The Chestnut Man Quotes
"Red and yellow leaves drift down through the sunlight on to the wet asphalt, which cuts through the woods like a dark and glassy river."
"If the leaves are left too long they’ll make the surface slippery, and that sort of thing can cost lives."
"He’s been on the force forty-one years, senior officer at the station for the last seventeen."
"He rolls down the window, the sunlight casting its dappled light on to the road through the treetops, and for a moment Marius forgets his age."
"Marius finds a channel playing old Danish music. ‘The Bright Red Rubber Dinghy’ fills the old Ford Escort, and Marius turns up the volume."
"Her body is still sitting in the chair by the table, and what’s left of her ruined face is floating in her bowl of porridge."
"Her face is unrecognizable, because the axe was used to cave in her skull."
"Then the axe strikes his jaw, and everything goes black."
"Laura Kjær can’t see any more. She can’t hear the whistling of the leaves in the trees, or feel the cold grass beneath her feet."
"If I don’t do it now, they’ll keep at it all day long."
"But by the time the car swings into the courtyard outside parliament, she’s no longer listening to Vogel."
"I’m really sorry. We’ve had so many lovely emails from people supporting you and wishing you well, and I don’t understand how anybody could send something like that."
"The kind of thing she’ll never be able to accept, and for a moment she tries to tell herself that maybe that’s all she dislikes about the house."
"He feels the spirits rake their way down his gullet and into his belly."
"Rosa Hartung’s personal adviser hangs up his phone as he sees her coming down the stairs towards the hall."
"The lifeless figure on the grass has been covered with a white sheet from the Forensics department."
"He knows instantly she’s telling the truth."
"His son is asking, and Steen can hear him putting on his coat and boots in the hall."
"She opens the terrace door to the back garden while the officer nods gratefully."
"Their eyes meet in the wake of their smiles, and for a moment neither of them speaks."
"Before she knows what’s happening, Thulin finds herself encircled by Sebastian’s mother and the rest of his family."
"The apartment is dark, and he switches on the light."
"The boy doesn’t respond, but Thulin has instantly recognized League of Legends."
"He eats chicken and noodles without appetite."
"He’s seen it so many times before in so many different cities and nations, in more faces than he cares to remember."
"The corridors are deserted and only dimly lit."
"He tries to concentrate on finding Gustav’s figure among the kids streaming out of the main doors."
"I'll just have to cope. If I back out now, there's no point. Where's the car?"
"Hang on, I'll find the driver. He often parks in a side street when he takes a break."
"Steen, this isn't a good time. I need to hang up."
"You told the police they made chestnut men. Could you have misremembered?"
"She says they didn't make chestnut men last year."
"Sebastian laughed, but it was difficult to get him out the door, and she assumed it was rare for anyone to give him his marching orders once he’d shown up with flowers and wine."
"‘You were right. I’ve just spoken to someone at the Rigshospital A&E. Apart from the episode with the nose and the broken collarbone, which the older girl was hospitalized for, both Sejer-Lassen girls have been treated for accidents at home when they lived on Islands Brygge and at Klampenborg.'"
"The first time Erik Sejer-Lassen hit his wife was their wedding night."
"The relationship with the kids, which was now entirely his, would probably also be easier from this point on."
"‘Erik Sejer-Lassen, we’ve spoken to your au-pair again, and this time she has explained to us in detail how she saw you hit your children on at least four occasions.’"
"‘We miss her … she’s still only a child, and she needs her mum and dad.’"
"‘You’re not referring to Rosa Hartung again?’"
"He wants to make them feel bested and ridiculous."
"Three fingerprints on three chestnut dolls are about as clear as it gets."
"Rosa Hartung is either the key or she’s the target!"
"The sight that greeted him at the allotment gardens had been out of a nightmare."
"A life was a life, and there ought to be no difference between the killing of a policeman and that of anybody else."
"He’s way ahead. That’s why you’re here, pleading with me. Because he’s taken you for a ride."
"Everything ran like clockwork until thirty-five minutes ago."
"She’s standing in the rain, staring somewhere behind him with the silent, serious gaze that has muted her smile and laughter far too long."
"At first she was exasperated and angry with Steen when he started raving about Kristine’s stall, her friend Mathilde, chestnut men and chestnut animals."
"Rosa had tried to watch the feature with Gustav, preparing the ground as well as she could."
"As far as she was concerned they could both shove it, and she leaves a hasty message on Steen’s voicemail as she and Liu enter the office."
"Rosa recognizes the young woman with dark, furious eyes. It’s the girl who bumped into her just over a week ago in the lobby."
"Rosa insists that there were uncertainties about the case."
"Rosa smiles. The answer is a healthy sign, but there is still so much she doesn’t know."
"Thulin prefers to do her own spot tests. Yet she finds nothing."
"Hess feels as though the entire fleet of squad cars has been dispatched on to the streets to keep a lookout."
"Vogel nods goodbye. Hess doesn’t want to let the guy go."
"Despite the rain, the trip to north-west Zealand takes only forty minutes with the lights flashing."
"Rosa began to cry the moment she and Steen entered A&E at the Rigshospital."
"Nylander takes his leave and shuffles backwards through the hall until he feels he can allow himself to turn around."
"Thulin avoids eye contact with the two detectives who look up from their screens as she empties her locker."
"The last time he saw her he got the distinct impression that she thought his theories about the Hartung girl were the product of an unbalanced mind."
"A disapproving glance from the businessman beside him tells Hess he reeks of spirits."
"Thulin isn’t sure how to respond to that. She decided to dismiss Hess from her mind."
"Aksel is about to say something, but then the teacher claps her hands to get everybody’s attention."
"You don’t jab, you bore. You twist the awl until it bites and pierces the flesh of the chestnut."
"She begs and pleaded to be allowed to go home to you."
"I tried to explain that I just needed to give her delicate little hand a quick cut so I could use her DNA to draw the police’s attention towards someone else, and she took it very bravely."
"It started right after she told them the story."
"Your little lie got away from you, and every time you came out and started talking about the poor wee children I could tell from your smug face you’d forgotten all about it."
"She’s somewhere nice now. Isn’t that what people say?"
"There’s not much I can’t take. But sometimes I can still hear that boy screaming at the mother, trying to get her to intervene …"
"He’s still shouting. Only when the sound fades does she realize he must have gone inside the house."
"The front door is unlocked, and it doesn’t take Hess long to establish that the ground floor and upstairs are empty."
"Although he’s already been inside, he hastens back to the kitchen, trying to recall the old photo from the crime-scene archive."
"Returning to the front hall, Hess glances up the stairs and underneath them, hoping that a basement door or floor hatch will suddenly reveal itself."
"A distant thud. He freezes, but he can’t decipher the noise, nor where it comes from."
"The basement underneath his grandmother’s house was musty and stained with damp."
"Hess had long thought of death with indifference. Not because he hated life, but because existence was painful."
"Everything inside Thulin is screaming for her to act."
"Suddenly Thulin feels the car slow down."
"The little convoy of three cars drive down the ramp and leave the ferry terminal as the sun begins to rise."
"The sun shines behind the frosted glass."
"Nylander hates the fact that he is standing on the edge of a wood with a German task force."
"It is taking too long, and Rosa senses it’s a bad sign."
"The cigarette doesn’t taste like it normally does, and Hess is in no rush to enter the international atmosphere."
"Linus Bekker is breathing fresh air, but above him the clouds hang dark and heavy."