“Marianne,” she said. “I’m off-duty.”

“Donny.”

“You are quite an enthusiastic singer,” said Marianne.

“Usually I have the good sense to only do that in the privacy of my own shower.”

“I am sure that is even better. I love this song. My flatmate had the record in college.”

“It’s an acquired taste. My roommate sold my copy so I’d stop playing it.”

“Well, it’s better this way anyway.”

“I don’t know,” said Donny. “Whenever I sing in public I usually get in trouble. This is the first time it will have gotten me arrested by Interpol.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I left my handcuffs upstairs in my room.”

Donny considered asking where that was, but he was too busy admiring how confidently she expressed the lines around her eyes when she smiled.

“And I’m not here to arrest you,” she added. “Your story checked out.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” said Donny, acting like he was joking.

“I would like to ask what you are doing here, though,” she said.

“I have a hearing tomorrow. Different case than the one you were at. Trying to get the Council to free a prisoner. The daughter of an old friend.”

“I see,” she said, with sudden gravity on her face. “The Tributary. Good luck with that.”

“Thanks,” said Donny. “I don’t think the odds are so good. That’s why I decided to join the band when I should be cramming.”

“I thought maybe you would say you were here looking for Mr. Harrison.”

“I kind of hoped that was how it would work out,” said Donny. “But every source I’ve talked to has me convinced it’s true. He’s dead.”

“That is what we have concluded as well. So we are going up the chain, to see if we can find who organized the operation.”

“Still chasing the same basic theory, then?”

“Absolutely. We have a source.”

“May I ask who?”

“You may ask, but I cannot tell.”

“Too bad,” said Donny.

“Maybe we should just have a drink instead,” she said. “I am tired of working too.”

“Okay,” said Donny. He wanted to look at his watch, but not as much as he wanted to talk to the chief inspector and see what other questions she had.