‘We wouldn’t. You need to keep your distance from this psycho. Don’t react to any more messages or calls—not in any way. Keep clear of Arthur Grimm, and if anything seems strange to you, you must call the police at once.’

Norah’s eyes fell on Max’s British bulldog Lolita who was asleep on the rug, oblivious to the excited buzz of voices filling her territory.

‘You’re worried,’ Norah said.

‘Of course I’m worried,’ Sandra replied. ‘Whoever’s behind this story is clearly crazy.’

‘Okay,’ said Norah, ‘I’ll take your advice and lie low. But I don’t think he or she is going to stop.’

She noticed that she was fiddling with her cigarettes again. She opened the packet and took one out.

‘I have this feeling that something’s going to happen on February 11. And it’s only three days off.’

‘Now listen to me,’ Sandra said firmly. ‘You’re not going anywhere on February 11 and certainly not to the Prater.’

‘What about my interview?’ Norah asked.

‘You’ll cancel it, of course. Call in sick. If your boss is angry, you’ll just have to put up with it.’

‘And the gun? I need to get rid of the gun.’

‘As a lawyer I have to advise you to do the right thing and hand it in at a police station.’

‘And as a friend?’ Norah asked.

‘Have you touched it?’

Norah shook her head. ‘No.’

‘Then, as your friend who knows that you haven’t had the best of experiences with the police, I would understand if you went and dropped it in a deep stretch of the Danube,’ Sandra said drily. ‘Provided you wear gloves,’ she added. ‘But since I’m a lawyer I do of course have to advise you against such a course of action.’

‘I see.’

‘If you like, I’ll come and keep an eye on you,’ Sandra said. ‘I could jump on the next plane.’

Norah smiled. Sandra was tough—not someone to worry herself for no reason.

‘That’s sweet of you, but not necessary,’ she said. ‘But thanks.’

‘All right,’ Sandra said. ‘This is the plan: you keep calm and take care of yourself. Especially on the eleventh. And I’ll have a think about how best to deal with all this. And especially what we tell the police. Because there’s no question that sooner or later we’re going to have to take this to the police, okay?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘It’s not funny.’ Sandra sounded severe.

‘I know.’

‘I’ll come up with something,’ Sandra said more mildly.

‘And we’ll hunker down together on the eleventh,’ Max said, ‘at least in the evening.’

‘Okay,’ said Norah. ‘On one condition. You bring a bottle of this amazing red wine with you.’

‘No way,’ said Paul.

He grinned.

‘We’ll bring two.’

47

Norah would have liked to spend the night at Max and Paul’s instead of returning to her lonely, empty flat, where she hadn’t felt properly safe even before the gun had turned up under her bed. But she gritted her teeth and caught a cab back to Rilkeplatz. Up in the flat, she put the black case in her handbag. Then she headed straight out again, found a lonely spot on the Danube Canal and dropped the gun in the water.