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side of the road to write a text message to Camilla. She had her doubts that she was going to have time to drop off the pearls her friend was waiting for.

6
    S IRENS SOUNDED THROUGH the quiet of the woods long before the emergency responders came into view. Louise assumed that it was mostly to give her notice that they were getting close so she would be ready to show the way.
    She got up from the stump and waved as the ambulance appeared over the hill a moment later. “Go straight about half a mile and then take a left,” she instructed them.
    Louise was about to walk back when a police car pulled up, stopping next to her. She took a step back in surprise when she noticed Mik Rasmussen behind the wheel. She hadn’t seen him in a long time—not, in fact, since he had ended their relationship.
    He had screamed, calling her names, bringing up past issues both slight and egregious, accusing her of all kinds of terrible things because she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, commit.
    She was going to die alone and he didn’t even really feelsorry for her, he had yelled. The words had kept resurfacing every time she thought of him, so gradually she had forced herself to stop.
    There was no doubt in Louise’s mind that he had meant every word, and on those rare occasions when she opened up that place inside herself where she was most vulnerable, she could sense her own fear that he might turn out to be right. Still, it was the result of her decision, years earlier, that she wasn’t going to make promises to any romantic partner. That she wasn’t going to rely on anyone so heavily that she could get so deeply hurt again.
    They had met in 2007 while she was “on loan” to the Mobile Task Force to assist the Holbæk Police Department in solving a case. They had shared an office, and at first she had seen the lanky local deputy as more awkward than charming. But then he had invited her to go kayaking and she had gratefully accepted the chance at a little diversion from the case as well as the station hotel in which she and her task force colleagues had been accommodated. They’d ended up drinking Irish coffee at his place. One evening led to another, and they saw each other for two years. He called it a relationship but to her it wasn’t quite as serious.
    “Hi,” she said, pushing away her thoughts. She gave a quick nod to the female colleague sitting next to him. She noticed that her own voice was a few degrees too cool and professional as she shared with them that the slain woman was possibly a child care provider or nursery teacher who had taken the children out for a walk.
    “And the kids—are they still down there?” Mik asked, pointing ahead toward the lake.
    “They’re sleeping but my colleague is with them.” Louise added that they were probably both thirsty and hungry.
    Deep in thought, she stood for a moment and watched the car and then the forensic officers’ blue van drive by.
    E IK WAS SITTING on the bench, talking to a male colleague from Holbæk, when Louise returned. The children were still sleeping on the ground. The area to his right was being cordoned off, and another police car came down the forest road.
    “We heard the kids,” Eik explained. There was dirt on his pants, and his T-shirt was still wet on the shoulder where the boy had cried. “It was probably five, ten minutes before Louise found her.” He turned to her. “Isn’t that about right?”
    Louise nodded and watched as Mik walked back from where the body was. She noticed that the stroller had been picked up.
    “Her name is Karin Lund,” he told them as he got to the bench, the woman’s wallet in hand. “She lives on Stokkebo Road. Does that ring a bell?” He looked at Louise.
    She thought for a moment then shook her head. Another road led to the camping cabin—that might be it, but she wasn’t sure.
    “My guess is that you need to continue straight on from here and then stay left when the road forks,” she explained as she pointed