Petra wasn't. One of the three had convictions for minor dealing, another worked in one of Radecki's video stores. And the third owed so much to the local loan sharks that he'd have admitted to sleeping with the Chancellor if the price had been right. She didn't believe any of them. But that was a long way from being able to disprove the story that Marlene still stuck so doggedly to.
She'd come back to the office determined to get the next phase of her strategy off the ground. None of her usual sources had been able to give her any leads on Marlene's I daughter's whereabouts. All she'd been able to establish was I that Tanja had been picked up from school on the day of the shooting in a big black Mercedes. Nobody had noticed who was driving the car, or anything useful like the number plate. She could be anywhere by now. Given Radecki's network, she might not even be in Germany.
But they had to try. So she'd marched into Hanna Plesch's office and laid out her idea. Plesch had heard her out, frowning. Then she'd shaken her auburn head. 'It's too risky,' she said.
'It's the only way. If we run it big as a missing child, we're bound to get a response. Wherever she's being held, someone must have seen her. Or, at the very least, noticed something a bit suspicious. We need to find the girl so we can make it safe for Marlene to tell us what she knows.'
'And what if they decide to cut their losses and kill the m^ kid? What do we say to the media then? Do you really think Krebs will give you the time of day if she thinks you're the one who got her daughter killed?' Plesch stared her down. She was clearly as determined as Petra was.
'We don't have any other choice,' Petra said obstinately.
'Petra, we're getting nowhere with this. We might have to accept it's another dead end. We'll keep working the case, but I won't put a child's life at risk.'
'The child's already at risk.'
'Krebs knows that. And she knows what she has to do to keep her child alive. You're not going to change that. Petra, you might have to let this one go. There'll be other chances.'
Petra glared at her boss. 'Not from what I hear.'
'Meaning?'
'The word is that there's going to be a big operation mounted against Radecki. And it's not going to be ours. Boss, I've worked my arse off for years trying to build a case against that bastard, and if this is going to be our last chance to put him away, I don't want to leave any stone unturned.'
Plesch looked away. 'This job is not personal, Petra. You don't have some sort of divine right to be the one who finally cracks Radecki's organization. It doesn't matter who closes him down, as long as somebody does.'
'You're confirming there is something going down? Something that takes it away from us?' Now her blood was up and she didn't care that she was overstepping the mark. Her eyes were narrowed and there were patches of colour on her cheeks and neck.
'Don't push me,' Plesch said, getting to her feet. 'Just go out there and do your job. We need to talk about this some more, but not now. Listen to me, Petra. We've worked together long enough for you to understand that there are times when you have to trust me. This is not a good time for you to rock the boat. Don't go down the high-risk road. It's not necessary and it's not desirable.' She forced a smile. "That's an order, by the way. You don't expose the child.'
Petra had walked out fuming, her hands clenched into fists at her side. Only later, when her initial anger had subsided, had she analysed what Plesch had said to her. She had verified, albeit indirectly, that something major was going to change in the Radecki investigation. But she seemed to be suggesting that there would be a role for Petra if she kept her nose clean. It was a long way from a promise, but it made her feel slightly less raw about Plesch's dismissal of her plan.
She slouched in her chair and logged on to her internal e-mail. She wasn't expecting anything interesting, but it was better than staring at the wall. She scanned the short list of ? new mail. The only thing that piqued her attention was