‘Apart from König,’ said Jožef.

‘And he’s the one we want most.’ Marija paused and angrily stubbed her cigarette out on a saucer. Edvard leaned over the table and spoke in a quiet voice.

‘In November, König arrested three seventeen-year-old girls he spotted walking on the street. He claimed they were involved with partisans – this was quite untrue, but he concocted some flimsy evidence against them and used that as a pretext to keep them in custody and interrogate them. The girls were all very pretty, and we’re convinced that was his motive for arresting them. From what we gather, he raped all three of them over a three-day period and then shot them.’

The room was silent but for the sound of a dripping tap and the wind whistling through a cracked window.

‘Their bodies were found in a wood outside the town. At around the same time, König left Maribor,’ said Branka, her German more hesitant. ‘So you can see why we want to catch him.’

‘Once the war was over, a Yugoslav mission was established in Berlin, and through them we’ve tried to find König, but we could discover no trace of him. As far as we could tell, König was an assumed name. But recently there was a breakthrough: our mission in Berlin was told that König was in fact Friedrich Steiner, who’d served as a Gestapo officer in France and the Netherlands and was wanted by the British for the murder of their agents.’ Marija nodded as she finished talking.

‘Which brings us here,’ said Edvard. ‘Tell us why you were interested in that house.’

Hanne didn’t think she was in a position to hide anything. She told them how they knew the Kestrel Line had some connection with Villach, and about Frau Winkler and the house near Sattendorf. ‘I needed to check it was the right place; when I saw it was guarded and looked very secure, I realised it must be. My intention was to return with British troops. Then you came.’

‘Then we came indeed. But what you did was very reckless, Hanne. We have spent the war fighting the enemy, risking our lives every day. We know how dangerous it can be. You were on your own, you were exposed, and had we not found you, the Germans would have done.

‘Edvard, please don’t lecture me about the dangers of operating in enemy territory!’ Hanne’s voice was raised and the four looked up at her. ‘I worked for the British in Denmark, then I was a prisoner of the Gestapo and spent two years in a concentration camp. I know what danger is, thank you. I knew what I was doing. You may well have alerted the Nazis yourself turning up like that. You should have left me to it.’

The Slovenians apologised one by one.

‘All we want is the man Steiner: in return, we’ll help you to find where the Kestrel Line ends. Who knows who else you’ll find there – maybe even Bormann himself?’