Sung-min took a deep breath. ‘I’m not a customs officer. I’m not going to charge him with illegal importation. What I’m working on is following a lead, which in a roundabout way could maybe help us to apprehend the man who killed those two girls who disappeared. And prevent any more from dying.’
Thanh nodded. Looked like she hesitated slightly before making up her mind. ‘The only illegal thing I’ve seen Jonathan do was when he agreed to take a fox cub someone had taken with them from London — apparently foxes live in the city there. It’s an offence to bring foxes into the country, of course, and I think that when they found out they got scared. They couldn’t face going to the vet to have it put down and they weren’t able to do it themselves, so they gave the cub to Jonathan instead. Had to reimburse him generously to take the problem off their hands, no doubt.’
‘People do things like that?’
‘You don’t know the half of it. Twice I’ve had owners not bothering to pick up their dogs and vanish into thin air.’
‘So what did you do?’
‘Took them home. But we don’t have much space, so eventually I had to take them to the animal shelter. It’s so sad.’
‘What happened to the fox cub?’
‘I don’t know, and I’m not sure I want to. I loved that cub.’ Sung-min could see her eyes becoming moist. ‘Suddenly one day it was gone. He probably flushed it down the toilet...’
‘The toilet?’
‘No, of course not. But like I said, I don’t want to know how he got rid of Nhi.’ They continued walking while Thanh told him of her plans, about her dream of becoming a vet. Sung-min listened. It was hard not to like this girl. Besides she was bright, and there was no longer any reason to pretend he had got in touch to have his dog looked after, so he accompanied her the entire way. His questioning had proved fruitless, but he consoled himself with the fact that he had at least got to spend time with someone who appreciated a four-legged friend as much as he did.
‘Oh,’ Thanh said as they approached Mons again. ‘There’s Jonathan.’
The door of the shop was open, and a Volvo estate was parked outside. A man was leaning in the open door on the passenger side. He probably couldn’t hear them due to the sound of the vacuum cleaner. By his feet was a bucket of water, suds spilling over the brim, and the car was wet and glistening. Water still trickled from the hose lying on the tarmac.
Sung-min took Kasparov’s lead and wondered whether he should slip away unnoticed and leave it up to Thanh to decide if she wanted to tell him about their meeting. But before he had a chance to make up his mind, the shop owner straightened up and turned in their direction.
Sung-min saw the man’s eyes blaze as he took in and undoubtedly interpreted the situation correctly.
‘Isn’t it unchristian to wash your car during church-service hours,’ Sung-min said before the others had a chance to say anything.
The man’s eyes narrowed.
‘We’ve just been for a walk in the park,’ Thanh added quickly. ‘Dog minding.’
Sung-min wished she hadn’t sounded so anxious. As though they were the ones who had cause to be on the defensive and not him.
Without a word, the man carried the vacuum cleaner and hose into the shop. Reappeared, picked up the bucket and emptied the contents out onto the pavement. Soapsuds and dirty water pooled around Sung-min’s handmade shoes.
Sung-min didn’t notice, just concentrated on the man marching into the shop with the empty bucket. The anger he saw, was that merely down to a policeman being a nuisance? Or was it because the man was scared? Sung-min didn’t know exactly what nerve he had hit, but he had hit something, of that he was in no doubt. The man came back out and locked the door of the shop, then walked towards the car without gracing them with a glance. Sung-min saw the remains of some clods of earth in the water that had run from the tyres to the manhole cover.
‘Been driving in the forest?’ Sung-min asked.
‘Been barking up the wrong tree?’ the shop owner asked, slipping into the driving seat, shutting the door and starting the engine.
Sung-min watched the Volvo as it accelerated down the Sunday calm of Neuberggata.
‘What was it he had in the boot?’
‘A cage,’ Thanh said.
‘A cage,’ Sung-min repeated.
‘Oh,’ Katrine whispered, withdrawing the arm she’d linked through Harry’s.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.
She didn’t answer.
‘What’s wong, Mammy?’ asked Gert, who was holding Harry’s hand.
‘I just thought I saw someone,’ Katrine said, squinting up at the higher ground behind the Monolith.
‘Sung-min again?’ Harry said. Katrine had told him that while she and Gert were waiting at the gate, they had seen Sung-min enter the park with a girl.
Katrine hadn’t tried to attract his attention; she wasn’t eager for colleagues to see her in Harry’s company. In that sense, Frogner Park on a sunny Sunday was a risky choice, there were already lots of people inside, some of them were even sitting on the grass, which had to be still damp after last night’s rain.
‘No, I thought it was...’ She paused.
