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Back The Double Save as PDF
Chapters (63)
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. Acknowledgements

Why not start with Vidor? The police’s probing might resolve his flicker of unease that Vidor might somehow be involved. As a housemate, he may have viewed Ismail as mildly annoying, but surely nothing that amounted to a motive for murder.

31

Vidor entered the conference room to find two police officers standing at the window. The sight made him uneasy. Two against one, an unfair match, though he supposed the police always worked in pairs. Ever since Gessen had shown him that odious video from Copenhagen – obviously a fake meant to frighten him – he’d been irritable and on guard, waiting for another trick to be sprung upon him. These officers could be another of Gessen’s ploys to throw him off balance. With Ismail happy to play along in the conspiracy, only too pleased to put the screws on Vidor and make him sweat.

Behind the officers, the mountains were draped in a fresh layer of snow. One of Gessen’s personal assistants, a petite woman with a cap of sleek black hair like a chickadee, brought in a tray of coffee and pastries.

The woman officer gestured to a chair. ‘Please take a seat, Mr Kiraly. We’ll try not to take up too much of your time.’

Time? He suppressed a sigh. All he had was time. Oceans and oceans of it. ‘Please take all the time you need,’ he said, giving the woman what he hoped was a winning smile. ‘I have nothing but time, and little to fill it with. Tempus rerum imperator.’

‘What’s that?’ The younger officer sat up straight, with all the earnest zeal of a schoolboy.

‘Time: commander of all things.’

The boy noted it down. Another eager beaver. Vidor nearly groaned.

The woman cleared her throat. ‘I understand you’ve been informed of the unfortunate death of Mr Mahmoud.’

‘I have,’ Vidor said. ‘Though until today, I did not know that was his surname.’

‘And why is that?’

‘We use first names here only.’ He paused. ‘To protect our privacy.’

She raised her eyes to his, her pen poised. ‘Did you know Mr Mahmoud well? I understand his room was next to yours.’

‘It was, but he mainly kept to himself. I don’t believe he spoke to me more than once or twice. This is a hospital, Ms…’

‘Müller. Officer Müller.’

‘Not a Club Med.’

She scratched something on her notepad. ‘Could you tell me when you last saw Mr Mahmoud?’