The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest Page 0,165

this story's going to turn out. We could end up on opposite sides of the barricades."

"I'll take my chances. Now, are you going to come quietly or do I have to handcuff you?"

The consultant from Milton Security was waiting for Berger when she got home at around 7.00. Her foot was throbbing painfully, and she limped into the kitchen and sank on to the nearest chair. He had made coffee and he poured her some.

"Thanks. Is making coffee part of Milton's service agreement?"

He gave her a polite smile. David Rosin was a short, plump man in his fifties with a reddish goatee. "Thanks for letting me borrow your kitchen today."

"It's the least I could do. What's the situation?"

"Our technicians were here and installed a proper alarm. I'll show you how it works in a minute. I've also gone over every inch of your house from the basement to the attic and studied the area around it. I'll review your situation with my colleagues at Milton, and in a few days we'll present an assessment that we'll go over with you. But before that there are one or two things we ought to discuss."

"Go ahead."

"First of all, we have to take care of a few formalities. We'll work out the final contract later - it depends what services we agree on - but this is an agreement saying that you've commissioned Milton Security to install the alarm we put in today. It's a standard document saying that we at Milton require certain things of you and that we commit to certain things, client confidentiality and so forth."

"You require things of me?"

"Yes. An alarm is an alarm and is completely pointless if some nutcase is standing in your living room with an automatic weapon. For the security to work, we want you and your husband to be aware of certain things and to take certain routine measures. I'll go over the details with you."

"O.K."

"I'm jumping ahead and anticipating the final assessment, but this is how I view the general situation. You and your husband live in a detached house. You have a beach at the back of the house and a few large houses in the immediate vicinity. Your neighbours do not have an unobstructed view of your house. It's relatively isolated."

"That's correct."

"Therefore an intruder would have a good chance of approaching your house without being observed."

"The neighbours on the right are away for long periods, and on the left is an elderly couple who go to bed quite early."

"Precisely. In addition, the houses are positioned with their gables facing each other. There are few windows, and so on. Once an intruder comes on to your property - and it takes only five seconds to turn off the road and arrive at the rear of the house - then the view is completely blocked. The rear is screened by your hedge, the garage, and that large freestanding building."

"That's my husband's studio."

"He's an artist, I take it?"

"That's right. Then what?"

"Whoever smashed your window and sprayed your outside wall was able to do so undisturbed. There might have been some risk that the sound of the breaking window would be heard and someone might have reacted... but your house sits at an angle and the sound was deflected by the facade."

"I see."

"The second thing is that you have a large property here with a living area of approximately 250 square metres, not counting the attic and basement. That's eleven rooms on two floors."

"The house is a monster. It's my husband's old family home."

"There are also a number of different ways to get into the house. Via the front door, the balcony at the back, the porch on the upper floor, and the garage. There are also windows on the ground floor and six basement windows that were left without alarms by our predecessors. Finally, I could break in by using the fire escape at the back of the house and entering through the roof hatch leading to the attic. The trapdoor is secured by nothing more than a latch."

"It sounds as if there are revolving doors into the place. What do we have to do?"

"The alarm we installed today is temporary. We'll come back next week and do the proper installation with alarms on every window on the ground floor and in the basement. That's your protection against intruders in the event that you and your husband are away."

"That's good."

"But the present situation has arisen because