He finally reached the roof. It was light enough to see that the roof was deserted. He looked around and saw that no other building overlooked it. His eyes rested on the hotel roof. Karima was there gathering the washing from the line. The sudden sight of her shook him. She must have been waiting for him. Maybe she had even watched him cross the street and enter the building.

She beckoned to him to approach. He did; seeing her renewed his determination to carry out his task.

“Did anyone see you?” she asked, turning her back to him.

“No one.”

“Aly Seriakous is downstairs. I’ll wait at the top of the stairs until you cross over.”

She left with the washing and disappeared around the corner. He waited a moment, looked around him, then jumped onto the hotel roof. He proceeded cautiously until he arrived at the door of the apartment.

“The door is open. Come in,” she whispered.

He took a deep breath and entered, finding himself in a darkened hall. She joined him, closing the door behind her, and switched the light on. Her eyes were sparkling but her face was deathly pale. Gone were her seductive looks. They hugged, nervously and without passion, looking at each other with some bewilderment, like two frightened, lost children.

“Any slip-up and we’re lost,” he said.

“Get hold of yourself,” she said. “No one suspects a thing. Everything will turn out the way we planned it.”

She took him through the flat. The hall led into a large bedroom with an adjoining door to a smaller dining room. He glanced at the furniture in the bedroom. The large bed, the sofa, the Turkish divan, all seemed to stare at him with disinterested eyes. He was about to tell her his feelings, then thought better of it.

“What an ugly room,” he said instead.

She seemed to recover from the tension of the moment. “Yes. You must hide here in the bedroom. The moment you hear the front door, get under the bed.”

“Is it a wooden floor?”

“Yes, it’s carpeted all over.”

“He’ll close the front door?”

“Yes. Sawi takes him up. Especially when I’m away. He locks the door himself and leaves the key either in the lock or on the table, here. You unlock it and leave.”

“I might meet someone on the roof.”

“No. Seriakous, the porter, retires after my husband comes up. His room is on the third floor.”

“They’ll ask how the…”

“The windows will be closed, so either he forgot to lock the door after Sawi left or else someone knocked and he opened the door,” she said quickly.

“Is it possible that he’d open the door to someone without asking who it was?”

“Maybe he heard a familiar voice.”

“Then suspicion will fall on those he knows in the hotel.”