In addition, I resolved to warn Irene Gundlach. Should I summon her to the firm? Ask her to come alone? But what if Schwind accompanied her anyway? Or she found my request odd, and didn’t come? I knew where she and Schwind lived, took a day off, and parked my car so that I had a view of the entrance to the old apartment building. I didn’t have to wait long; at nine o’clock, she stepped out of the door and walked down the street. I followed her on the opposite side. We took the metro to the city centre, and in the rush of the exiting crowd, our encounter seemed coincidental enough.

“How nice to run into you. There’s been a turn of events I wanted to talk to you about. Do you have a moment?”

Was she surprised? She seemed relaxed, and smiled. “I have to cross the river. Would you accompany me?”

We walked through the old city and over the bridge and along the park by the river, discussing the changing face of the city, the upcoming elections, the beautiful autumn. Morning fog still hung over the river, but the colourful leaves were already lit up by the sun. I reminded her that the sun had also been shining and the leaves glowing when she visited my office.

We sat down on a bench, and I told her about my visit to Gundlach, about Schwind’s visit to my office, and the contract that I had drawn up and the two men had signed. I told her my fear for what Gundlach could do to her if she didn’t co-operate. I did not know how she took my news. I did not look at her. I looked at the city across the river. As I spoke, I watched the fog thinning, drifting apart, dissolving. When I finished, the city was bathed in light.

When I finally looked at her, she had tears in her eyes, and I quickly looked away. “It’s okay,” she said with a voice that belied the tears. “Just a few tears.” Then she asked: “Why the contract? What do they get out of it?”

“I think Gundlach wanted to give the agreement a binding formality, even though it can’t legally be enforced. In olden days he would have challenged Schwind to a duel.”

“And you? What do you get out of the contract?”

“If I hadn’t drawn it up Gundlach would have found another lawyer. And I wouldn’t have known what he and Schwind were planning for you.”

“As a lawyer, are you allowed to do this? You represent one of my two men, then you’re in cahoots with the other, then you tell me everything?”

“I don’t care.”