I jumped on the first bus heading back to the centre of town. Staring out of the window, I went over all the little things that had snagged in my mind, that like a fool I’d discounted. My mind reeled back to the hotel room in London. I’d believed that Simone’s laptop, left deliberately open with an easy-to-crack password, was a sign of her trust in me, rather than a deliberate ruse to put Mathilde Brommer in the frame for murder. Then there had been the alleged rape.
When people wake up and bad things have happened to them, their initial reaction is one of optimism. It lasts usually for no more than seconds, half a minute at most, before reality kicks in, and with it a terrible sense of unhappiness. After Simone’s rape, this never happened. I was there. I watched her face. I thought it odd at the time, yet I didn’t know why.
I’d expected bruising on her body as she’d struggled with her rapist. There was none. The brand of cigarettes she smoked matched the Gauloises I’d found in the grass in the graveyard, close to the crypt where Titus had met his death. In matching the timing of key events, I saw that she had plenty of time to be involved in abduction and murder. Whether she carried out every killing herself was debatable. It would take a level of skill that I found tricky to credit. What was certain was that she had killed Lars Pallenberg. Her leather shoulder bag had given her secret away. I knew because I’d used a similar trick myself once. Front opening, purpose-built, a bag like that could easily conceal a weapon like an MP5. I imagined her stopping Lars for directions, her fabulous looks turning his head and halting him in his tracks. It was so simple to empty three bullets into his head, and to spray the rest of the magazine at the unfortunate couple who happened to stumble upon the scene. I understood how Phipps had met his end; China, too. A hapless pawn who initially believed it would save him, China had helped Simone to wipe out his enemies. I could almost hear her stringing him along, carrot and stick, seductively assuring him that it would suit his best interests, and threatening if he didn’t comply. As for Titus, God only knew what happened, but I suspected she’d suckered him like she’d suckered me, his crime to pillow-talk in the dead of night and give away priceless information about McCallen. Right up until the last moment, I bet Benz thought they were in it together – until she put a bullet through his brain.
I called McCallen. ‘Brommer’s clean.’
‘How do you know?’
‘I know.’
‘Well, she’s definitely not in the country and from our latest information she never left Berlin. The BfV are giving her the once-over.’ Internal German security, I registered. ‘This French woman …’
I sharpened. ‘What of her?’
‘She’s not coming up on our system.’
‘She has to. She runs businesses. She pays taxes. She works here, for Chrissakes.’
‘No, you don’t understand. Simone Fabron is a fabrication, as Hex is yours. She’s a ghost.’
Modelled on me, of course. ‘Like Billy.’
‘Shit!’
‘Fabron has been jerking our strings from the beginning.’
‘The other half of the Benz duo. Right, I need to get out of here.’ I had visions of McCallen throwing back the covers, grabbing her clothes and heading out of the hospital.
‘No way.’
‘Fuck’s sake, I’m part of this. It was my mission.’
‘It’s always your blasted mission.’
‘I’m serious.’
‘So am I. For once in your life, do as you’re told.’
‘You might need backup.’
‘You’re in no state and you need rest.’
‘Sweet of you to care.’
She was sarcastic and I was vexed. McCallen was thinking of targets and results and promotion. Give me revenge any day. It was more honest. Picking up on my anger, she tried a more conciliatory approach.
‘It was a joke.’
‘I know.’
‘Hex, you sound strange.’ I felt strange, as if all the demons I’d locked inside were throwing a party. ‘Reminds me of when we worked together before.’
‘That’s good.’ I rallied. ‘We won.’
She fell silent. ‘But that was then. You’re out of that business now. I’ll alert Flynn. He can take care of it.’
‘Why? This was never about national security. It’s personal.’
‘But Benz –’
‘Is dead, used like all the rest until he exceeded his sell-by date. The security services got the outcome they wanted.’
Seconds ticked by. My stop was coming up. I stood up to exit the bus.
‘You can’t go after her alone. Kill her and you lose.’
‘I’m not going to kill her. I’m going to bring her in.’ Did I mean a word of it? The thought of killing a woman made me baulk. The only time I’d ever set out to do so I’d been beaten to it and it had got me into a shitload of mess. I also had a major problem in that I no longer had access to a gun.
I stepped off onto the pavement. ‘I have to wrap up the call now.’
‘Hex?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Don’t get hurt.’
‘I don’t intend to.’
‘Are you armed?’
‘No.’
The line went quiet. I was about to hang up when McCallen suddenly spoke and gave me a location. ‘There’s a DLB there. Inside is a replacement.’ She meant a dead letter box with a gun.
‘You’re taking one hell of a risk on me,’ I said.
‘I did that the first day we met.’
I smiled and thanked her.
‘Win this time,’ she said, ‘for both of us.’