Alex turned in his seat. The elegant street was empty. Fine rain made a champagne fizz around globe lamps. He picked out Harry’s doors, set behind a wrought-iron grille, then bent until he could see the third-floor windows above, dark and lifeless. Leather squeaked as his grandfather clambered around to join him looking back. They hunched side by side as rain spattered the rear window. At length, the old man gave a disgruntled sigh.

“I was sure—”

“There.” Alex had seen it. A stab of light across Harry’s office ceiling. “Could it be Harry?” Alex asked. “Maybe he got away and made it back!”

“I rather seriously doubt that.”

Another thin blade of light flashed. Then gone. The old man sat tapping his teeth with a thumbnail. He spoke as if sorting thoughts into order. “Must be them. They got Harry. They know he was on their trail. They want to find out how much he knows. Same as we do. So they’re searching the place. We could wait and follow them when they come out. But they might just destroy anything they find up there on the spot. Right, well, no two ways about it: I have to go up.”

“You can’t go in there without knowing what’s waiting,” Alex protested, unconsciously speaking in a whisper. He glanced up to the window, mind racing. “Listen. You know where Harry is, right? Where they’ve got him in Germany.”

“Well . . . yes.”

“Well, if that’s the tall man’s gang up there, or some of them, that means there are fewer of them guarding Harry, right? So why don’t we try to get ahead of them, just go get Harry now?”

“I’ve no choice.” His grandfather shrugged. “If Harry found out anything about the paintings, I need to see it, Alex. In case we don’t manage to . . . It might not be easy getting Harry back. Besides, there are other things up there that I need. So I’ll go around the rear alley. There’s a drainpipe I can use to get to Harry’s back window. I’ve had to use it before. Bit of luck, they won’t see me until I’ve sized things up. You stay here—”

“I’m not sitting here while you go in alone!”

“Need you to, Alex. Need you to watch the front. If they come out, play it safe, but try to see which way they go. I’ll be right behind them, then we can follow. If anyone else arrives and goes in, sound a blast on the horn to warn me up there. Got it?”

Alex gave him a grim stare. “Got it. But I don’t like it.”

“Don’t worry.” The old man winked, stepped out, hoisted his Gladstone over his shoulder, and headed off, quickly gone from sight as he rounded the street corner.