Page 37 of We Chase Shadows

The classical music is coming from an open doorway ahead of her to the right. Amy stops. Something here doesn’t seem right. Korbin is expecting her, he told her when to come. Korbin will have been listening out for her and yet he hasn’t appeared. Amy’s radar is now fully operational. She picks up the gun from the hallway table.

Amy slows her breathing. Is she walking into a trap?

20

Rosie and Steve are in a hospital corridor. The heavy smell of disinfectant can’t mask the generations of grief that lie around them like a fog. What tears this place has seen.

Ernesto has sent Rosie three photos. She shows them to Steve in turn.

The first photo is an airport shot of Jakob Eriksson that Steve has already seen.

‘Bratislava?’ asks Steve, and Rosie nods, quickly.

The second photo is another airport shot. Helsinki this time, but that shining skull is unmistakable.

The third photo appears. Eriksson again, this time in Minsk. But Ernesto has added a note underneath.

There’s another man in all three photos. Same guy each time. Must be connected to Eriksson, no? Thought it was interesting. Someone to keep an eye out for! I love you both!

Another man in the three photos. Steve scans the images. In two of them the same man is a couple of places behind Eriksson, and in the other he is directly in front. Clearly someone connected to Eriksson. Someone who works with him? Works for him?

Rosie expands the third picture, the clearest one, with her fingers.

Steve looks at the phone, then looks at Rosie.

He recognizes the man with Jakob Eriksson just as easily as she did.

It is, without a shadow of a doubt, Vern Blackwood’s bodyguard Korbin.

‘We have to tell Amy,’ says Rosie. ‘Now!’

21

The classical music continues to play. In different circumstances Amy might find it calming.

Adam listens to classical music. He has a playlist on Spotify and sometimes he’ll say ‘This is Beethoven’ or ‘This is so and so (an Italian name)’, and Amy doesn’t mind it. He also has a jazz playlist, but he knows not to play that when she is in the house. Amy’s favourite sort of music is no music at all, but classical music is probably the next best thing after that.

Her phones buzzes, and she curses her sloppiness. Holding her breath again, she waits for movement from behind the open doorway. Nothing. If Korbin is in there, he will definitely have heard her phone.

The awful thought occurs again. What if Korbin is lying, naked, under satin sheets? Having misread some sort of signal or other? If anyone in the world ever has sex listening to classical music, it would be a German.

All things being equal, if she walks into that room and Korbin has something in his hand, she hopes it’s a gun.

Amy slips off her shoes. She takes out her phone to switch it off and sees that the message is from Rosie. Not really the time, Rosie, I’m dealing with some sort of a situation here.

Rosie and Steve have been to see Georgie Glazier, Vern’s ex-wife. Rosie probably wants to show off about some piece of information or other she has uncovered. Not knowing that Amy might be on the verge of cracking the whole case. Or being shot. Or, thinking about those satin sheets again, something even worse than being shot.

She opens the message. It reads, very simply:

Korbin is working for Jakob Eriksson. Stay safe until we get there.

Now Amy knows exactly what the situation is. Korbin intends to kill her. Amy appreciates the clarity. Knows which bit of her brain to use.

Kill or be killed. That’s the thing she is good at.

As for ‘stay safe’, it’s a bit late for that. Amy’s shoes are off and she’s holding a gun.

If Korbin was a civilian, this would be easy. Amy would take a long coat from the hallway stand, launch it full length into the open doorway and wait for gunfire. Then at least she’d know where she was. But Korbin is a professional, and when you’re a professional you don’t shoot until you’ve seen someone’s eyes.