‘I was thinking during that drive, Hanne.’

‘Thinking? I thought you were sleeping!’

‘We agree we can’t let these people get away with it – Friedrich Steiner, Palmer, Myrtle Carter, Bormann… maybe. I know who can help us.’

‘Who?’

‘Remember I mentioned before we left Trieste that I had another plan? When I met Iosif in Vienna, he told me about the Slovenians and how he’d tipped them off about Villach. He also gave me a telephone number in Vienna to use if I needed to contact him. Now we’re in Austria, I should call that number.’

‘I thought he was in Berlin?’

‘I don’t know – I just need to be able to get to a telephone. If the Russians hear the British are letting Nazis go free just to please the Americans, they’re bound to intervene.’

‘How?’

‘Iosif will think of something.’

‘Won’t Gilbey realise we’re behind it?’

‘How could he prove it?’

Hanne nodded: what Prince said made sense. In the distance they saw the large figure of Evans ambling towards them, a handkerchief pressed to his face.

‘Bad news, I’m afraid.’ He was struggling to light a cigarette in the wind while still clutching his large white handkerchief, which was blowing horizontally from one hand like a flag of surrender. ‘The plan was to take you straight to the airport for this afternoon’s flight to Munich, but apparently the area’s cloaked in fog and all flights are cancelled until tomorrow: damned shame.’

They agreed it was indeed a terrible shame, and when Evans said they’d have to stay in Klagenfurt, Prince said that was a pity but not the end of the world. Evans replied that he wasn’t sure, Klagenfurt seemed very much like the end of the world, and the car rocked as he laughed out loud. He repeated the joke periodically until they arrived in the town. They could see what he meant.

Major Stewart couldn’t hide his annoyance at having unexpected charges thrust upon him. He adopted the manner of a schoolteacher who’d had a disruptive pupil brought before him once again.

‘I suppose we’ll have to find somewhere for you to spend the night. Just do me a favour and stay inside Innere Stadt. I know you’re both prone to wandering off, but not here, please. The town’s still a bloody mess and there’s a good deal of resentment towards the Eighth Army.’

Half an hour later, they were in a small hotel just off the Alter Platz. As soon as they were alone, they left by a rear door and hurried through the narrow streets. Dusk was beginning to fall on the old town centre, and with half the buildings damaged and empty, it felt like a journey into the dark. Some of the streets were impassable, blocked with piles of rubble that reached as high as the first floor of those buildings still standing. In the shadow of the cathedral they turned a corner and spotted a pharmacy with its lights on: Wörthersee Apotheke.