‘A certain amount of my business depends on the waterways,’ he said cautiously. ‘As you’ve discovered for yourself, I like to know who I’m dealing with, so I’ve talked to many schippermen over the years. Having the boat makes it easy for me to be among them for legitimate reasons.’

‘Surely you don’t cruise all over Europe? It would take ages.’

‘Usually I have the boat lifted out of the water and towed to where I want it to be. Then I do a little cruising, and a little business.’ He smiled. ‘All very unsuspicious, no?’

‘Very clever,’ she acknowledged, pleased that her masquerade was finally beginning to produce some hard information.

He pointed out various landmarks as they continued along the canal and into the River Spree again. As they turned into the Westhafenkanal, Tadeusz waved his arm towards the right bank. ‘This is Moabit. Not always the nicest part of Berlin, I’m afraid. There were some rough turf wars here between the Albanians and the Romanians, fighting over who got to run their prostitutes where. Low-life stuff, not the sort of thing that interests business people like us.’

‘What interests me is supply and demand,’ Carol said. ‘You can supply me with what I need, and I can supply the paperwork they’re paying for. For a price, of course.’

‘Everything has a price.’ Tadeusz stood up. ‘Time for more champagne,’ he said, disappearing below.

Damn, Carol thought. She was fed up with this. Not that he wasn’t a charming and entertaining companion, but if she’d wanted a guided tour of Berlin, she could have climbed aboard an open-topped bus. It wasn’t easy to sit back and appreciate the architecture when her survival required her never to let her guard drop. She wanted to cut to the chase, because the sooner they got down to business, the sooner this whole operation would be over and she could return to her own life.

Tadeusz returned with another half-bottle of champagne. ‘OK. We have a little way to go before the next really scenic bit. So maybe you can tell me what it is you think I can do for you.’

Carol sat up straight, assuming the body language of someone engaged in serious discourse. ‘It’s more what we can do for each other. Are you going to be straight with me this time, or are you still pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about?’

He smiled. ‘I’ll be honest with you. I did make some preliminary inquiries to see if you were who you claimed to be.’

‘As I did with you,’ Carol interrupted. ‘I wouldn’t have made an approach to you if I hadn’t taken a long, hard look at your professional pedigree. So, am I the woman I say I am?’