The Exception: A Novel Part 29

Malene looks up with a pleased expression. Oh, yes! I know of Gunnar! Of course.

Iben says nothing, but her expression has changed. Again, something is happening but Anne-Lise cant quite tell what it is.

Gunnar is highly respected for his outstanding writing on South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, and many other places. With him on board, our profile would be greatly enhanced. People take him seriously. I cant think why he isnt already on dozens of committees, but he isnt. Gunnar doesnt sell himself the way Frederik does. Anyway, Ive asked him to come and meet us here so that we can show him what we do.

Anne-Lise watches Iben as Paul speaks. She is picking at one of the springs on her desk lamp. The spring suddenly works itself free and hits the metal arm of the lamp with a loud ping! Iben jumps. The lamp is too heavy for just one spring and slumps slowly down toward the desktop.

Anne-Lise has seen Gunnar in the flesh once before. A few years ago she and Nicola went to the Danish National Gallery and he was there. At the time, he was a regular guest on TV News as the expert on links between tribal culture and corruption in Africa. Both of them had recognized him even though he looked quite different in real life.

They had walked slowly by as he explained to the lovely, much younger woman at his side what he felt about Abildgaards painting The Wounded Philoctetes. Nicola hadnt read a line of Gunnars writings about Africa or anything else, but she too had thought he was special. They discreetly pa.s.sed close behind him several times while he shared his experiences of other paintings with his companion.

The next day Anne-Lise stole a little time off work and got out a volume of Gunnars articles. She actually took the book home with her and read it in bed.

Paul interrupts her reverie. You know, Im positive h.e.l.l be interested. His career has gone off-course for some reason. The DCIG board will be just the thing to put him back on track. I had this vision of him cracking open a bottle after I phoned him last night.

That evening, after listening to Anne-Lise talking about the new developments, Henrik responds. Your boss cant simply fire a member of his board. I realize he usually gets what he wants, but thats What can Paul do to get rid of Frederik?

Hed have to rig up some kind of trap or invent a mistake that Frederik has made. That might do the trick.

Like what?

Henrik laughs. How about the deputy chairman sending threatening e-mails to Pauls staff?

Anne-Lise is so relieved that the Center might come under the DIHR that she laughs too. Later that evening, as soon as the children are asleep, Henrik pulls her along to the black sofa. She lies down on her back, resting her head on his lap.

Ive done something I shouldnt have, he says.

She detects a hint of a smile and realizes there is nothing to be worried about.

Its quite inappropriate and I could be fired, but if you can a.s.sume a false ident.i.ty and pretend youre a singer in a choir and I dont know what else The thing is, I printed out a copy of Camillas account statement. I cant see anything out of the ordinary, but maybe you can. Ive brought it home with me.

They exchange a grin. Henrik has more to confess.

As it happens, Malene and Iben also have accounts with us. I have printouts of their statements as well.

Anne-Lise sits up and gives him a big kiss. Henrik produces the doc.u.ments and they study them together, starting with Camillas.

Predictably, there are withdrawals to cover credit cards, child-care fees, cell phone bills, and purchases of food at a low-price supermarket chain, clothes at HM, and toys at Toys R Us. There are also small payments to BBs and cheap restaurants in Sweden, members.h.i.+p fees to the Danish Camping Union and to the Copenhagen Postal Choir.

They take their time and examine every entry. After a while they spot something surprising. Camilla gives money to the middle-of-the-road Centrum Democrats. During the last few years she must have taken an interest in the partys publications and meetings. She might even have gone to the meetings straight from work. If she did, she has kept it to herself, undoubtedly because she felt that her political views would not go down well with Iben and Malene which would have been true, of course.

In itself, there is nothing suspicious about contributing to the Centrum Democrats, but it proves that Camilla thinks seriously about things other than cheap fridges and trips to adventure playgrounds with the kids. If nothing else, Anne-Lise now knows that Camilla can keep a secret.

Once Henrik and Anne-Lise have finished looking through Camillas account, they go to the kitchen to make a pitcher of hot elderberry cordial. They got into the habit of drinking cordials in the evening when Anne-Lise still took the time to make her own juice, extracting the liquid from berries from the garden. Now they continue the custom with store-bought juice.

Anne-Lise is feeling content. Her thoughts constantly return to how much better things are going to be once she has new colleagues.

They return to the sofa and pick up Ibens statement. The most obvious thing about it is that she is well in the black, to the tune of 183,000 kroner. There was a credit of 120,000 three months ago. They guess it was compensation from the organization she worked for in Kenya. The rest seems to be the result of saving steadily over several months.

Even though Henrik has already spent some time that afternoon skimming the statements, he is too much of a career banker not to become irritated once more at Ibens financial advisor. This is stupid! Someone should tell her to pay off her student loans. And if she doesnt want to do that, she should invest her cash in premium bonds or a savings account.

This evening, Anne-Lise is in a good enough mood to find her husbands banking instincts funny. She doesnt think Ibens fiscal choices are that significant.

Wont Iben be taxed on the Kenya compensation? Maybe she keeps the cash accessible because she doesnt know how much sh.e.l.l have to pay.

But the bank staff should have told her. Its unacceptable. Her advisor is giving us all a bad name. Whats he doing? She clearly hasnt had any advice whatsoever.

Just like Camilla, Iben is paid less than Anne-Lise, but the difference is smaller. They are all paid according to public service scales and, even though Iben and Malene earn good money in recognition of their educational qualifications, Anne-Lise is ahead owing to her seniority.

Iben buys her food mainly at the Nrrebro branch of upmarket Ftex and her books at Athenaeum, the university booksellers. She is a member of both Greenpeace and Amnesty International and subscribes to Information and the Week. Apart from these debits, she hardly ever spends any money. She has paid seven cafe bills at a place called the Metro Bar and once bought something unspecified from the kiosk at Roskilde Station. There is just one irregularity: a string of transfers to accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany.

Can you figure out who is receiving the money? Anne-Lise asks.

Not from the statement, but there are ways. Leave it to me.

In the last three months alone she has made thirteen transfers to seven separate accounts.

She buys books about genocide and psychiatry on the Internet, but there is no obvious reason why she would use seven different booksellers. So what can it be?

Theyre both aware that foreign anonymizer sites charge their users. The person who sent the threatening e-mails would have had to pay fees. Henrik and Anne-Lise dont need to remind each other of this. If its not that, then what else could she have been buying on the Internet that often?

A smile flits over Henriks face. I get sent spam all the time trying to sell me p.o.r.nography. Maybe shes into that kind of thing?

Anne-Lise giggles at the thought of earnest Iben surfing the Net in search of erotic sites. Its so out of character.

But it could be payments for access to things like chat rooms or dating sites.

Anne-Lise a.s.sociates looking for company on the Internet with loneliness. Seeing Iben and Malene behaving like a couple of teenage girls, she has never thought of either of them as lonely. But whats it like for Iben outside work? She doesnt have a man. She rarely speaks of other female friends.

Henrik and Anne-Lise move on to Malenes statement. She has overdraft protection but exceeds the limit just about every other month. It goes without saying that she too is a member of Amnesty International and Greenpeace, subscribes to Information and the Week, and is paying off her student loans. She draws heavily on her interest-free account at the very chic furniture store Illums and has made several payments for designer clothes, mostly bought in the small, fas.h.i.+onable shops cl.u.s.tered along the lanes off Strget. Malene rarely uses supermarkets, presumably because she favors delis and ethnic greengrocers. She has paid restaurant bills a few times, and visited a nightclub once. That evening she withdrew cash four times.

Malenes debits are understandable enough, but one of her sources of income is mysterious. Now and then, three to four thousand kroner is transferred into her account from an unspecified private source just the backup she needs to cover her spending. Anne-Lise takes note.

Ha!

Henrik puts down his cordial. What?

Come on! Isnt it obvious?

Henrik hesitates. Anne-Lise, I checked these transfers. They are made from an account in Kolding that belongs to a woman called Jytte Jensen.

Oh. I see. Anne-Lise knows its unreasonable to feel disappointed. Jytte Jensen is probably Malenes mother. I must say, I had the impression that Malenes mother was just a secretary who retired early and wasnt well off. Malene says she grew up poor.

So what was it you thought was so obvious just now?

Its I dont know. Shes reluctant to say it, but Henrik insists.

I thought Malene was seeing someone. A rich man. And he paid her for it.

Henrik dislikes Malene too but thinks Anne-Lise has gone a bit overboard. He leans back on the sofa, irritated. Anne-Lise, really just because she dresses the way she does?

Anne-Lise reaches out to him. No, no. Of course not. And the money comes from her mother. So there. She strokes his upper arm. That is, from her impoverished mother, who is always broke

chapter 31.

a few days after the business with Malenes medicine, a policeman phones the Center to let them know that there has been a new development in the e-mail case.

Camilla takes the call, switches it through to Paul at once, and then tells the others. Iben and Malene get up from their desks and walk over to stand by Pauls door. Anne-Lise joins them from the library and they wait anxiously.

When Paul finally emerges, he tells them that the CIA has been casting around Chicagos large Serbian community and has arrested two former private soldiers who have a record of war crimes. Interrogated, one of the men admitted to having sent e-mails to the DCIG.

Paul is deluged with questions.

Did he do it on his own?

Are they keeping him in prison?

Did he really want to kill us?

Does he know Mirko Zigic?

Why send the threats just to us? He didnt write to other people, did he?

Paul says that he doesnt have any answers. He has told them everything he knows. There are powerful forces at work out there, chasing Mirko Zigic and his a.s.sociates. The three brief e-mails to the DCIG have somehow taken on international importance.

Malene phones the police herself but gets no more information. Iben meanwhile makes a call to the U.S. emba.s.sy, but they dont have anything to add either. The women then ring various inst.i.tutions in the United States and, finally, their contacts in other genocide centers worldwide. Despite their efforts, they get nowhere.

While the others get more and more worked up, Anne-Lise withdraws to the library and sits looking at the photo of Henrik and the children on her desk. The e-mails never caused her to feel afraid. But she simply doesnt believe the alleged statement by that war criminal. Without a doubt, his confession was the result of a fair amount of pressure. In her own mind, shes certain that whoever wrote the e-mails had inside knowledge of the Center, and as far as shes concerned nothing has changed.

She listens as the others discuss the ways that an unknown war criminal living in Chicago could possibly have had access to Malenes tablets, and whether it could have been him who rigged up the blood trap in the library. Their conversation is suitably polite because the library door is of course still open. They discuss the blood on Anne-Lises bookshelf, sounding as if they had had nothing to do with putting it there.

Anne-Lise notes the line they take when they go on to tell lies about Malenes medicine. Obviously, the likeliest explanation by far is that Malene herself mixed up the pills by accident, but shes making a great show of being persecuted. It reminds Anne-Lise of someone who has lost, say, a wallet and fusses endlessly about who could have stolen it and why until it turns up in the persons jacket pocket. Camilla and Iben must notice this too, but no one argues with Malene.

In the weeks that follow the admission by the Serb soldier, Malene, Iben, and Camilla change their att.i.tude toward Anne-Lise.

Before, their hostility at times was confusing. One of them would suddenly be so friendly to her that Anne-Lise wondered if she hadnt misjudged them somehow. Maybe, she told herself, it was all just an enormous misunderstanding and the aggression was just a figment of her imagination.

Not now. They dont need to be frightened of what Iben might have called Anne-Lises dissociated murderous ident.i.ty anymore. Theyre free to destroy her, and the knives are clearly out. Their goal is to make her leave. Long-term sick leave would suit them. Too bad if it damages her and makes it impossible for her to work again.

One afternoon, weeks after Malene mixed up her pills, she is waiting in the corridor when Anne-Lise comes out from the bathroom. Malene starts to hum a few lines of a song louder than necessary, and at first it seems pointless.

But then it becomes obvious that its a signal.

Anne-Lise hears somebody in the library react. Its easy to recognize Ibens footsteps as she hurriedly leaves the library through the door into the Winter Garden. When Anne-Lise pa.s.ses Malene in the corridor, Malene meets her eyes and smiles broadly, as if Anne-Lise would think their snooping was just good clean fun. As if they were all simply playing a game together.

The moment Anne-Lise gets to her desk she spots what Iben has been up to. This morning Anne-Lise brought in a few cuttings from her garden and put the twigs in a tall gla.s.s of water to liven the place up. The vase is leaning now, because Iben has put a pad of Post-it notes and a pen underneath it. If Anne-Lise accidentally gives the desk even the tiniest shove, the container will topple.

She advances gingerly and repositions the vase. A pile of valuable papers has been saved.

Theres no point in complaining to Paul: she realizes that she has already been to see him too often. Also, its clear to her that it would make things easier for him if she simply went away and didnt come back. So far he has had enough integrity not to tell her this to her face, but he doesnt openly support her in the way he used to.

All she can do is put up with the situation and keep quiet until the day comes when they merge with Human Rights. Or she must do what Yngve advised: confront them.

Anne-Lise takes in a deep breath and, still standing, blinks so slowly that her eyes close for several seconds. There are no tears. She has a sensation of her skin becoming very thick. She feels as heavy and armored as a rhinoceros.

She steps through the doorway into the Winter Garden. Standing there, she looks down at the two women sitting at their desks. Iben glances at Malene. The look in her eyes says Weve got her now, and she doesnt give a d.a.m.n if Anne-Lise notices.

Anne-Lise begins to say her piece, resigned, knowing that she has been here before. Cant we just behave like professionals? You know: I dont interfere with you and you dont interfere with me. Then we could concentrate on our work without wasting our energy on other things.

Malenes inviting smile doesnt change. Anne-Lise, that would make for such a cold atmosphere, and we wouldnt want that. We are colleagues, after all.

Just stop doing these things. You know what I mean.

No, I dont.

Iben backs her up. What are you talking about?

You know well enough.

No.

Yes. You do. Dont go into other peoples rooms just to cause trouble.

Why should we ?

Anne-Lise, I dont understand what you mean. Please explain.

They manage to make her describe what she thought they had done, step by step. They listen, ready to reply in unison.

No. No, wed never do that. Whatever makes you think we would?

Their voices and body language bubble with laughter, giving their game away. They are enjoying this. Theyd just as soon slit my throat if they thought they could get away with it, Anne-Lise thinks. Its even better fun for them now that Im on to them.

Every night this last week Anne-Lise has had the same nightmares. She is thrown into the crater of a volcano, or strapped down on a table and tortured with red-hot iron bars driven through her flesh, or impaled and hung up in a tree. All the time Ibens and Malenes huge mouths, twisted and grinning, open wider and wider in antic.i.p.ation of Anne-Lises demise.

She has woken up and wandered about, trying to shake off the dreams. She has stroked the heads of her sleeping children. She has gone downstairs to the living room and stared at the trees outside the window. Gradually, the lingering sensations of the hot iron touching her, or her body sinking into the lava inside the volcano, evaporate.

Later, when she falls asleep from sheer exhaustion, the nightmares return and she awakes abruptly as she sees again the rows of teeth between their pulled-back lips.

Your Post-it pad mustve slipped under the gla.s.s, Malene reasons, and you were too busy to notice. How annoying! I mean, you couldve slopped water over everything.