tiredness around Andreea's eyes, the faint patina of a bruise on her cheek.
'What happened to Nina, it could have happened to any one of you,' Lynn said. 'It could have happened to you.' She rested her hand for a moment on Andreea's shoulder. 'Come and talk to me. Don't let it happen again.'
When she looked back through the cafe window, Andreea was still sitting there, smoke rising from her cigarette, staring into space.
It would be almost two weeks before Lynn heard from her again.
Eleven
The autopsy on Nina Simic showed that she had been killed by a single stab wound to the neck, of sufficient depth to suggest that considerable force had been used, a single-edged blade entering below the right ear and severing the common carotid artery as it moved diagonally down and round towards the central hyoid bone beneath the chin. There were defence wounds on both the upper and lower arms, as well as a number of small cuts to the hands, which suggested that she had struggled with her killer for the knife. There were also a significant number of other signs of trauma to the body, bruises and contusions, mostly on the arms and upper torso, some recent, others older.
Forensic examination of the knife found in Zoukas's possession found that it matched in most particulars the weapon used in the attack. Further, there were three sets of fingerprints on the handle of the knife, Viktor Zoukas, Nina Simic and the smudged finger- and thumbprint of a third person, as yet unidentified.
Zoukas himself was questioned again and again.
All of the evidence so far could be made to support his story: a struggle between Nina Simic and an unknown assailant in which he had unsuccessfully attempted to intervene. Though inconclusive, medical evidence seemed to support his assertion that he had suffered a blow to the head which could have rendered him unconscious briefly. Nor was there any faking a fourcentimetre-deep stab wound to the shoulder, almost certainly caused by the same blade.
Meantime, a small number of the men who had patronised the sauna that evening had been contacted, but by no means all. According to Sally, several customers had entered at more or less the same time, ten or fifteen minutes after two, often their busiest time, and she had not been able to keep track of who had gone with whom. She did have a vague memory of seeing someone who approximated to Zoukas's equally vague description of a stocky, shaven-haired man with tattoos, but could not be certain if had been one of Nina's clients or not. 'Face it,' she said, 'short and near bald on top, between thirty and forty, you're talking about most of the blokes come here looking for business.'
The police continued their efforts to find him.
Perhaps, Lynn thought, her instincts were wrong and Zoukas was telling the truth.
Perhaps…
It was nearing the end of the day when Andreea finally phoned, her voice hesitant and indistinct.
'Andreea,' Lynn said. 'I'm sorry, I can't hear you.'
There was a pause, and then, more clearly: 'What I told you before, it was not all true.'
Lynn felt a quick surge of adrenaline through her body.
'Where are you?'
'By the river.'
'The Trent?'
'I don't know. I suppose. My friends, they live in Meadows.'
'Trent Bridge? You're near Trent Bridge?'
'Yes, I think so.'
'A big building with a green roof-can you see that from where you are?'
'Yes, I can see.'
'Which side of the river is it? The side you're on or the other?'
'The other.'
'Okay. Wait there. I'll come to you. Five, ten minutes. No more.'
Quick as I can, Lynn thought, before she loses her nerve.
At first she feared Andreea had changed her mind. And then she saw her, stepping out from between two slender trees. There was a fine rain in the air, and it was approaching dusk. Andreea was wearing a dark anorak, several sizes too large; her red hair had been pushed up inside a black beret, a few stray strands hanging free; closer to, Lynn could see that whatever makeup she'd been wearing earlier had mostly faded or been rubbed away.
Somehow she looked both older and younger than when Lynn had seen her last.
'Do you fancy a drink?' Lynn said, nodding in the direction of the pub by the bridge.
Andreea shook her head. 'No. No, thank you.'
'Then let's walk.'
They set off along the river, the bridge at their backs, Lynn content for now to listen as Andreea talked about the couple she was staying with, the man from the Republic of Moldova, here studying at the university, and the woman from her own country, from Bucharest, the capital. Andreea had been frightened to stay in the flat she'd been sharing with three others and, for now, was sleeping on the settee in her friends' front room.
'Why were you frightened?' Lynn asked.
Andreea stopped to light a cigarette. Cars passed slowly along the Embankment, headlights burnishing the rain.
'This man,' Andreea said, 'he came to see me.'
'Which man?'
'I don't know his name. He was a friend of Viktor's. I have seen him before, at the sauna. He came one night when I was sleeping. He make me put a coat over what I am wearing and go with him to his car. Somebody else was driving. They take me to this place, I don't know where it is. All… all rubbish, in big… I don't know how to say-' She gestured with her hands.
'Containers?'
'Yes, I think maybe so, containers, yes.'
'Some kind of refuse dump.'
'Refuse, yes. Rubbish. He make me get out of the car and I am sure he is going to kill me. I am certain of this. He has a knife and I think I am going to be dead like Nina; he is going to cut my throat.'
Andreea stopped and in the halting light Lynn could see the sweat beading her forehead, the shaking of her hand as she held her cigarette.
'He made me tell him what I told the police, and I told him there was nothing. I had seen nothing. Except Nina on the floor. He asked me if I mention Viktor and I say no, of course not, I did not know Viktor was there. He make me get down on my knees and holds the knife against the side of my face, here.' Andreea touched her cheek, a slow line from below her ear to her neck. 'He say I am good girl. He say if I ever say anything different to the police, he will kill me and throw me in the rubbish. And then he make me… you know, with my mouth. And then he take me home, but I am too frightened to stay there. I come here to Meadows.'
'And the sauna? You haven't been back to the sauna?'
Andreea shook her head.
'What will you do?'
'I have a good friend in London. Leyton? Leytonstone? I am not sure. Perhaps they are the same. Alexander. He comes from Constanta, like me. He is student here. He says I can stay with him. He can even get me job, he thinks, in a bar. Or if not, in hotel, cleaning I think.'
'What about your own studies? These courses you're doing?'
'Alexander thinks it may be possible to transfer somehow, I don't know. But it will be safer there, in London. Yes? You think?' She grasped Lynn's arm.
'Maybe. Yes, perhaps.'
