Cecilie had said nothing. Now she gasped for air and let out a dry, agonizing howl.
“But I’m not you, Mom,” Anna said, gently. “I’m Anna Bella, and I’ve never been ill way you were. True, I struggled . . . I felt angry and impotent because Thomas had abandoned us. But I was never ill, and I have never failed Lily.” Anna fixed Cecilie with her eyes. She stepped forward, took Cecilie’s hand, and pulled her toward her. Cecilie was rigid with fear and resisted, but Anna kept hugging her.
“What happened was bad, Mom,” she said into Cecilie’s hair. “But it happened. I can live with it. Now that I finally know,” she added. “Lily loves you. You’re her granny. But don’t try to protect her from something that has nothing to do with us.” Anna grabbed her mother’s shoulders.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” she said, firmly.
Cecilie’s face dissolved. She still hadn’t uttered a word. She nodded. Anna embraced her again.
When Cecilie composed herself, Anna kissed her daughter and Karen good-bye, gave Cecilie another hug, and left.
Anna opened the door to the Vertebrate Collection, stepped into the twilight and called out. “Dr. Tybjerg, where are you? I need to talk to you.”
She was impatient and when she heard a noise coming from the far end of the room, she marched directly toward it. Suddenly he appeared in front of her, just like the last time. Dark-eyed and surrounded by shadows.
“Why are you shouting?” he asked.
“Why did you blackmail Professor Helland?”
Dr. Tybjerg’s eyes widened. He didn’t look like he intended to give her an answer.
Anna leaned toward him and, very calmly, said, “I ought to suspect you, you know.”
“Of what?” he said, genuinely surprised.
“Of killing Helland. You’re the only one I can think of who actually has a motive. You were Helland’s crown prince, and now the king is dead.”
“That’s utter garbage,” Dr. Tybjerg said. “Lars was my friend.”
He retreated into the darkness. Anna followed him.
“But you were blackmailing him?”
“The two things aren’t remotely connected,” he said. “One is about science, about research; the other is about friendship. Friendship and science are two irreconcilable entities. Lars would have done the same, he said. Everyone puts pressure on you. That’s just how it is. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And the times are truly desperate.” Dr. Tybjerg gave her a fraught look.
“But why? Seven thousand kroner a month for three years. That’s serious money.”
Dr. Tybjerg momentarily looked stunned, then he shrugged.
“To fund my research. I’ve already said so.” He took another step into the dark and Anna pursued him.
“How did you blackmail him? Come on, help me out here.”
Dr. Tybjerg shrugged again.
“I discovered Lars had an illegitimate son. His name’s Asger.”
Asger. The name rang a bell.
“Asger used to be my friend, but not even Asger knew he was Helland’s son. It was a scandal. Or rather, it would have been had it become known that Professor Helland had had an affair with one of his students. She was a nineteen-year-old undergraduate and Helland was her tutor. Asger’s mother hasn’t told her son who his father is.” Dr. Tybjerg suddenly looked horrified at Anna. “Asger attended lectures given by his own father and he never knew, can you imagine? Asger and I aren’t friends anymore. He changed when he lost his job. Grew strange. He used to be good. The best. He was a coleopterologist; still is, I suppose. He sailed through his studies. His PhD was approved, he wrote his doctoral thesis, the whole shebang in record time. He was the youngest staff member in a tiny department whose elderly professor was about to retire, leaving the Chair vacant for Asger. The future looked bright. And do you know what happened then? The Faculty Council closed the department. They claimed they had sent Asger a letter, but it somehow had gotten lost. We were still friends then. When he came back after the summer break, ready to start a new term, to teach and research, the department was no longer there. The end. Terribly sorry, et cetera . . .”
“How did you find out Asger was Helland’s son?”
Dr. Tybjerg looked torn, then he sighed and continued.
“Asger’s mother is a professor here, but she works in a different department. One day I saw her with Helland. They were having an argument, which was clearly personal. It happened in a corner right by the entrance, and I watched them from the stairs, unnoticed. It sounded like Asger’s mother was threatening Helland—she was very angry. At the time, I had just finished my PhD and my dream was to research, but I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about it. I don’t know what prompted me, but shortly afterward I dropped a hint to Helland. We were working together—over there, as it happens—by those long desks, and it was a chance shot. Turned out to be a bull’s eye. I could see it in his face. He went pale, and his reaction told me I had stumbled onto something much bigger than I had initially suspected. I brought up the subject every time we met, until he asked me outright to keep quiet. I agreed, of course. Shortly afterward I was given an office in the basement. Helland arranged it. Remember, I wasn’t demanding astronomical sums of cash and all sorts of perks. However, I could see how government cuts were affecting us, we were all hanging on by the skin of our teeth and I feared redundancy. I have devoted my life to reaching this level of expertise, and there’s no way I’m joining a retraining program for the unemployed.” He sounded outraged now. “So I suppose you could say I twisted Helland’s arm a little. But like I said, we struck a deal. I did him a favor by keeping quiet, and he did me a favor by sending work my way. I got a small office, one that no one else wanted, and an invitation to join in his research. That’s why we did so many things together, papers, posters, and research proposals. But it wasn’t the only reason. It was killing two birds with one stone, see? We worked within the same field, and together we made a strong team. One of the strongest in the world. Over time, my arm twisting faded into the background.”