The voices were coming from a room at the front of the house and were clear enough for me to identify them as belonging to Haupthandler and Jeschonnek. After a couple of minutes there was a woman’s voice too, and for a moment I thought it was Inge’s, until I heard this woman laugh. Now that I was more impatient to know what had become of Inge than I was to recover Six’s stolen diamonds and collect the reward, I decided that it was time I confronted the three of them. I’d heard enough to indicate that they weren’t expecting any trouble, but as I came through the door, I fired a shot over their heads in case they were in the mood to try something.

‘Stay exactly where you are,’ I said, feeling that I’d given them plenty of warning, and thinking that only a fool would pull a gun now. Gert Jeschonnek was just such a fool. It’s difficult at the best of times to hit a moving target, especially one that’s shooting back. My first concern was to stop him, and I wasn’t particular how I did it. As it turned out, I stopped him dead. I could have wished not to have hit him in the head, only I wasn’t given the opportunity. Having succeeded in killing one man, I now had the other to worry about, because by this time Haupthändler was on me, and wrestling for my gun. As we fell to the floor, he yelled to the girl who was standing lamely by the fireplace to get the gun. He meant the one which had fallen from Jeschonnek’s hand when I blew his brains out, but for a moment the girl wasn’t sure which gun it was that she was supposed to go for, mine or the one on the floor. She hesitated long enough for her lover to repeat himself, and in the same instant I broke free of his grasp and whipped the Walther across his face. It was a powerful backhand that had the follow-through of a match-winning tennis stroke, and it sent him sprawling, unconscious, against the wall. I turned to see the girl picking up Jeschonnek’s gun. It was no time for chivalry, but then I didn’t want to shoot her either. Instead I stepped smartly forward, and socked her on the jaw.