Carol of course had been whisked away to Den Haag by Morgan and Gandle. They had informed Hanna Plesch that they would debrief Carol there and pass on all their information to the Berlin criminal intelligence unit, who were working flat out to roll up Radecki’s networks across Germany and beyond. Petra had complained about this too, but she might as well have saved her breath. Plesch was perfectly happy to have one less thing to think about in the aftermath of the dramatic and unorthodox climax to the operation against Radecki.

Petra had endured an uncomfortable interview with her boss on the subject of Tony’s presence in Berlin and her own involvement in the serial killer investigation. But once it looked as though nothing was going to emerge in the media about the more bizarre elements of the showdown, Plesch had relaxed. She’d been more concerned over the possibility of having to answer questions about the presence of a Dutch cop and two British intelligence officers in a Special Ops action than she was about what she called Petra’s anarchic behaviour. She could afford to be indulgent after such a good result, Petra thought.

Marijke had left for Köln the next morning on an early flight. They’d managed to spend rather less than an hour alone together in the course of that chaotic night, and they’d both been too dazed by events to be capable of anything other than bemused, sporadic conversation. Petra had a horrible feeling that they’d never find a way back to their previous ease with each other, and she regretted the loss already.

She walked quietly through to the living room, where Tony was sitting upright on the sofa. ‘Hi,’ she said.

‘Good day?’

She shrugged out of her leather jacket and tossed it over a chair. ‘Hard work. We’ve been pulling in Radecki’s underlings all day and trying to find enough bodies to interview them. Even with all leave cancelled, we’re struggling.’

‘But at least you feel like you’re getting somewhere,’ he said.

‘Oh yeah, we’re making real progress.’

‘That’s more than can be said for Marijke.’

Petra gave him a quizzical look. ‘Have you been talking to her today?’

He nodded. ‘She called this afternoon. She’s got to go back to Köln tomorrow, and she wanted to know if she should come via Berlin. She couldn’t get hold of you at the office or on your mobile, so she rang here.’

‘What did you tell her?’

Tony smiled. ‘I told her she’d better book a hotel room since I’d turfed you out of your bed and I didn’t think the two of you would fancy sharing the sofa.’

Petra felt a blush spread up her neck and across her face. ‘So when does she get here?’

Tony looked at his watch. ‘She’ll be walking through the door any time now.’