Roemer dropped Manning off downtown and went over to his own office. He got a cup of coffee and a roll from the canteen and took the elevator up. The only people on duty were the switchboard girl and the night officer. Neither noticed Roemer’s arrival. He took off his coat and opened the six-inch-thick sheath of files he had amassed on this case. He thought once again about Leila Kahled. She was a trained Mukhabarat operative, and she lived under the same roof as the murderer. Did she know who it was? Did she have suspicions? Or had she become so blinded by pursuing old Nazis that she had seen or heard nothing? Frankly I didn’t think Leila played that rough. Whalpol’s words. Yet Roemer suspected that Khodr Azziza had come to Switzerland at Leila’s behest to kill or kidnap Roemer’s father. It would take them a little time, so he had some breathing room. Time enough, he hoped, to identify and arrest the murderer. Afterward he would go to Interlaken to take up the vigil with Sergeant Rilke.
