‘Yes, that’s right. I often did little errands for Herr Pfarr. He was usually too busy to get to the shops, and so he’d pay me to get things for him. Before I went on holiday there was a note asking me to drop his suit off at his tailors and that they knew all about it.’

‘His suit, you say.’

‘Well, yes, I think so.’ I picked up the box.

‘Mind if I take a look?’

‘I don’t see why not. He’s dead after all, isn’t he?’

Even before I had removed the lid I had a pretty good idea of what was in the box. I wasn’t wrong. There was no mistaking the midnight black that echoed the old elitist cavalry regiments of the Kaiser’s army, the Wagnerian double-lightning flash on the right collar-patch and the Roman-style eagle and swastika on the left sleeve. The three pips on the left collar-patch denoted the wearer of the uniform as a captain, or whatever the fancy rank that captains were called in the S S was. There was a piece of paper pinned to the right sleeve. It was an invoice from Stechbarth’s, addressed to Hauptsturmführer Pfarr, for twenty-five marks. I whistled.

‘So Paul Pfarr was a black angel.’

‘I’d never have believed it,’ said Frau Schmidt.

‘You mean you never saw him wearing this?’

She shook her head. ‘I never even saw it hanging in his wardrobe.’

‘Is that so.’ I wasn’t sure whether I believed her or not, but I could think of no reason why she should lie about it. It was not uncommon for lawyers - German lawyers, working for the Reich — to be in the S S: I imagined Pfarr wearing his uniform on ceremonial occasions only.

It was Frau Schmidt’s turn to look puzzled. ‘I meant to ask you how the fire started.’

I thought for a minute and decided to let her have it without any of the protective padding, in the hope that the shock would stop her asking some awkward questions that I couldn’t answer.

‘It was arson,’ I said quietly. ‘They were both murdered.’ Her jaw dropped like a cat-flap, and her eyes moistened again, as if she had stepped into a draught.

‘Good God,’ she gasped. ‘How terrible. Whoever could do such a thing?’

‘That’s a good question,’ I said. ‘Do you know if either of them had any enemies?’ She sighed deeply and then shook her head. ‘Did you ever overhear either of them arguing with someone other than each other? On the telephone, perhaps? Somebody at the door? Anything.’ She continued to shake her head.