‘Like you, he found out where Shahla was working and lay in wait to grill her. He wanted to know how close we were on his heels.’

The story that Yegor was spinning had holes the Sultan could sink into, but Veith didn’t seem to spot them.

‘What about the girl’s parents? Where are they?’ he asked.

Yegor flicked his hand. ‘Friends of mine. They want to be kept out of it. Just go looking for that fucking bastard.’

‘And if I find him?’

Good question. He’d hoped he wouldn’t have to say it out loud.

Yegor lifted Ikarus from his lap, stood up from the sofa and shuffled over to a sideboard beneath the heavy crystal mirror in the entrance area. He opened the top drawer.

‘Be creative!’ he said. Then he checked the cylinder, turned a little lever on the underside of the barrel and handed Veith the revolver.

32

Throw me out when you need me. Bring me back in when you don’t need me any more.

On his way to the prow of the Sultan, Martin couldn’t help think of a riddle he’d read years ago in a book. He couldn’t remember the title, only the answer: anchor.

He wished the puzzles served up to him by the most recent events on the ship were as easy to solve. But he feared that inspecting the anchor room would merely throw up more questions than answers.

He began by visiting deck 3, the ship’s official anchor room and essentially its only one. Deck 11 merely housed a small spare anchor, its chains stored outside for aesthetic reasons, visible to everyone who came to the top viewing deck. There was no chance of keeping someone permanently hidden there unnoticed.

‘Here we are!’ Elena Beck said. After Martin had followed the ship’s doctor down a narrow, windowless corridor, which took them along the hull behind the musical theatre, they’d reached the steel door marked ‘ANCHOR ROOM’ via a small entrance. Behind it they were met by Bonhoeffer and a deafening noise.

‘Why’s it taken so long?’ Martin asked the captain, who for understandable reasons didn’t want to shake his hand. With his fingertips he nervously checked that the plastic cap was sitting properly on his broken nose.

‘Long?’ Bonhoeffer looked at his watch.

It was just after 5 p.m. nautical time and it had taken almost two hours for him to get them access. Elena didn’t have any explanation for this delay either.