He said, ‘How will I find her?’

‘There is a man in Paramaribo who will help you. His name is Bayman Quince Rotterdam. Can you remember?’

‘Yes.’

‘Everybody knows who he is. You can ask at any tavern. He is a sly, corrupt old black devil and he’ll want to be paid and fed, but he will lead you to Josephine.’

Krüger took the bottle from his coat pocket and sat down next to Mr Hendrik. He leaned back against the cell wall and handed the doomed man the wine. After Mr Hendrik had drunk from it, he put the bottle to his own lips, but the wine was tasteless.

‘You must do this for me,’ Mr Hendrik said.

‘I will do it.’

‘Your word? This is what your people give?’

‘You have it.’

Mr Hendrik reached behind his head, took the obia from around his neck and gave it to Krüger.

‘Remember to believe,’ he said.

Mr Hendrik was hanged the next morning. Krüger did not attend because he had already gone. Apart from the gaolers and the executioner from Recklinghausen, there was nobody else to come.

Mr Hendrik was buried in an unmarked grave in a field beyond the cemetery reserved for suicides and the variously mad and possessed.

It rained in Borken for the rest of the week.

Book V

BOOK V

THE SHRUNKEN HEAD

Claus von Rolt was asked (by a syrupy-eyed old general in exile) to accompany the Prussian envoy Ludwig von Kleist to London on a secret mission to secure armaments and raise funds for a planned rebellion against the French. Rolt was known to have spent time in the English capital and, along with his contacts, exemplary English and reputation for charm and wit, it was hoped his presence would soften the brusque military manner of von Kleist. Rolt accepted, of course, for there was no real choice; there was the appearance of patriotic duty to consider. There was also the opportunity to extricate himself from an affaire d’amour run its course. And there was the possibility of conducting a little business in rare species, London being the epicentre of the trade.

He packed his trunk and arrived on a clear, crisp Tuesday.

It was 4 April 1809.