A school party arrived, a crocodile of six-year-olds, all wearing high-visibility yellow vests, like a team of miniature construction workers. After a time, Ethan went and stood next to two little girls. One was holding a rabbit while the other stroked it. A young female teacher came across and said something to Ethan that Frieda couldn’t hear. Ethan looked round and pointed at Frieda. The teacher took him by the hand and led him across to her. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘He can’t be with our children. Something might happen.’

‘Not while I’m here,’ said Frieda.

‘It’s the rules,’ said the teacher. ‘It’s not my decision.’

‘It never is,’ said Frieda.

The teacher looked puzzled, but Frieda just led Ethan away, tired, complaining, overexcited, shouting that he wanted to stroke the goat.

23

The site manager was called Gavin and he wasn’t pleased.

‘What kind of emergency?’ he said.

‘Back in an hour,’ said Josef. ‘Two maybe.’

‘Two hours? What is this? A hobby?’

‘I’ll cover for him,’ said a voice.

The two men looked round. It was Marty.

‘What are you talking about?’ said Gavin. ‘If you can do his job and your job, then what do we need him for?’

‘Joe is the best man on this job. And if he says it’s an emergency, then it’s an emergency.’

Josef looked at the two men with some apprehension. Things were either going to get better or they were going to get worse. Gavin’s face reddened, but something in Marty’s expression changed his mind. ‘Two hours,’ he said. ‘And don’t make a habit of it.’

As he left, Josef gave a nod of thanks at Marty.

‘Is there a problem?’

‘Just a friend.’

‘This Frieda?’

Josef shrugged. ‘Maybe.’

‘She’s lucky to have you as a mate.’

‘No. I am the lucky one.’

Every part of the journey seemed to take longer than it should have. Josef had to wait for the lift at Chalk Farm station. The train stopped in a tunnel for ten minutes, with repeated apologies to passengers over the Tannoy. As he emerged from Elephant and Castle, he got a signal and rang Frieda again. Nothing. He ran to the flat where Frieda lived, knocked at the door and rang the bell. Nothing. He knocked again and heard sounds inside. Finally the door opened. It was the blonde, the one without the breasts.

‘Frieda, is she here?’

‘I don’t know. In bedroom, maybe.’

Josef walked past her and pushed open the door of Frieda’s room. The bed was made as if for an army inspection. He looked round. Mira was at his shoulder.

‘She not here much. Work with the children, I think.’

‘Where?’

‘I don’t know.’

He took out the letter and looked at it. Should he give it to this woman? He thought of Frieda and then he thought of Karlsson. Karlsson was breaking the law. It felt like too much of a risk. He put the letter back in his pocket.

‘Tell Frieda to call me,’ he said. ‘If she ring or come back, say to call me. Important.’

‘You can wait,’ said Mira. ‘Have coffee.’

‘No,’ said Josef. ‘Just to call me.’

Frieda sat in the Watched Pot coffee shop and waited. Bella Fisk had been very reluctant to meet her but had eventually agreed to give her ten minutes of her time. Frieda wondered how she would identify her. But the door swung open, a woman walked in and Frieda was sure. She was starting to recognize Sandy’s type. Bella was tall, in a dark dress, with blue leather boots that were only half laced-up. She had brown frizzy hair and looked fierce and clever. She noticed Frieda’s glance and came over to the table.

‘What’s this about?’ she said.

‘Thank you for agreeing to see me.’

‘Yeah, but why are you so keen to dig around in the past?’

‘I knew Sandy. Some time ago. Can I buy you a coffee? We’ll just be a few minutes.’

She sat down. Frieda went over to the counter and ordered two coffees.

‘Nice place,’ she said, when she returned.

‘It’s not too bad,’ said Bella. ‘It’s my local. A friend of mine is coming in a few minutes. We’re going out.’

‘Fine,’ said Frieda.

‘What do you mean, “fine”? Of course it’s fine. I said ten minutes. So, tell me what this is all about.’

‘Everybody’s shocked about what happened to Sandy. I’ve been trying to talk to people who knew him.’

‘Why?’

‘I want to know how he was. In those last days.’

‘Old lover, was he?’

‘A friend,’ said Frieda.

A faintly ironic smile appeared on Bella’s face. ‘If you say so.’ She paused as a middle-aged woman arrived with two vast coffee cups on a tray. After the woman had gone, Bella stared at Frieda with a challenging expression.

‘So … what was your name?’

‘Carla.’

‘Carla. Funny. He never mentioned that name. So, Carla, you want to know about Sandy’s work life?’ Frieda didn’t reply. She just sipped slowly at her coffee and waited. ‘All right,’ said Bella. ‘Who have you been talking to?’

‘I just want to hear how Sandy was.’

There was a pause. Bella’s demeanour had changed. She was thinking hard and seemed restless.

‘I don’t know what this is about. Are you some kind of stalker?’

‘No. Sandy’s dead. You can’t stalk a dead person.’

‘I’m not so sure about that,’ said Bella. ‘By the way, if, when, my friend turns up, maybe we can stick to the work bit with Sandy. I mean, it’s not a big thing – Tom and I aren’t anything all that much – but you know how it is when you’ve just met someone.’

‘Of course. How was it with Sandy?’

Bella narrowed her eyes. ‘You know, I’m still trying to make you out. I’m trying to imagine going round to one of my ex-boyfriends’ ex-girlfriends and asking how things were with him.’

‘I know it must seem odd. But meanings change when someone is killed. Old rules don’t apply. For complicated and painful reasons, I feel I need to find out about Sandy’s life before he died.’

‘To lay him to rest, you mean?’

‘If you like,’ said Frieda.

‘Did he hurt you?’

Frieda gritted her teeth. ‘Perhaps.’

‘OK, then. But I don’t think I can help you much with whatever it is you’re after. He never mentioned you, if that’s what you want to hear. Sorry. And I wasn’t that close to him. We worked together, we had a couple of meals, we hooked up a few times. That was all.’

‘You make it sound like nothing.’

‘It wasn’t nothing,’ said Bella, looking down into her coffee. She hadn’t touched it. ‘But it wasn’t that much more than nothing.’

‘Why did it end?’

‘I don’t know. How do these things work anyway? You meet someone, you get on, you sleep together a few times and then it just stops happening.’

‘Did you mind?’

Bella’s smile was graver now, less mocking. ‘You’re persistent, I’ll give you that. I haven’t said this to my real-life actual friends. I should be better at this than I am. Sandy was good to work with and he seemed to be in some kind of distress and I thought he needed me. Well, maybe he did, but not in the way I expected. It wasn’t his fault.’

‘Someone said that he was behaving badly to the women he was with.’

‘Oh, someone.’ Bella Fisk sounded derisive.

‘That perhaps he hurt people and then felt guilty.’

‘Is that what happened to you?’

Frieda didn’t reply.

‘He didn’t hurt me. There were no promises on either side. The woman he was kind of with before me, or maybe alongside me, she was a bit upset, I think – but not for long. She soon found comfort elsewhere.’