‘What do you need him for?’ continued Bloom. ‘Captain Peterson? What do you need him to do?’

When George didn’t answer, she said, ‘Why won’t you tell me? I take it none of us are going to walk away from this.’ She felt Sophie shift in the seat beside her and Bloom placed a hand on the girl’s arm and gave it a squeeze. ‘He’s clearly important. Or you wouldn’t have set off that bomb.’

A flicker of something darted across George’s face.

‘That was you, was it?’ said Bloom. ‘It was clever, I’ll give you that. If it hadn’t been for Karene here, I don’t think anyone would have suspected anything. Were you the one to find the young man, the bomber?’

The smallest of smiles reached the left corner of George’s mouth.

‘I expect the promise of eternal life from a man as charismatic as you would be hard to resist for some.’

‘Do you always talk this much?’ said George.

‘Not at all. Feel free to chip in.’ Bloom watched the foot soldier as he watched his boss.

George’s phone rang and he answered, listened for a moment and then handed it to Bloom. ‘For you,’ he said.

Surprised, she held it to her ear. ‘Hello?’

‘Augusta.’ Seraphine’s voice was light-hearted and merry. ‘How are you?’

‘You know how I am. Is this your petty revenge?’

‘Revenge for what? Oh … you mean the court case? And the charges? And the career in tatters? No. Of course not. I simply know how much you hate a mystery. So I thought I’d help you … again. Put you in a room with some answers. Although I’m feeding you lots of information, so you can’t really take credit for this one, you know?’

‘And where is Marcus?’ asked Bloom.

‘I have no idea.’

Bloom didn’t say anything. Seraphine had played her. What was there to say?

‘Is Mr Selaisse terribly macho?’

Bloom looked at George. ‘I’d say so, yes.’

‘A bit of a genius by all accounts. It’s a shame he’s not one of us.’

Bloom bit her tongue. This was not the time to challenge Seraphine.

‘I’ll leave you to get acquainted.’

‘You’re too kind.’

‘Is that sarcasm? I’m never sure. You know we psychopaths aren’t good at spotting sarcasm. But’s that why you used it, isn’t it? To prove you’re not like me? Well, we’ll see. Bathroom cabinet. Fake panel at the bottom. Good luck. I do hope we get the chance to work together again.’

Bloom began to hand the phone back when she heard Seraphine say, ‘Augusta?’

‘Yes?’

‘How will Marcus resist me without you there to protect him?’

Bloom cut the call to the sound of Seraphine’s laughter.

76