There was nothing he could think of to say. It surprised him how little he cared that it was clearly over. He turned and headed for the door.

‘Leave your keys on the hall table on the way out,’ Frances shouted at his retreating back.

Tony carried on walking. To his surprise, the prevailing emotion he felt was relief. Relief and a sudden surge of hope. He hadn’t felt this optimistic in years.

Chapter 14

14

Sometimes, Petra wished Marijke van Hasselt didn’t live so far away. Tonight, it would have been good to settle down with a bottle of wine and discuss the day’s events with someone who didn’t have anything at stake but who understood the intricacies of police work. At least tonight Marijke was on-line too, she saw with a lightening of her spirits. They moved into a private chat room and Petra went straight to the question that interested her most. Anything to take her mind off the dead ends of the Kamal/Marlene inquiry.

P: so, how’s the murder going?

M: A lot of work and not much progress. I spent today at the university interviewing his colleagues and students, but we didn’t get a single lead worth pursuing.

P: what, you finally found a victim everybody loves?

M: Plenty of people didn’t like de Groot, but nobody with anything that looks remotely like a motive. You don’t kill somebody just because he failed your thesis or blocked your promotion.

P: god, you dutch are so civilized …

M: What’s even more annoying is that we didn’t find an appointments diary. Apparently he had one of those Palm Pilots that he always carried. But no sign of it.

P: the killer probably took it with him to cover his tracks.

M: So, did you manage to track down what it was that jogged your memory when I told you about de Groot?

P: i’ve narrowed it down to a couple of possibilities, but i haven’t heard back from either of them. you know what these provincials are like, no sense of urgency.

M: FWIW, there’s nothing in our records anywhere in Holland that corresponds to the de Groot murder.

P: so, you’re running round in the dark? nothing from forensics?

M: Not so far. It’s all been very frustrating, going through the motions without any sense of what we should be looking for.

P: there’s nothing harder to work than this kind of killing.

M: I know. Take my mind off it. Tell me about your day.