They all looked at one another in silence. Even Agneta and Hanna seemed to appreciate the magnitude of the occasion, because this was clearly something special—the wine had a history. The story of this bottle was the most complex Bente had ever come across. She turned it around as she gazed at it. The cork must have kept well—there were no fragments whatsoever in the wine.
“Where’s the cork?” She wanted to sniff it.
“I think I threw it away,” Hanna said.
Bente went into the kitchen and saw the corkscrew on the counter, with the cork still attached. She gently unscrewed it and headed back to the table. She sat down, holding the cork between her thumb and forefinger. It had darkened over the years, but had retained its shape, and expanded slightly when it was removed from the bottle.
Then she saw it.
“Look. There’s something here.” She peered more closely. What she saw was very small—tiny, in fact. That’s why they hadn’t seen anything when they looked through the neck of the bottle before. “It’s ... numbers and symbols.”
“What could it be?” Didrik leaned across the table, and Bente gave him the cork while she fetched a pen and paper.
Outside it had started raining. Hanna had lit the candles on the table, and Bente switched on more lamps so they’d be able to see better. Once she was seated again, she wrote down the numbers and symbols; the numbers were separated by a circle and two apostrophes.
“I think those are coordinates,” Agneta said, looking over her shoulder.
Didrik nodded. “I think you’re right.”
Bente glanced at Don, who seemed fascinated. She picked up her phone, opened Google Maps, and entered the details.
Then she froze as an image appeared. Could this be the breakthrough they’d been waiting for?
She stared at the screen. It was showing Bordeaux, more specifically a small village in Médoc. When she zoomed in, she couldn’t see a vineyard, but there was a building and an address—16 Rue des Templiers.
They had an address!
She beamed at Don, then Elnaz, and finally Didrik. She held up her phone to show them the map.
“I’ve found it!”
27
They were definitely on the trail of something. Didrik understood that Bente wanted to find out more, so he stayed behind when the others went home. Don and Elnaz had been fired up by the unexpected turn of events, and seeing the relief on Bente’s face, Didrik had realized how uneasy she had been over the idea of making a show with a different angle than the one she’d planned.
They drank mineral water and black coffee all night as they continued their research. They looked at the coordinates again and used Google Maps to “walk” around the roads in the Médoc in the vicinity of the vineyard.
“Look at this!” Bente was pointing eagerly at the screen.
Didrik leaned closer, picking up her powdery, slightly spicy scent: the way the sheets in the hotel room had smelled after she had left his room a couple of weeks ago. It had been so ridiculous, but he had stayed put for a long time that day, not wanting to leave the bed and the scent of her.
He had also needed time to think—of course she had been right to say it wouldn’t be a brilliant idea to embark on a relationship when they were working together. And yet those days with her had done something to him. He had come alive, had done what he loved best without constantly questioning his decision to work on a TV show. Working on a show together with Bente had been fun; theircollaboration had made the job even more enjoyable. And it had been interesting to get to know her.
That was why he had been somewhat taken aback by her sudden departure.
Once again he was surrounded by her scent, causing his stomach to flip. He glanced at her profile, those beautiful red lips that he had been allowed to kiss to his heart’s content for one night. She had swept her hair to one side; the nape of her neck was exposed, and he followed its contours with his eyes. He so wanted to caress that soft curve near the top of her shoulders. Her hair shone in the glow of the candle on the table.
She prodded him gently in the ribs. “Hey, check this out!”
He focused on the screen.
“This could be the main building of a vineyard.”
“A vineyard?” Didrik gazed at the simple stone building on Google Maps Street View.
“Vineyards aren’t always as grand as you might think,” Bente explained. “Even a château doesn’t necessarily have to be a castle, despite the name. But if you look here ...” She moved the cursor to a nearby building.
“Château du Boda,” Didrik read aloud.
