewald handed her.
“Don’t you normally hold memorial services after the funeral?”
“Yes,” Professor Ewald said. “But Professor Ravn wants it done this way. Helland has only been dead for two days, but rumors are already spreading like wildfire all over the university. Ravn intends to use the service to try to quash them. Lars will be buried on Saturday, and you’re welcome to attend, if you feel like it.” Professor Ewald’s gaze lingered briefly on Anna.
“So what are the rumors saying?” Anna followed Professor Ewald into the kitchenette, where the older woman slammed the thermoses on the kitchen table and spoke in a shrill voice.
“Rumor has it that Professor Helland was murdered and the police think the killer is someone who knew him very well and might even have worked with him. And do you know something else?” she snorted. “I find those rumors odious. If he was murdered, well, then it’s either me, Professor Jørgensen, Johannes, or you who are the prime suspects. And that doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“Or any one of the five hundred employees at the faculty who wanted Helland dead. Metaphorically speaking, of course,” Anna added quickly.
Professor Ewald started to cry.
“I can’t get the image of him out of my head,” she sobbed and hid her head in her hands. “By God, I hated that man, but he didn’t deserve that.”
Something occurred to Anna.
“Professor Ewald?” she said.
Professor Ewald had sat down on a chair and was cleaning her glasses.
“Do you think Dr. Tybjerg will succeed Professor Helland?”
Professor Ewald momentarily looked lost.
“Tybjerg from the Natural History Museum?”
“Yes, Helland’s colleague. My external supervisor.”
“No, I can’t imagine that,” she said without hesitation.
Anna wrinkled her nose.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know why Lars thought it was his job to push Erik Tybjerg like that. Dr. Tybjerg is extremely talented, there’s no doubt about it, but if you ask me, he’s completely unsuited to the University of Copenhagen and acts primarily as Helland’s errand boy. For years it has been a mystery why Helland drags Tybjerg with him everywhere, even sending Tybjerg in his place. This will stop now, obviously. A Chair is the public face of a department and Tybjerg’s clearly unsuitable. He was once allowed to teach ‘Form and Function’ for one term here because Helland assured us that he could. It was a complete disaster; the students complained about him. He spoke far too quickly, as if he was chanting, and when the students couldn’t understand what he said, he lost his temper and walked out.”