Her face crumpled into a mask of consternation. ‘Oh shit! I need to shower, I’m disgusting.’

‘I don’t think she’ll care about that.’

‘I care!’ Petra started for the bathroom, but before she could get there, the door buzzer sounded. ‘Oh shit,’ she repeated.

‘Too late.’ Tony edged forward on the seat, wincing as his ribs protested at the movement. ‘I’ll just go and have a lie-down.’

‘No, stay,’ Petra commanded, looking worried. She pressed the door release and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Jesus, I am so nervous about this.’ She swallowed hard and went to open the apartment door. She leaned in the doorway and listened to the footsteps echoing in the stairwell.

Then suddenly Marijke was there, grinning from ear to ear. ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘You don’t mind?’

Petra opened her arms and enveloped her in a hug. ‘I’m so glad to see you,’ she mumbled into her hair.

‘I booked a hotel, like Tony said. But I wanted to talk to you both first,’ Marijke said, pulling away to plant a kiss on the corner of Petra’s mouth.

‘Both of us?’

Marijke nodded. Petra took her hand and led her inside. The three of them exchanged greetings and commiserations over Tony’s injuries while Petra opened a bottle of wine. ‘So,’ she said. ‘What is it you need to talk to us both about?’

‘I have to go back to Köln to discuss what we do about Mann,’ Marijke said. ‘They have been looking at him for four days now and he has done nothing at all suspicious. And they tell me that tomorrow the Rhine will be reopened to commercial traffic, and it will be difficult to keep him under surveillance once the Wilhelmina Rosen is under way.’

Petra snorted. ‘What they mean is that it’ll cost too much. Jesus, I hate those tight, stupid provincials.’

‘They might also be afraid that they’ll lose him and he’ll kill again and they’ll get caught up in a firestorm of media blame,’ Tony pointed out.

‘I don’t think they want to call it off. But we know now that the Wilhelmina Rosen’s next destination will be Rotterdam. Mann must be aware that he’s the subject of a manhunt here in Germany, but so far we have managed to avoid anyone in the media making the connection with our case in Leiden, so I think he’ll feel more safe to kill in Holland.’

‘So you’re going to continue the surveillance once he crosses the border?’ Petra asked.

‘This is what we will discuss tomorrow. If he comes to Holland, I want to end it. I don’t want this to drag out. But unless he makes a definite move, we will have nothing against him except circumstantial evidence. So I need your help. I am thinking maybe you will have better ideas than me?’