wearing the dress that must mean that you are a woman. Am I right?”
The therapist looked up at the man again.
“Right?” the man said.
The therapist nodded.
The man clapped his hands, then lifted the baton up in the air and let it fall as hard as possible on Dr. Korner’s head. He fell, forcing him to fall flat to the floor with a thud. Then, he leaned over and whispered, “I’m afraid your time’s up.”
22
T HE INTERVIEW went well, and Sune and I returned to the newspaper around noon. I wrote my article and we looked at pictures together and chose a series to send over to Jens-Ole. It wasn’t a groundbreaking story, but it was fun to do, and it would make a decent article.
I, for one, enjoyed spending time with Sune, even though I did get the feeling that he was eager to get out of there. I wanted to drink coffee with him and discuss the case of the three bodies and how we could dig deeper into the story, but Sune was in a hurry to get out of there.
“I’m sorry, Rebekka, but Jeppe just texted me that he’s still at the café, and since I’ve already done my job here, then…well.”
I smiled and kissed him. “That’s fine. Go have some fun with your new best friend. Don’t forget to pick up the kids, alright?”
“I won’t.”
“You need me to give you a lift?” I asked.
“Nah. I’ll walk. It’s pretty close.”
“See you later, babe.”
I watched as he rushed out the door. Sara pulled off her headphones and looked at me. “Where was he off to in such a hurry?”
“He had plans,” I said, and went back behind my desk.
“Oh, by the way,” Sara said, picking up a yellow note from the sea of notes and old newspapers flooding her desk. How she ever found anything was beyond my understanding.
“A David Busck called while you were gone.” She handed me the note.
I grabbed it and looked at it. My heart pounded in my chest. I had thought a lot about him since yesterday.
“Is that the David Busck? As in the incredible hunk that was captured and held prisoner in Syria last year?”
I blushed. I had no idea why. Maybe it was the way she spoke of him. He was really quite handsome. And so sweet.
“Yeah,” I said, while trying to avoid Sara’s eyes. “It’s probably just something work-related. I’ll call him later.”
I tried to act like I didn’t care about it, and put the note casually on my desk. Sara grunted, then returned to her police scanner and put on the headphones. I grabbed my phone and looked at it. It had been silenced during the interview. David had called twice and left a message. I went to the bathroom and listened to it.
“Hi Rebekka. It’s me, David. I just wanted to say thank you for yesterday. It was great talking to you again. I really enjoyed it. And I needed it. I have been feeling really bad lately, sleeping poorly and feeling anxious over the smallest things, but talking to you helped me a lot. I feel much better today. I was wondering if I could take you out to lunch today? You’re probably working, so…but anyway give me a call when you hear this. Or don’t. It’s up to you. Bye.”
My heart was racing and I couldn’t stop smiling as I put the phone down. I exited the restroom, only to find Sara standing right outside. She looked at me suspiciously. “You’re usually never this slow,” she said. She looked at the phone. “Hm,” she grumbled, and walked past me into the restroom.
She made me feel really bad, but I shook it the best I could. If Sune was allowed to have a new best friend, then so was I. As soon as I was back at my desk, I called David.
“Hey, gorgeous. You hungry?”
“I am starving. How about Italian?”
“I know just the place.”
23
W E MET at the restaurant Mama Rosa at one. I hadn’t been lying on the phone. I was starving at this point. David was already sitting inside when I entered, and the waiter showed me to the table. I had never been to this restaurant before, but loved the atmosphere.