Mutti dives down another couple of small streets, dragging me with her, as though she does know where she is. I keep the remains of my shawl pressed to the burnt side of my face, despite the pain, trying to protect it from the flames.

Then at last, like a godsend, the first drafts of fresh, cooler air, and I know we must have nearly reached the river. There are more people here now, all going the same way, all hoping the great river that flows through our city – through Meissen, Torgau and Magdeburg before finally reaching the North Sea near Hamburg – will be their salvation.

It is wonderful to finally reach it and breathe the glorious, refreshing river air.

But no sooner are we there than Mutti seems to attack me.

Dunking the bad side of my face in the water, again and again. And I realise, through my foggy thoughts, she isn’t attacking me at all.

She’s trying to clean my face.

Trying to save it.

These are her desperate attempts to wash the disfigurement away and give her daughter a future that will not always be defined by her monstrous looks.

Chapter 26

26

Dresden

February 1982

Despite her misgivings, Müller realised she had no real option but to return the children to the school. Her only other choice would have been to plead with Rosamund to look after them temporarily until regular school places could be found. But given her adoptive mother’s obvious closeness to the ski trainer, Wolfgang Mayer, Müller wasn’t prepared to discuss the matter with her in detail. In any case, until Schmidt or another scientist examined the documents handed over by Frau Voights, all she had to go on were the woman’s warnings – and even she had insisted Jannika and Johannes were too young to be under threat, whatever or whoever that threat was from.

*

Back in Dresden, she sought out her forensic scientist. Schmidt seemed genuinely pleased to be able to work on something for her again, rather than being at the beck and call of the uniform People’s Police team.

‘It may take me a day or so to work everything out properly, Comrade Hauptmann,’ he said as he took an initial look over the documents. ‘It looks as though some sort of code has been used – it’s not just chemical symbols, although I suspect the percentages do relate to chemicals in some way. Do you have any more information?’

‘Not really, Jonas, no. From what I can gather the numbers and percentages refer to something being administered to some of the children at an elite sports school—’

‘The one your children attend, in Oberhof?’

‘Yes, Jonas. But that’s not why I’m asking you to do this. It’s not some sort of personal favour. This is connected to the apparent suicide at the TV tower.’