M: As long as you don’t compromise Jordan in the process.

P: trust me, it’s all sorted. or it will be, anyway. i’m thinking we can organize it all for the same time. the sting goes off with jordan and we do our stuff, so nobody compromises anybody else.

M: Congratulations! I know how hard you’ve worked for this!

P: i think we need to celebrate in person, marijke. will you come to berlin?

M: I’d love to. But right now I’m too wrapped up in this case. Why don’t you take some days’ leave after you take Radecki down and come to Leiden?

P: i don’t know, it’ll be crazy here after we nail him. let’s just leave it that we’ll crack open the champagne in one city or other once we’ve both got our cases out of the way.

M: OK. But I want you to know that I feel confident about meeting face to face at last.

P: me too. scared, but confident too.

M: I need to go now, I’m actually still at work and there is more stuff I need to do.

P: ok. the harder you work, the sooner the case will be solved and we can plan getting together.

M: You think so?

P: i know it.

Chapter 32

32

Under different circumstances, Carol would have found it hard to fault the evening. An attentive, handsome host, gourmet food, an array of remarkable wines, and surroundings that would have been the envy of the production editor of any interior design magazine. Not to mention conversation that had ranged across politics, music and foreign travel before taking roost in the more intimate territory of past relationships.

But these were not consolations enough to overcome Carol’s underlying feeling of unease. She could never afford to let her guard slip for a moment, never forget that she was wearing another woman’s past instead of her own, never react to any comment of Tadeusz’s without weighing and measuring her response. She was so close now, and a single slip could undo everything.

And at the back of her mind was the constant disturbance created by the resurfacing of Tony in her life. It made this elegantly controlled flirtation with Tadeusz feel doubly duplicitous. Knowing she would end the evening with Tony and not the man who was trying so hard to woo her gave everything strange undertones and layered meanings.

Now, he returned from another trip to the kitchen with a laden tray. He stood in the doorway of the dining room and smiled at her. ‘I thought we could take our coffee in the living room. It’s more comfortable, and the view is prettier.’