I cheer, and shake my fist with triumph, and leave them behind, hoping Mick will soon be there to support her. Before I can radio Marko to help, he has thrown a sliding U-turn, and headed back towards where Elaine is waiting. I wave at Tom to go forward, and we continue to the station in safety.

21

21

I am at my mailbox. The air is warmer than it has been for months. The European trees are in full bud, impatient for spring to step forward. It is mail day, but I am not going to check the mailbox. Whatever is in it can wait until I return. For now, I am on my way to lunch at Marko’s in his back courtyard with the fire pit going, if needed. There will be good food and drinks, and favourite old stories. It won’t be the same as it used to be, but it will be something like it. Friendship long held, I guess. I am giving Elaine a lift. We’re friends, too, and we might stay just that. There is no rush. We can take it as it comes.

After we dropped off the pieces of the bowl, Constable Murray called the detectives in, and they were apparently very happy with what we had delivered. A DNA test showed the bowl was made with human remains, probably from the man in the picture. They had a whole lot of stuff on Ben, the fake Vasilievs, and significant underworld people who had disappeared without a trace, but they hadn’t been able to make the links between them. We did that for them.

Constable Murray told me the detectives now believe that Ben invented the Vasiliev family some years ago out of a small group of thugs that included one assassin. It was an attempt to divert attention from himself and his money-making operation. They suspect that, at the time, Ben was feeding the bodies of his victims to his pigs, but they think this will be difficult to prove.

So Tom got the story of a lifetime. A city newspaper picked it up, published it nationwide, and then hired him. He was even a celebrity for a few days, and did the rounds of morning television. This week, he moves to the city to start the new job, and I wish he wouldn’t. It’s a selfish wish I keep to myself.

Ben was arrested, and is awaiting trial. He denies everything. He says the idea that he would threaten me, or lock me in his cool room, or force Tito to make pottery from human bones is just a delusion made up by someone who everyone in the district knows is off his head. I think that’s his main defence: the whole thing is a ridiculous fantasy made up by a lunatic who hates him. It won’t go well.