Tadeusz ignored his response. ‘If she’s a cop, it’s no coincidence that she is Katerina’s double. They’ve been planning this for a long time, Darko. They didn’t just happen to have a convenient lookalike to step into Katerina’s shoes. They thought this whole thing up because they had a cop who could have been her sister.’ His even tone cracked into a sound like a sob. They killed her, Darko. They wiped out the woman I loved so they could set me up. Now I know who to blame for Katerina’s death. Not some stupid fucking careless biker, Darko. Carol Jordan, that’s who.’

Chapter 35

35

Petra leaned back in the comfortless chair and propped her feet up on the narrow prison hospital bed. Marlene was looking as rough as anxiety and prison could make a woman who hadn’t started out with that many advantages. There were bags under her eyes, signalling lack of sleep and maybe even a few tears. All the better for my purposes, Petra thought. In spite of her ambivalence about the timing of the operation, she couldn’t be anything less than whole-hearted in her commitment. She tossed a packet of cigarettes and a lighter to Marlene, who looked at them suspiciously, then shrugged and lit up. ‘What am I doing in here?’ she demanded. ‘There’s nothing the matter with me.’

‘You’ve got acute appendicitis,’ Petra said. ‘Well, we think you have. If we’re right, you’ll have to be transferred to a civilian hospital for treatment.’

Marlene took a long drag on the cigarette, looking blissed out as the nicotine hit her bloodstream. ‘What’s your game?’ she said, affecting boredom.

‘I know where Tanja is.’

Marlene crossed her legs and gave Petra an appraising look. ‘And your point would be?’

‘Children should be with their mothers.’

‘Yeah, but you bastards don’t let us have them with us in here, do you?’ Marlene blew a thin stream of smoke in Petra’s direction.

‘Marlene, I’ve had a hard day. I really can’t be bothered going all round the houses with you. Here’s the deal. I know Krasic is using Tanja as a bargaining chip. You keep your mouth shut and nothing bad happens to your daughter. Personally, I’d consider being tied up like a dog in a farmyard on the bad side, but I’m not you.’

‘What the fuck are you talking about, tied up like a dog?’

Petra cut straight across the interruption. ‘What I’m offering you is this. We liberate Tanja from her keepers, we get you out of here, and we put the pair of you into the witness protection programme. New city, new identity, new life. In exchange, you testify against Krasic and Radecki.’

Marlene stared at her, open-mouthed. She even forgot to smoke momentarily. ‘Why should I believe you?’ she said at last.