by Zoe Allison
She smiled. “Hopefully it’s a good sign. Maybe she spent so long examining everything last night that she’s come up with an explanation.”
He continued to meet her eyes, trying not to let his gaze shift to the way the sun streaming through the window was glinting off her golden hair. “Yes,” he said, “I am sure you are right.”
The door opened and Priyanka entered, along with Catarina. Priyanka looked tired.
“Are you okay?” Vic asked her.
She took a seat. “Yes, thanks. Sorry for not being here sooner.”
Catarina sat down next to her.
“That is no problem,” Vale said. “We only just arrived ourselves. Have you any news for us?”
Priyanka sighed. “Yes, but not the kind you want to hear.”
Vale’s heart sank. “Oh?”
It was Catarina who answered. “We couldn’t come up with any logical explanation. The man’s parents aren’t estranged from him. They only live a few miles away and see him often. Neither has any history of mental illness and both were certain that the face on that body was not their son’s.”
Vale rubbed his neck and caught Vic’s gaze on him as he did so.
“What now?” Vic asked.
Vale studied Priyanka. Their minds were in tune in these situations after working together for so long, the sole secret keepers of The Organization. She would be having the same thought process as him. He shifted his gaze back to Vic’s. She was watching them both.
“I think,” Vale said, “that we need to try to speak to his parents. Under the guise of investigators, I mean. It might help us to get firsthand information from them.”
Priyanka was nodding.
“I’ll go,” Vic said, her expression set.
“But you were only just in Berlin,” Vale said. “We can get someone else to go if you prefer.”
Priyanka interjected. “It’s better if two people go, as per usual protocol.”
Vale shot her a look. He could tell that she was going to volunteer him to go with Vic again and he was still a little suspicious of her motives. He was also becoming concerned about his own behavior around Victoria, having nearly asked her out for a drink the previous evening and being unable to stop himself from quizzing her about her relationship with Gareth during the Berlin trip.
Priyanka must have gotten the message, because she didn’t say anything further.
“Who is free at the moment?” Vale asked. “I am going to stay here with you to oversee matters.” His tone was deliberately more firm than usual.
“I would go,” Catarina said, “but I’m still working on the cases in Lisbon, Rome and Monaco.”
Priyanka typed on her keyboard. She hesitated, then cleared her throat. “Gareth is free. We can dispatch him with Vic.” She had a strange expression that Vale couldn’t place.
“Great,” Vic said, standing. “Immediate departure?”
She suddenly seemed cool compared to her normal manner. Maybe she secretly did resent being the one to travel. They were used to it in their line of work, but it was a little unusual to have to fly straight back to a city one had just come from. “Do you definitely feel okay to go?” he asked her.
She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Of course. Tell Gareth I’ll meet him at the airport.”
“Thanks, Vic,” Priyanka said. “I’m sorting the flight now. I’ll message you the details.”
Victoria turned and left the room.
Catarina addressed Priyanka. “I’m going to head back to my office and keep sifting through the rest of the intelligence from the other attacks. Do you need anything else for Victoria and Gareth’s trip?”
“Yes, can you sort an alias for Gareth, please?” Priyanka said. “Vic can use the same one as last time.”
“Of course,” Catarina said, before gathering her things and leaving the room.
Vale looked at Priyanka. “Do you think she really is okay?”
Priyanka frowned as she typed on her keyboard. “Who, Catarina? She’s always aloof like that.”
Vale shook his head. “Not Catarina, Victoria.”
Priyanka glanced at him. “Yes, why? She seemed fine to me.”
Vale still wasn’t convinced. “She did not seem like herself.”
Priyanka shrugged. “Maybe you should’ve gone with her then.”
He gave her a stare, but she just smiled.
“I knew it,” he said.
She continued to smile. “Knew what?”
He leaned in. “That you were plotting for me to be the one to go back to Berlin with her. You keep trying to throw us together, but it will not work.”
She raised her eyebrows as she typed. “Well, I didn’t this time. I got your death stare loud and clear.”
Vale smiled despite himself. “You can give up on that one. Neither of us thinks of the other in that way.”
Priyanka remained silent on the matter.
Vale shook his head and drank his coffee.
Chapter Five
Vic stuffed her things back inside her carry-on case. She had only unpacked about twelve hours previously, but that wasn’t why she was frustrated. She didn’t mind being the one to go back to Berlin. In fact, she felt it was her duty. But she took umbrage with the fact that Valentino had clearly not wanted to travel with her. She’d noticed his unspoken communication with Priyanka, indicating that he had been desperate not to be paired with her again. It also seemed that he and Priyanka had telepathic abilities with one other.
Why had Vale developed an aversion to her? He clearly didn’t share her feelings, but up until now they’d made a good team. She considered again whether he might be romantically involved with Priyanka. What else would keep the two of them so close, closer than normal colleagues would be?
She sat on her case to shut it. Then she left the bedroom and, on her way out, took a blood bag from the fridge to down before leaving. It was best to take a fill prior to a flight, because it was difficult to sneak the bags of fluid onto commercial aircraft. That whole bag of blood should sate her for a week.
When she went to the door, there was some mail on the floor. She picked it up. As she sifted through the envelopes, a postcard caught her eye and she lifted it out of the pile. It displayed a picture of The Shard. She frowned, turning the card over. On the back was a letter ‘H’ and nothing else, except her address. Her knees buckled and she had to grab the counter to steady herself.
She swallowed, her mouth dry, and tried to steady her rapidly firing heart by taking a couple of deep breaths. He knew where she lived? How long had he known? She glanced at the clock and realized she needed to get moving, so she stuffed the postcard into her bag and grabbed her case.
On the way down to meet her car, her thoughts were racing. How had he found out where she lived? And why send the postcard? Though the answer to the latter was obvious. He was playing games with her again.
Vic climbed into her car. She had tried to deny to herself that the bombings were his doing, but the evidence was mounting up and this just cemented it. She drummed her fingers on her lap. Her denial was borne out of guilt that she had yet to stop him, after all these years of trying. Getting Glassmarsh had been satisfying, but it was Harvey who she really wanted.
She took a deep breath. Should she tell Valentino that she knew the name of the Glassmarsh sibling? It would likely help speed up the investigation. She’d thought she would be able to get away with not saying anything when they had seemed to be on a roll with closing the Glassmarsh case, but then the leads had gone cold and now everything was becoming more obscure.
Maybe she could just tell Vale everything. The thought of that was very tempting. She had been struggling to hold back from him because her draw to him was so strong. He was so patient and understanding—perhaps he would sympathize with her position? However, the niggle of doubt at the back of her mind was too strong. She couldn’t risk alienating him. But was that because she needed Vale as an ally to defeat Harvey—or because she feared losing her
close relationship with him?
She remembered the spike of joy earlier on when Vale had told her she was worth waiting for. She had managed to disguise it—or so she’d thought. However, she must have misinterpreted that statement, because shortly after that, he had clearly indicated that he didn’t want to be the one to travel back to Berlin with her. She rubbed her forehead. Had he realized her feelings for him and was trying to put distance between them because he didn’t feel the same way? She cringed, feeling self-conscious at the thought that he’d figured out how she felt about him.
Vic tried to push him out of her mind and started scrolling through her phone for the flight information that Priyanka had sent over. She typed in a message to Gareth to let him know she was on her way and to meet her at the gate. Priyanka had checked them in online already. Vic was glad she was going with Gareth. Their relationship was straightforward because he was easygoing like her.
She checked her watch as she exited the vehicle and started to make her way through the airport toward security. She would be at the gate dead on boarding time, just the way she liked it. She wasn’t keen on being late, but she didn’t enjoy hanging around waiting either.
Once she got to the departure lounge, Vic scanned the crowd but couldn’t see Gareth. She rummaged through her bag and lifted out her passport. Just then, he appeared from the crowds in the shopping area. She waved. He spotted her and waved back, giving her a smile. Vale was correct in his description of Gareth. He was the definitely the ultimate in dark and handsome. His chestnut-colored eyes had a mischievous sparkle that matched his smile and his dark hair flowed in appealing waves onto his forehead.
“Hi there, Vic.” His accent was as polished as the rest of him, a silky well-spoken English diction that had earned him the nickname ‘Bond’ in The Organization. He was the only operative who sounded like a spy from the movies. He also had a reputation with women to match, but he and Vic had cemented themselves as friends years ago.
He leaned in to kiss her cheek.
“Hi,” she said. “You all set?”
He smiled. “Aren’t I always?”
She laughed. “Yes, you are.”
They boarded the plane and Vic suppressed the feeling of déjà vu as she sat in practically the same seat as a couple of days previously. She pressed herself back and closed her eyes, letting out a slow breath. She had a renewed motivation for the mission to be over. That had always been her desire because of her vested interest in Harvey, but now the will to close the case was even stronger because she needed to distance herself from her unrequited feelings for Valentino.
“Penny for them,” Gareth said.
She opened her eyes and turned her head toward him. “Pardon?”
“Penny for your thoughts,” he said. “You don’t seem like yourself, Victoria.”
She smiled, trying to cover her discomfort that he had noticed something was amiss. “I’m fine.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Are you quite sure?”
“Yes, thanks,” she replied quickly. “Just thinking about the mission.”
Gareth nodded. “It is very mysterious, even by our standards.” He paused. “Did you see Priyanka today?”
“Yeah,” Vic said.
He fiddled with his phone. “How was she?”
Vic looked at him. “Fine. The backbone of the team as always. Why?”
He shook his head. “No reason. So, back to Berlin for the two of us, where we first worked together.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, settling into her seat. “I was just telling Vale that the other day.”
Gareth grinned. “Were you now?”
She took in his expression. Why is he looking at me like that? “Yeah, when we were in our hotel room. He’s had a mission there in the past too.”
“Mm-hmm,” Gareth said, still grinning.
“What’s up with you?” she asked.
He laughed. “You two shared a room?”
She shrugged. “Yes.”
He raised his eyebrow. “And how was that?”
“Okay…” she said. “Why are you being weird?”
He shook his head. “You’re attracted to him.”
She felt heat rise in her cheeks. “I am not. We’re just friends.”
“That doesn’t stop you finding him attractive,” Gareth said.
Vic lifted her magazine. “This conversation is over.” She hid her flushed cheeks behind the pages and listened to Gareth chuckling to himself.
After they had landed and collected their overnight bags, they met their car. They planned to go straight to the address of the deceased’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Weber. Catarina had organized a fake identity from the forensic police for Gareth.
The car traveled out of the city for roughly half an hour. During the journey, they attached and tested their small earpieces and hidden microphones, so that Priyanka and Vale could listen to what was said and communicate any additional instructions. They would also wear glasses that could save digital images with a touch to the frame.
Eventually they arrived in a residential neighborhood. They exited the vehicle, asking the driver to wait for them to conclude then take them to their hotel.
They both secured their lanyards with their fake IDs around their necks and walked up to the front door. Gareth rang the bell and Mr. Weber answered.
“Guten tag, Herr Weber,” Gareth greeted him. He proceeded to converse with him in German. “My name is Ben Bergmann and this is my colleague Johanna Fischer.”
“Ah yes, Officer Bergmann, we were told you would be visiting.” Mr. Weber shook Gareth’s hand, then Vic’s. “Please, do come in.”
“Thank you,” Gareth said as they entered. “And please, call me Ben.”
Mr. Weber led them down the hallway. “I’m Henry, and my wife is Anna.”
They moved into the living room, where Anna Weber was sitting on the sofa. She stood when they came in and shook their hands. Her face was pinched, with dark circles under her eyes. A painful stab of sorrow jabbed at Vic’s chest.
Henry ushered them to sit and Anna went into the kitchen to bring through some cups of tea. Victoria spotted piles of photos and documents on the coffee table. She eyed the pictures, trying to spot someone who resembled the body that they had seen in the morgue.
Anna came back from the kitchen and handed them each a mug of hot tea, then sat on the sofa next to her husband.
Victoria smiled gently at them both. “Thank you very much for seeing us today. We know what a difficult time this is for you, and before we start, we wanted to give you our condolences for what has happened.”
Tears welled in Anna’s eyes and Henry reached over to hold her hand. Vic’s heartache magnified.
“Thank you,” Henry said, his voice cracking. He took a deep breath. “But we are pleased to have you. We’re desperate to find out what has happened to our Erik.”
“We will do our utmost to help,” Gareth said. “Once you’re ready, can you tell us a bit about your son?”
Henry looked at Anna, and she gestured for him to speak first. Henry cleared his throat. “Erik was…is…”—he paused, clearly trying to compose himself—“is a financial advisor. His firm’s office was located in the building that was attacked. He was at work that day…” He paused, breathing deeply.
Anna took over, her voice wobbling. “We heard what had happened on the news and tried to call him, but it just went to voicemail. So we contacted the authorities to report him missing in the attack. There was a long wait for news, and we kept hoping he might phone us to say that he was okay, but…”
There was silence for a moment, and Anna reached for a tissue, dabbing at her eyes.
Henry squeezed her hand. “Eventually they called us to say they had recovered a body they believed to be Erik—by process of elimination really, because the other bodies had been identified by their DNA.”
At that point Anna started openly sobbing. An icy hand gripped at Victoria’s heart. Without thinking, she g
ot up and moved over to the sofa, where she sat next to Anna and put her arm around her. Anna continued to cry onto Vic’s shoulder. Vic closed her eyes and tried to stop the force of the emotions engulfing her. Empathy, sorrow…guilt.
Gareth was speaking from across the room and she tried to concentrate on what he was saying. “Take your time,” he told Anna and Henry. “There’s no rush.”
Henry gulped some air. “We attended the morgue to identify the body, but it wasn’t Erik. I don’t know who that man was, but he wasn’t our son.”
“Have you heard any more from the forensic team since?” Gareth asked.
Henry sighed. “Only to say that they are waiting on the result of a DNA analysis. But we know it won’t be a match.”
Vic heard Vale’s voice in her ear. “The morgue must be withholding that information from the Webers until they can come up with an explanation.”
Henry continued. “There might be more bodies to identify as they search the site, so they hypothesize that they are yet to find him.” He glanced at Gareth. “Of course, we hope that isn’t the case, that maybe he is still alive by some miracle. But then, why hasn’t he contacted us?” He rubbed his eyes.
Gareth nodded sympathetically. “This is so hard for you, but you’re doing a great job in helping us. Have you any photos of Erik we could see?”
Anna managed to lift her tear-stained face from Vic’s shoulder. “Sorry, Johanna. I find it hard to compose myself.”
“No need,” Vic said, “to be sorry or composed.”
Anna smiled weakly and turned to lift some photos from the coffee table. She divided the pile into two and gave one stack to Vic then passed the other to Henry, who handed it over to Gareth, who was sitting in the armchair next to the sofa.
“Vic,” Vale’s voice came through the earpiece again, “try to get some images of the photos.”
Vic looked at the young man in the pictures. She could feel Gareth’s eyes on her, watching her reaction as she took in the person whose face should match that of the cadaver she had seen in the morgue. She pretended to push her glasses up her nose in order to take an image.
Sure enough, the face of the man in the photo was different from that of the Berlin body. There wasn’t even the slightest resemblance. So how did the DNA match? Had the lab made a mistake, mixed up the samples? The next photo she came to was one of Erik on a beach. She examined it and noticed that his physique did match that of the body in the morgue, though that could be a coincidence. Plenty of people had similar shapes and sizes. She lightly touched the side of her glasses to take another image, pretending to push her hair behind her ear. Then, as she examined more closely, her breath caught in her throat. Erik had a distinguishing mark. A distinctive birthmark on his chest, and she had noticed the same one on the cadaver.