a lot more interesting.'
'Do I have to guess, or are you going to tell me?' Tadeusz's voice was still light and cheerful. However grim Krasic looked, it wasn't enough to dispel the warm glow of his afternoon with Caroline.
'He's been doing some more digging into the bike.' Krasic didn't have to specify which bike. They both knew exactly what he was talking about. 'And what he's come up with is very fucking dodgy, Tadzio.'
Tadeusz swung his feet on to the floor, sitting up in one smooth motion. 'I'm listening,' he said, suddenly solemn, suddenly catapulted from the pleasant haze of the afternoon into what felt horribly like inescapable reality.
'It was British. Registered to the National Crime Squad, whatever that is.'
'Organized crime,' Tadeusz said automatically, his brain racing ahead of his mouth. 'But the rider can't have been here officially, otherwise Hauser would have been able to find out, surely?'
'I don't know,' Krasic said. 'If they were working with the Berlin criminal intelligence lot, Hauser wouldn't have a fucking clue. You know how hard we've tried to get a mole in that squad, and we've never managed it.'
Tadeusz clenched his fist in a gesture of frustration. 'And we still don't know who was on the bike?'
'No,' Krasic admitted. 'But, Tadzio, I really don't like this. There are too many British connections hitting us right now.' He enumerated on his short, square fingers. 'First, Katerina gets killed by a British cop bike. Second, Colin Osborne fucks up our British connection by getting blown away in what looks more and more like a very moody shooting. I mean, nobody really seems to know what happened to Colin. It looked like a gangland execution and that's what the cops put out. But nobody's admitting to it, which is dodgy, in my book. And now, this British woman turns up, the spitting image of Katerina, and she just happens to be the missing link that solves all our problems. It's too good to be true,' he concluded with an air of incontrovertible certainty.
'Everything you say is true,' Tadzio admitted. 'But what you make of it is equally open to another interpretation. As you suggested when this first came up, the biker could have been a British cop on holiday and he had to disappear because he wasn't supposed to have his bike in Berlin. Colin's killer is keeping his head down because Colin has business associates who would want to avenge his death and prove they weren't to be crossed. People like Caroline, for example. Unless of course it was Caroline who had Colin killed to eliminate sloppy competition. I think she could be a dangerous woman, but not for the same reasons you do, Darko. I think she's one of us. She acts like a successful criminal. She looks at the world like a successful criminal. And women who make it in our business have to be twice as ruthless as the men.' I
He stood up and crossed to the drinks cupboard, where I he poured himself a small glass of apple schnapps. 'Darko, I know you think she's not to be trusted, but that's only because of the accident of her resemblance to Katerina. If she looked like the back end of a bus, you'd be a lot less suspicious.'
'Well, that goes without saying. But don't you think the way she looks is reasonable grounds for suspicion?' Krasic sounded incredulous.
'No. I think it's one of the horrible tricks fate plays on us. I would trust her more easily if she looked differently, I think,' he said, knowing in his heart it wasn't true, but refusing to give Krasic any land of leverage. Then he had a moment's inspiration, based on years of experience. 'But, Darko, you're the one who's been watching her.'
Krasic looked startled. 'How did you know? Has she noticed? Did she say something?'
Tadeusz laughed out loud. 'No, she hasn't said a thing. I guessed. So, has she done anything suspicious?'
Krasic gave him a sheepish glance. 'Some shopping. And she goes to that ritzy women's health club on Giesebrechtstrasse every day.'
'Oh, that's really something to worry about, a woman who wants to keep in shape. So, she's not been hanging out in cop bars or deliberately giving your man the slip?'
Krasic shook his head. 'Nothing like that. But then, if she was dodgy, she'd expect us to be watching her.' f
'Now you're being too devious.' Tadeusz crossed the room and clapped Krasic on the shoulder. 'You're a good friend, Darko. But I