Leo moved forward, peering under the bed. There was a pair of boots. He examined the soles: they were heavy duty, standard-issue black leather boots, too hot for Afghanistan, abandoned because they were impractical. He stood up, sliding his hand under the mattress, flipping it over. There was nothing underneath. Moving to the cabinet, he found it had been cleared. There were no papers. He peered into the bin. No rubbish had been thrown away. Leo said to Nara:

—Finding nothing can be a useful discovery. We know this much. It wasn’t a spontaneous or impulsive decision to run. He’s thought about it carefully. He tidied the room. He expected us to search it.

Leo opened the drawer, surprised to see his own reflection staring back up at him. It was an ornate mirror, larger than the portrait of Lenin, a wall mirror. He held it up, examining it. The mirror was heavy, an antique, backed with silver, a pattern engraved around the edge. He looked around the room.

—Where did this come from?

Nara pointed to the image of Lenin:

—Hasn’t he swapped the mirror for Lenin?

—No, this is much smaller than the picture that previously hung here.

Leo peered at the surface: the edges were covered with fingerprints.

—The mirror has been handled a lot.

Switching into Russian, he addressed the guard standing at the door.

—Do you know where this mirror came from?

The guard shook his head. Leo asked:

—Where’s the bathroom?

Carrying the mirror under his arm, Leo and Nara followed the guard to the bathroom, a gloomy room badly damaged by fighting: the windows were broken, and replaced with temporary boards. The mirrors had been shattered.

—There’s no mirror here.

Leo addressed the guard again.

—How do you shave?

—I don’t live here.

Leo hurried out of the room, back into the hall, examining the different shadows on the walls. He found a likely one. He hung the mirror: it was the same size, returned to its original place. He glanced at Nara.

—He took one of the few undamaged mirrors in the building and kept it in his room.

Nara moved closer, slowly understanding the process she was witnessing, excited by the significance of the discovery.

—The officer was concerned about his appearance?

—And what does that mean?

—He was vain?

—He met a woman.

Greater Province of Kabul

Murad Khani District

Same Day