“Got a picture?” Leo asked, taking a sip of the coffee.
“I’ll find one.” Allissa tapped at the keyboard.
A few seconds later, Minty’s picture appeared. Minty looked as Alissa expected: long hair ran across the shoulders of a maroon blazer, a white shirt was open at the neck to highlight a tangle of chains and pendants, and a large, dark beard contrasted super-white teeth.
“This was taken at an awards night in Milan a few weeks ago,” Allissa said, reading the description. “Minty posted it on his social media. Could be worth finding out who he went with.”
“Yes, good idea, you’ve made a good start.” Leo raised the coffee to his lips.
“Well, it’s not often we get a case this early. Normally people come to us weeks after the person’s gone missing. We’ve got a great opportunity here.”
Leo nodded.
“If we can move quickly here, I reckon we’ve got a good chance,” Allissa said. “I’ll have a look at flights now. We should be able to get out there tomorrow morning.”
Leo put the cup down and grabbed his laptop from the bag beside him.
“No wait,” he said, “you’ve got Lucy’s party tomorrow. You’ve got the dress and everything.”
“I’ll cancel it.” Allissa looked at Leo. “I’ll tell her something came up.”
“No, you can’t. You won’t. You need to go to that party. We talked about how it was your way back into the family. You need to go.”
Allissa glanced from Leo to the computer. On the screen, a list of flights from London to Berlin began to load.
“Fine,” Allissa said, looking back at him. “We could both go the following day. Get an early flight the morning after the party.”
“Yes,” Leo said thoughtfully, “although, as you say, we’ve got the advantage of time with this one. It would be a shame to waste even one day. I can go ahead tomorrow, and you can join me the day after.”
Allissa’s mouth moved to argue, but no words came out.
“I’ll get some of the groundwork done,” Leo said. “Start looking around and see what I find.”
Without comment, Allissa made changes to the flight details on her computer. Leo could get started on his own, Allissa knew that. He had gone to Kathmandu alone. But things were different now; he didn’t need to go on his own. They did things together. That’s how it worked.
Sitting back, Allissa found her hand rising to the place their fingers had intertwined.
“Are you sure?” She said, turning to look at Leo. “One day won’t make that much difference. We could just go together and —”
“Sure, yes, of course, I can do this,” Leo said. “The first few hours are crucial. If we don’t go now, we might not ever… you know, find out.”
“Alright,” Allissa said. “I’ll get you a flight booked for tomorrow, and I’ll join you the following day.”
“Okay,” Leo replied, an uncontrollable smile breeding across his face. “Although I’ll probably have it solved by then. All you ever do is slow me down.”
A flash of movement.
“Hey, watch out!” he shouted as Allissa elbowed him in the ribs. “I’ll spill this!”
15
Borya stepped out into the bright sunshine and gulped a greedy breath of the fresh afternoon air. Surrounded by a dirty canal and the backs of some warehouses, the place felt isolated. He stood and listened to the air. The wind tickled through the thicket of trees behind the building and water splashed faintly from the canal. The sun was high in the sky now. It was turning out to be another bright Berlin day.
Borya was tired. He wasn’t often up this early. But when Olezka called, you came. That was the way it worked.
Borya walked towards three cars parked in the small yard. Olezka’s Rolls Royce, a black Jeep and Borya’s dark blue Mercedes. The concrete was buckled with age and nature. New shoots of green clung to the cracks like a rash. Borya fumbled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the Mercedes. Opening the passenger door, he leant in and took his pipe from the glove box. Borya knew he was the only man younger than seventy to smoke a pipe, but he liked it. The process of stuffing it with tobacco and the cool taste of the smoke was far better than cigarettes and cigars.
Leaning on the fender, Borya looked up at the building. It had that sort of old-worldly charm that was common in Berlin’s decrepit structures. A kind of natural wonkiness, a softness on the eye. Borya thought modern designers would do well to copy and replicate it.
A bird called from somewhere in the undergrowth behind the building. Another answered a few seconds later.
Borya drew the pouch of tobacco from inside his coat. His hands had almost stopped shaking; that was good. The problem was, the thing that made him nervous was that Keal had seen him with Minty at the shop a few weeks ago. Borya had gone by to check things over, just to make sure Minty was doing what they’d asked. It was stupid, he shouldn’t have been there, but he just wanted to make sure things were alright. He’d even got a friend to drive him there so no one would see his car outside. It was just bad luck for Keal to arrive at the same time. It was just bad luck. But Borya had no business being at the shop that day, and if Olezka found out he had been there…
Borya felt a rancid taste bubble into his mouth. He spat it to the floor.
He just had to hope that Keal thought nothing of it. Borya knew that if his being there was questioned, then Olezka may arrive at an entirely different conclusion.
“No, no, no, no!” The yelled words echoed from the bowels of the dilapidated building. Two pigeons resting on one of the old windowsills thumped into the air.
Borya had worked with Olezka for a long time and knew his patience was limited. If Keal didn’t come up with something soon, a bullet in
