Maria Klee slapped the file she had brought in down on the conference table. Everyone looked in her direction: she was grinning broadly, something she was not normally wont to do.

‘I do.’

‘What?’ Van Heiden and Fabel spoke at the same time.

‘I know the identity of “Monique”. And I have to tell you that this is dynamite, Chef.’ Maria turned defiantly to Van Heiden. ‘And someone, somewhere has been withholding key information from this inquiry.’

‘For God’s sake, Maria, just tell us who she is.’ Fabel’s voice was stretched taut and thin. This was the biggest break in the inquiry so far.

‘The victim is Tina Kramer. She was twenty-seven.’ Maria’s simple statement seemed to electrify the stale conference-room air. ‘The good news is that I’ve discovered her identity. The bad news is how I discovered it.’

‘Get to the point, Maria,’ said Fabel.

‘As you know, I did all the usual checks against our own and the Bundeskriminalamt’s records. Criminal records, that is. It revealed nothing. So I ran a wider search.’ Maria paused, as if allowing the others to brace themselves. ‘I widened the search to include police officers.’

Maria flipped open the file and removed a letter-sized, head-and-shoulders photograph. She walked around the table and behind Fabel and secured the image to the board with a pin, next to where Fabel had written ‘Monique’. Maria slapped the photograph with the palm of her hand as if to stamp it indelibly on the inquiry board. She took the cloth and wiped the name ‘Monique’ off the board and picked up a broad-tipped red felt pen, writing ‘TINA KRAMER’ in large capitals. Fabel stood up and looked at the face in the photograph: the same face as in the mortuary picture next to it. The hair was darker than Fabel had remembered it, scraped severely back. She was wearing a dull mustard service-uniform shirt with green epaulettes. Behind him, Fabel heard the electrified silence in the room explode into a buzz of excited talk. Eventually he turned to Maria.

‘Shit, I don’t believe this … She’s one of ours?’

‘Yes. Or at least partially. She is …’ Maria corrected herself – ‘she was Polizei Niedersachsen, based at Hanover. She was a Schutzpolizei Kommissarin. From what I’ve been able to gather, she was originally from Hamburg and – get this – she was seconded to the Bundeskriminalamt; specifically to the BAO here in Hamburg.’ Maria scanned down a report in the file. ‘And this is no admin screw-up with records. In 1995, she was serving with a Polizei Niedersachsen special-weapons Sonder Einsatz Kommando based in Hanover. There was a robbery on a security truck and there was a fire-fight between the robbers and the unit. She was hit in the leg. Right thigh. She’s our girl all right.’

‘She was seconded to the BAO?’ Fabel turned to Van Heiden. His voice was flat and cold.

‘No way, Fabel.’ Van Heiden made a face and gestured as if pushing the accusation away. ‘No way did I know about this! The Besondere Aufbau Organisation has a pretty autonomous structure … but by God I’m going to find out who authorised this without my knowledge or consent.’