‘Can I see Sophie’s room?’
Lilli led the way and they stood in the doorway, staring at the same muddle of clothes heaped on the floor, books and tapes piled on top of them. Steve looked slowly, with distaste, around, and hating the idea of someone going through Sophie’s things. An intrusion like this was always disturbing, even when it was an average burglary, but he sensed that this time the motive had been personal and someone had enjoyed wrecking the place.
‘Sophie’s going to hate seeing this! What has been taken exactly, do you know?’
‘She didn’t have much either. A cheap stereo she got secondhand from a pawnbrokers down the block, a radio alarm, her family photographs, for God’s sake. Guy must have thought they were valuable frames – they were art nouveau style, but they were all reproductions, made in Prague, worth very little. And a box file of papers: articles, letters – from her family, from Vladimir, nothing valuable, as far as I know. Sophie didn’t have anything valuable.’
Steve had seen enough. He turned away. ‘Don’t touch anything. Call the police, and when they’ve been here get some professional help to clear the place up, put everything to rights.’
‘I’m not insured, and I can’t afford to pay someone. I’ll have to do it myself, and that will take time.’ Lilli gave him a sharp, searching stare. ‘Look, what’s going on here? I’m not a fool, you know. First Sophie gets pushed under a train, then our apartment’s burgled – what’s this all about, and where do you fit in?’
‘I’m not sure myself, I can only guess and I could be wrong, so I’d better not tell you what I think is happening. But I blame myself for not guessing this might happen, and not taking precautions, so I’ll foot the bill for a cleaner.’
‘A guilt trip?’ Lilli asked. ‘Can you get it on expenses?’
He grinned at that. ‘Good idea, I’ll see if they’ll wear it.’ He knew they wouldn’t, but if it made her feel easier about taking his help he didn’t mind lying. ‘I’m going to Europe day after next – but you can talk to my secretary in Washington. I’ll leave instructions with her to take care of you. She’ll be authorised to pay any bills for the work.’
‘Well, I’m not going to argue. Fine by me. But tell me – did Sophie get pushed under a train because of something you did or said?’
That hadn’t occurred to him. He thought about it, frowning. Had his intervention, when the two security guys questioned her, done some damage? Was Gowrie afraid she might sell her story to him?
‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘I certainly didn’t mean to put her in any danger. On the contrary. But you could be right.’
‘I don’t know what you are talking about, but you aren’t making me any less worried about Sophie. The hospital said she could be discharged tomorrow – she can’t come back to this mess.’ Before he could answer, she took a ragged breath and harshly broke out, ‘What if whoever did this tries again – comes back to get her?’
‘That’s why she mustn’t come back here when she leaves the hospital,’ Steve said quickly. ‘So long as she is fit to travel, I’ll take her to Europe with me.’
Lilli focused on him, breathing audibly. ‘What?’
He had been thinking about it in the back of his mind ever since he saw Sophie in the hospital; he couldn’t go to Europe knowing she might be killed while he was away. It had taken a while to figure out how to make sure he knew where she was all the time. He could put her on the expense sheet as a researcher. He sometimes took one with him, and Sophie said she had lived in London for a time; she knew the place well, he could easily prove a case for having her with him. He could swing it with Harry.
All he had to do was hint that she knew something about Don Gowrie’s private life. Sophie must have a union card, she was, after all, a professional journalist – that qualified her to be employed as a researcher.
‘But will she be safe? How do you know she’ll want to go? If I was her, I’d be too scared to go anywhere.’
‘Sophie isn’t the type to scare easily.’ He was sure of that. What little he had seen of her so far had convinced him she didn’t lack guts; she would never have outfaced Don Gowrie, with all the power he could muster against her, if she were a coward. Sophie had gone up against Gowrie knowing it would make her an enemy, a dangerous one.
He looked at Lilli and shrugged. ‘But I won’t try to talk her into it if she is scared, don’t worry.’
The attack on her had failed, but it was a warning. She might be wise to heed it.
On his way to the door of the flat he took a last look round the sitting-room and saw the edge of black paper protruding from under the table which had been thrown on to its top and lay like a stranded turtle on a wrecked beach, legs in the air. Steve bent to lift the table with one hand while with the other he drew the sheet of paper out.
Lilli came up beside him. ‘Sophie’s wheel!’ She took it from him and held it at arm’s length to stare at it. ‘I didn’t even dare look for it. I was so sure they’d destroyed it, like everything else.’ Her face lit up. ‘This is like an omen . . . they didn’t manage to kill Sophie, and her wheel is OK too. D’you think it’s an omen?’
‘Maybe,’ Steve said, and patted her shoulder comfortingly. ‘It will comfort her for the loss of her family photos, anyway.’ Then his eyes narrowed. ‘Lilli, could I borrow this? I’ll take good care of it, you’ll have it back, I promise. I just want to have it photographed.’
She didn’t let go of it. ‘I’ve got a photocopier in my bedroom.’
‘No, the reproduction wouldn’t be good enough. It has to be done by a very good photographer. You’ll have it back tomorrow afternoon, don’t worry.’
She still didn’t quite trust him, he saw the wary suspicion in her eyes. ‘What do you want a photo of it for?’
‘I’m not sure yet; I just have a feeling the wheel might be important.’ It was rare for Steve to act without knowing quite why he was doing what he did, but there was so little to go on that he had to grasp at any straw he came across.
Why had they taken those framed family photographs? Lilli said the frames were practically worthless, just cheap modern reproductions – of course, the thieves might not know that and might have believed they were valuable. But Steve had a feeling those family photos could be revealing and he wanted a better look at them. Enlarged and sharpened in detail, they might tell him something.
‘A hunch, huh?’ Lilli smiled suddenly. ‘You don’t look the kind of guy who works on hunches, but they’ve often worked for me. Men laugh at female intuition, and then turn round and talk about gut instinct – well, let me tell you, it’s the same thing. You know, I might even learn to like you, Mr Reporter.’ She held out the big black sheet of paper.