Charles put his cup on the table and dropped his head between his hands. He sucked air through thin fingers.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said, regaining control and looking up at Leo and Allissa. “It’s just, I don’t think he would’ve done that — that message. ‘Things aren’t as they seem. Don’t lose faith.’ It’s just —”
“Yes, that doesn’t sound like something someone would say before…” Allissa trailed off. “What about his body? Surely there would —”
“That’s the thing. The authorities have told us to wait. We have the police report. But until we have the body —” Charles sobbed bitterly. Leo and Allissa could do nothing but watch.
“I just don’t believe… I can’t believe…” Charles took a moment to compose himself, finally looking up at the pair. “I don’t know what’s happened, but that’s not him. I know that for sure.”
13
Keal writhed and kicked with his good leg as blood pooled around him. Borya leant against the wall and watched. He tried to look calm as Keal’s shrieks of pain echoed through the building.
Borya knew that Keal would die if they didn’t stop the bleeding soon.
Externally Borya worked hard to appear relaxed, but inside his pulse raged. He had hoped Olezka wouldn’t even notice the missing shipments. They received so many — often multiple times a day — that he doubted Olezka even kept records. Especially with the incriminating nature of such records. Borya had been wrong. He pushed his hands in his pockets so no one would see them shaking.
“Dedushka Olezka, you need to see this,” Semion said, rushing past Borya and showing Olezka something on the screen of a laptop.
“Tell me,” Olezka barked.
“It’s the man from the shop — Minty Rolleston — he jumped in front of a U-Bahn train just a few hours ago.”
“It was him. He did it!” Keal shouted between gasps. His movements were becoming weaker.
Olezka looked at Keal with eyes like the twin barrels of a shotgun.
“What, he steals shipments worth a million euros and then kills himself? Who would do that? Get this checked out,” Olezka barked at Semion, “and get him patched up.” He pointed a gloved hand at Keal.
Semion tied Keal’s good leg to the chair to stop his writhing and then tightened a strap around his wounded one to slow the bleeding. Keal leaned back weakly. He was fighting for each breath now. His eyes roamed the room without focusing.
Olezka grabbed Keal’s chin with a gloved hand. “You are still alive, that is good for you. There are two ways this will go now —”
“Help me. Help me,” Keal said. A string of drool ran from his lips and into the puddle of blood.
“Yes, I could help you. I could have Semion drop you outside the hospital now. You may never use that leg again.” Olezka prodded the blood-soaked leg with his finger. Keal cried in pain. “But they would probably save your life.”
“Please, yes, please.”
“But why would I do that?” Olezka stood up. Keal fell forward against his bindings. “You have done nothing to help me. You have stolen from me. If you admit that and tell me where the missing shipments are, then maybe you can go.”
“I… I…” Keal gasped.
“Let me make this even clearer for you,” Olezka said. “As you know, Semion has a bit of a talent for this persuading business. I am very basic. A bull in a shop of china. But he is much more effective. He uses drugs and blades and all sorts of things I haven’t got the patience for. If you don’t give me something soon, I’m sure he will be happy to take over.”
Borya turned to face Semion and saw a look of pleasure flicker across his face.
The sick bastard.
14
As the flat’s flimsy door clunked back into place behind Charles, Allissa knew what they needed to do. They would go to Berlin and find out what had happened to Charles’ brother.
Climbing the stairs again, Allissa felt the relaxation of their time in Abu Dhabi evaporating. The first few hours of an investigation were the hardest. There were the logistics to organise — like transport and accommodation — and a lot of research to do. The better they knew the missing person, and the more they could get inside their mind, the easier it would be when they were on the ground in a foreign city. They needed to think like that person in order to understand where they might go.
Back in the front room, Allissa grabbed her laptop, sank into the sofa and thumbed the power button. As the computer loaded, she looked up at the empty room. An hour ago, she’d been trying on her dress for a party she now wasn’t going to attend. With that thought, her right hand slid to her left shoulder. That was where her fingers had intertwined with Leo’s. The embrace had been unexpected, but Allissa had liked it. Watching their reflection in the mirror, Allissa saw Leo move in to kiss her neck. Instinctively, she’d bent her head to let him in. It felt good. She was ready for it. But then the door had buzzed and —
Pushing the thoughts from her mind, Allissa opened an internet browser and typed “Minty Rolleston” into the search bar.
“As Charles told us, Minty runs this fashion website,” Allissa said, turning the screen of her laptop to face Leo as he walked into the room carrying two mugs of steaming coffee. “Unusual clothes. All very expensive.”
Leo had just been to the shop to get milk. They now had work to do, so proper coffee, with milk, was essential.
Leo sat down next to Allissa. He was careful to leave a space between them.
“He also has a shop in Berlin,” Allissa said, “so that would be the first place to look. Just to see if anything’s going on there. I’ve also found the address of his flat and had a look through social media at the other places he likes to go. I’ll put
