The Warmth of patrons and the steam of the machines had produced a film of condensation on the window that diffused the light and color of the street. Something caught Irina’s eye and she wiped the glass. Max was outside. How long had he been looking in?

He entered and said, “You two seem to be getting on like a pair of conspirators.”

“Join us,” Arkady offered.

“Where have you been?” Max asked Irina. His manner was alarmed, relieved, alarmed, in three rapid steps. “You haven’t been at the station all day. People were worried about you; we were out searching for you. You and I were supposed to go to Berlin.”

“Talking to Arkady,” Irina said.

Max asked, “Are you finished?”

“No.” Irina took one of Arkady’s cigarettes and lit it. She made it a drawn-out gesture of unconcern. “Max, if you’re in a hurry, go to Berlin. I know you have business there.”

“We both have business there.”

“My business can wait,” Irina said.

Max was absolutely still for a moment, reevaluating Irina and Arkady together, then dropped his brusque manner as easily as his hat, which he shook free of rain. Arkady remembered Stas’s description of him as liquid, the master of a changing situation.

Max smiled, pulled up a third chair, settled and gave Arkady a nod of acknowledgment. “Renko, I’m amazed you’re still here.”

Irina said, “Arkady has been telling me what he was doing the last few years. It’s different from what I’d heard.”

Max said, “He was probably modest. People claim he was the darling of the Party. A well-earned status, I’m sure. Who knows what to believe?”

“I know,” Irina said. She blew smoke Max’s way.

He brushed it aside, considered his hand as if he had caught a cobweb and raised his eyes to Arkady. “So how is your investigation going?”

“Not well.”

“No arrests imminent?”

“Far from it.”

“And you must be running out of time.”

“I was thinking of abandoning the entire case.”

“And?”

“Staying.”

“Really?” Irina said.

“You’re joking,” Max said. “You came all the way to Munich to give up? Where’s your patriotic duty, your sense of pride?”

“I have very little country left and I certainly have no pride.”

“Arkady doesn’t have to be the last man in Russia,” Irina said.

“You know, some people are going back, some people see opportunities,” Max pointed out. “This is a time to contribute, not run away.”

Irina said, “That’s interesting, coming from someone who has run twice.”

“It’s hilarious,” Stas said. He closed the café door and fell back against it, a rain-soaked mime of collapse. “Irina, the next time you vanish, leave a forwarding address. This is the most exercise I’ve had since Laika learned to fetch.”

His clothes looked wrung, body and all, but he stayed on his feet and concentrated his attention on Max.