“Not so fast. On Tuesday, your apartment was broken into. The apartment manager called you at the museum, and because nothing was missing, everyone assumed that the burglars had been surprised and scared off. You knew they’d been looking for the painting and hadn’t found it, and hadn’t been after anything else. At dinner you wondered whether they would break into my place, once they found out you were living with me, and you asked if I wanted you to give the painting back.”

“No, that’s not what I asked.”

“It wasn’t a serious question. You arched your eyebrow, just as you’re doing now. We thought about whether we could prevent a break-in. But if they didn’t come the next day, they’d come the day after or the week after. The best thing to do was not to lock the modern safety lock, so they could break in easily, with just a skeleton key.

“That’s what we did, not just on Wednesday, but on Thursday and Friday, and because the door didn’t need to be broken down, we never found out whether they had searched the apartment. Nothing was missing. You went to the museum early, and stayed late, so that Peter or Karl couldn’t intercept you, and I went to my firm, and in the evening we cooked together. On Sunday we had breakfast on the balcony. It was a golden autumn day. We had got through the week unscathed and we started to think that everything might be okay. You wanted to leave soon. But by now I had learned that you loved opera, and I had invited you to La Bohème, and you had accepted.”

“I didn’t nag? I was the sweet little wife in your harmonious little world?”

“I can stop if you want.”

She laughed. “No, but we can’t just spend our lives on the balcony like an old couple!”

I could have, but not her. “On Monday Karchinger and Kunze sent for me. They were sorry, but we would have to part. The rumour that I’d betrayed a client was just a rumour, and they were confident that, were it to lead to prosecution and a trial, I’d be proven innocent. But that might drag on, and meanwhile, I’d be a liability to the firm, I would need to understand that. An important client already wondered whether we would represent him if I was a partner there. I asked if it was Gundlach, but they told me they couldn’t say, and that I should understand that too.”

“Betrayal of a client?”