He could see her looking towards her manager. Tilsner didn’t want someone else interfering – and possibly vetoing the sale.

‘As I said, it’s for our sailing club. Our police sailing club.’ As he emphasised the word, he pulled out his Kriminalpolizei ID and raised his eyebrows. ‘We’re used to people co-operating with us.’

Mention of the police seemed to be enough of a catalyst to make up the woman’s mind. She stopped trying to catch the manager’s attention, and instead found the relevant roll of material and started measuring it off.

*

Once Tilsner had staggered back to the Wartburg with his prize, he was faced with another dilemma. How to get the material to Manfred. He looked at his watch. Karin and Schmidt had probably already finished their tête-à-tête. By rights he should be getting back to Dresden as soon as possible in case they now had anything worth following up. Diverting to meet up with Manfred – who lived at Bad Lobenstein, not far from the Republic’s southern border with Bavaria in the BRD – would add at least two hours to his journey, even if he put his foot down. But Tilsner knew things were coming to a head – there might be no option but to start their ‘sailing’ adventure soon. Without the material, Manfred couldn’t complete the job. He would have to drive there this evening, and just front up any consequences with Karin later.

*

Arriving at Manfred’s small farm, Tilsner could tell he was anything but welcome. Manfred’s wife Sissi wouldn’t meet his gaze, and instead of the usual hug, there was just a curt hello, before she turned back to preparing the family’s supper.

Manfred – too – seemed curiously unfriendly. He gestured with his eyes to Tilsner, indicating that they needed to talk in private.

He led Tilsner into the adjoining cattle barn. Tilsner had to hold his breath to stop himself retching from the stink of cow muck. Manfred sat on a straw bale and gestured to Tilsner to sit next to him.

‘Don’t mind Sissi,’ he said by way of explanation. ‘She and I have had a bit of a falling out over all this.’

Manfred was also finding it hard to meet his old friend’s gaze.

‘What’s happened?’ asked Tilsner. ‘Is she getting cold feet?’

‘I wouldn’t put it exactly like that. We’ve had a thorough talk about it. Both of us feel it’s not the right time for us.’

Tilsner felt his anger rising. ‘What the fuck does that mean? I thought we had an agreement? And now I’ve splashed most of my spare cash on all this material. Why did you let me do that if you’re backing out?’