angle on the story. You’re going to have to get someone local to talk, otherwise we’ll just be rehashing what we did out in Slagelse the first few days after Ghazala Kahn was killed. There wasn’t any depth to our coverage, and people lost interest in the story.”
Camilla watched him for a moment. She didn’t actually think there was anything strange about readers’ avoiding the tragedy of an entire family joining forces to beat their daughter to death because she’d sullied their familial honor by marrying someone they didn’t want her to. Camilla really couldn’t blame readers for turning their backs on that one in disgust. At the same time, she understood what Terkel was saying. Over time, all the reporting on cases like these started to sound the same, so their coverage of this case would pack more of a punch if she could land an interview with members of the family. That probably wouldn’t be so easy to accomplish, but she could certainly take it on as a challenge.
“And then of course you’ll byline a report from Holbæk with local reactions and whatever else you can dig up.”
She nodded and got to work packing up her laptop and throwing a few things into a small bag so she could spend the following day in Holbæk.
“But we still don’t know if the girl is actually from there,” she pointed out.
He conceded her point but thought it wouldn’t hurt to stick to the plan all the same.
“I talked to Storm,” he explained. “The MTF already has a team in town. It’s probably not a bad idea to stick close to them. He agreed to give us an update on the case by phone later tonight, once they’ve gotten a little more information to put out. You stay here and write that tonight so we can run it in the next edition, and then drive out there tomorrow morning.”
Camilla nodded and thought about Storm, whom she had a great working relationship with. He didn’t have the same aloofness from the press that several of the other lead detectives had, which undeniably made it a little easier to enjoy friendly rather than irritable interactions with the police.
She went back to her office to pull out her calendar. Sometimes she was organized enough to jot down her family’s and friends’ plans. This was usually limited to her mother in Skanderborg, Markus’s dad, and Louise. She started by calling Tobias to find out if he could take their son a day earlier than planned. Normally this week he was supposed to pick Markus up from his independent boarding school on Friday and keep him until Monday morning, but if he didn’t have other plans he was usually more than happy to take Markus for an extra day.
She sent a text message and quickly got a reply that that plan was okay, and Tobias would come pick Markus up Thursday afternoon. So that was covered. Camilla pondered briefly calling Storm and asking if he had any more information besides what she already knew, but she decided to give him a couple more hours. She still had plenty of time until her deadline. Instead, she printed out the missing-person report to have it ready, and then she went down to grab a bite to eat.
Louise carried her weekend bag in to reception, and the woman at the counter handed her the room key along with a message that the others were already at the restaurant. She rushed up to her room with her bag, quickly scanning the large, airy room with yellow walls and gaudy curtains around the large windows. The décor included light-colored birch furniture, a large framed America’s Cup poster from 1987, and a painting of the crowns of some trees densely packed together under a blue sky. Next to the bathroom there was a small vanity.
She went into the bathroom and washed her hands, splashing a little cold water onto her face. Then she removed her hair band and shook out her long, dark curls before gathering them back into a ponytail again. That would have to suffice. Before heading to the restaurant, she sat down on the bed and dialed the