Østerlars Rundkirke is both a landmark of Bornholm’s mystical lore and the setting of a decisive act of violence: at June Habersaat’s funeral, she shoots Atu beside the grave. The churchyard turns the investigators’ arrival into a race against the funeral’s end, and the church’s storied atmosphere gives the killing an especially stark symbolic frame.

Setting and Arrival

The church stands behind a stone wall, with a parking area that is unexpectedly sparse. Among the few vehicles are pickup trucks belonging to local builders, who have brought in extra-large scaffolding. When Carl Mørck and Assad arrive with Nelly Rasmussen, she notices the absence of the hearse and the silence of the bells; her watch has stopped, and she fears they have come too late. A blue Volvo with Swedish plates catches the investigators’ attention, and they hurry from the car toward the churchyard.

The Funeral and the Shooting

The burial is already ending at the bottom of the churchyard, roughly a hundred meters ahead. The vicar has finished the burial rites and stands aside with a small shovel while the mourners gather around the grave. June Habersaat throws something into it. As Atu approaches in his yellow shirt, Carl Mørck and Assad speed up, wary that he might flee again but also concerned for June’s safety. They cannot reach the group before she draws a pistol and fires four or five shots. Atu collapses beside the grave; the echo carries against the church walls. Carl and Assad stop, unarmed, as the vicar approaches June with calming words.

Symbolism and Aftermath

The church’s setting gives the scene a pointed irony. Atu had imagined himself as a guardian of enigma and a son of the sun; now he lies dead in one of Bornholm’s most storied places, beneath the round church associated with the Knights Templar’s mystical secrets. The contrast does not soften the act: the narration identifies the shooting as a premeditated execution. Carl recognizes June’s pistol as resembling the one Christian Habersaat used to kill himself, and infers that it is the second of the two pistols taken from the teacher’s home. The churchyard thus becomes the place where the funeral, the investigation’s pursuit of Atu, and the concealed history of the weapons converge.