‘It’s as though the old man ordered it this way, that we should be speaking of him now. He had a talent for manipulating the direction of human affairs.’

Louis considered this a peculiar way of describing it, although he couldn’t entirely disagree. Minutes later, they crossed the invisible border with the Netherlands.

‘To return to your original question,’ said Hendricksen, ‘if there is a way that they can be taken alive and handed over for trial, will you allow it?’

‘I’ll consider it,’ he said, which he felt was a suitably gnomic reply, ‘but not if this is the only evidence of their guilt.’ He held up the picture of Bilbija at the wheel of the van.

‘The women were raped,’ said Hendricksen. ‘There was semen present, so the men who did it weren’t using protection. If they were negligent in that way, they may also have been negligent in others. There will be DNA evidence. With that will come leverage.’

Louis wasn’t so sure. These were hardened men, with military as well as criminal backgrounds. It would take a great deal of pressure to make them turn on one another.

‘You already sound like you’re trying to talk me out of what I came to do,’ he said.

‘I don’t believe I’m capable of doing that. I’m just suggesting that there may be alternatives.’

‘Not if they return to Serbia.’

Hendricksen conceded with a shrug. The Serbian justice ministry adjudicated extradition requests on a case by case basis, generally linked to political relations between Serbia and the country in question. Relations between the Netherlands and Serbia were good, the Dutch being supporters of Serbian efforts to join the European Union. But extradition proceedings could drag on for years, even with the political will to facilitate them, and that was before one took into account the possibility of corruption. The Vuksans had money, and a degree of influence. If they managed to embed themselves in Serbia, the brothers would be long dead before anyone got around to signing their extradition papers. There was little purpose in putting a corpse on trial, and cadaver synods were only for popes.

‘Still,’ said Louis, ‘the first step is to find them.’

‘Finding them will be time-consuming,’ said Hendricksen, ‘and expensive.’

‘We have money.’

‘Very expensive.’

‘Lots of money.’

‘Well, then,’ said Hendricksen, ‘perhaps it won’t be so time-consuming after all. Money, I find, hastens progress.’

Behind them, Angel woke, stretched, and stared out at the flat landscape.

‘If I was rich and lived here,’ he said, ‘I’d build a mountain and declare myself king.’

‘If you lived here, everyone else would leave,’ said Louis. ‘Anyway, you think that’s how royalty works?’

‘Pretty much,’ said Angel. ‘I’ve read books.’

‘You know, he has a point,’ said Hendricksen.

‘Don’t tell him that,’ said Louis. ‘He’ll start believing he has more of them.’