The Exception: A Novel Part 54

Dorte had tried to sound casual about the program she had in her pocket, but Iben quickly spots that the detective is far from a computer buff. It could be sheer desperation that made her come this evening. Probably, the consensus back at the station is that the case has been closed ever since Malenes confession came to light. Dorte wont have a leg to stand on unless she finds something in the computer. And she wont.

Iben listens to Gunnar and his children having fun in the kitchen. She feels much better now and returns to the previous subject.

But on the other hand, working at the DCIG might have the opposite effect. That is, not to blunt our perceptions, but to make us more appreciative of the lives were privileged enough to live.

Dorte keeps staring at the screen.

We have been allowed to believe that an orderly, day-to-day existence and our care and respect for each other are givens. Our work shows us that they are not. It also opens our eyes to the importance of goodness. Precisely because it can vanish so quickly.

At last Dorte looks up from the screen and states the obvious. Not a trace of anything.

Just as Iben tells herself that the worst is over, Dorte has another thought.

By the way, do you know of anyone who might have a key to Malenes apartment? Or someone who might know the pa.s.sword to her computer?

Iben must think quickly now. Its a test. She lifts the lump of orange mineral on the coffee table. Not as far as I know. Malene never told me her pa.s.sword. I didnt have a key, and Im pretty sure n.o.body else did.

The thing is that whoever wrote the confession must have been someone who had a key. Key or no key, youve got to be very cool about breaking and entering an apartment under regular police surveillance, especially if the next thing you do is settle down to a bit of computer work.

They talk for a little longer, but Dorte begins to look tired. She gets up to leave and puts her CD away.

Im sorry to have disturbed you. Hopefully it wasnt too uncomfortable for you.

No, not at all. I mean, you obviously must investigate every possible lead. We owe that to Malene and Rasmus. Please feel free to call anytime.

Iben escorts Dorte to the door and then goes to the kitchen, where Gunnar is puttering about making lots of delicious dishes for a buffet-style supper. The girls are preparing a big bowl of salad.

Gunnar asks how it went. Iben mutters noncommittally.

She goes to stand behind her man, who is frying little slices of pork fillet in b.u.t.ter. She puts her arms around him and leans her head against his back, sensing his warmth against her cheek.

The two girls smile at her. Ibens ear is pressed in between Gunnars shoulder blades, and she can hear the beating of his heart.

This is exactly how I wanted it to be, she thinks. Like this.

acknowledgments.

A list of the people in Denmark to whom I owe thanks would take up several pages, and so for the American edition, Ill just mention the people at the Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Copenhagen: in particular, Torben Jrgensen and former research director Eric Markusen (now at Southwest State University, Minnesota). When I first called the center in the summer of 2000 and told them of my plans to write a novel about a fict.i.tious genocide information center and the severe office hara.s.sment problems among its staff members, they could have reacted in so many ways. What they did, however, was to recognize immediately the possibilities for information on genocide in this novel. They invited me into their midst and supported my work more than I could ever have hoped.

In the United States, I thank Professor James Waller at Whitworth College. Our discussions at the biannual conference of the International a.s.sociation of Genocide Scholars, as well as our correspondence afterward, helped me write the articles that are part of this novel.

I am also indebted to Yale Universitys professors Ben Kiernan and Claude Rawson. Our talks during my visit to Yales Genocide Studies program helped me enormously to formulate Ibens thoughts on perpetrator behavior.

Thank you, too, to my friends Doritt and Joseph Linsk, of Atlantic City, New Jersey, who put a roof over my head for several weeks as I worked on the chapters about Iben in Kenya.

I cannot give enough thanks to my editors Lorna Owen at Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, New York, and Kirsty Dunseath at Weidenfeld Nicholson, London. Ive been amazed, witnessing their complete devotion to transferring my novel to the very different English language.

And then, I am grateful indeed to my first and best reader, Mette Thorsen.

a note about the author.

Christian Jungersens first novel, Thickets, won the Danish Best First Novel of the Year Award. The Exception, his second novel and the first to be translated into English, won the Danish Golden Laurels prize, and has been a huge bestseller across Europe. Born in Copenhagen, he now divides his time between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City.

FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, JUNE 2008.

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