Page 160 of The Hallmarked Man

‘—but he did bad things when he vos young.’

‘What sort of bad things?’

‘I don’t know. Sofia thought that made him more…’

‘Exciting?’ suggested Robin, and Gretchen nodded before saying miserably,

‘And shedidhave him at our flat and I knew, because I saw him leaving the building, when I was coming home. I saw him in the distance, a man like – like you said, with dark, curly hair, and he vos older, and I knew it was him. And I said, “you’ve had O – you’ve had him here, haven’t you?”’

Robin decided to ignore the ‘O’ for the present, but before she could ask her next question, Gretchen started to cry again.

‘I didn’t vont her family to know she was with a married man! They’re religious, they’re quite old! That’s why she wanted to come to the UK to study, to get away from dem! She was… innocent. Shevos,’ she told her angry boyfriend, who’d opened his mouth to speak again. ‘She did all dese things, vit the pictures online, but she was… naive. Childish. She vonted to liff in a fantasy… O – he told her not to tell anyone she was with him, because he was married, and he had a kid, but she told me. She was excited about it all, she couldn’t keep it to herself. She vonted to show me the necklace…’

‘Was Sofia with him, the weekend she was killed?’ Robin asked again.

‘I don’t know,’ said Gretchen tearfully, ‘but I sink zo. She said she was going to be going somewhere special. He travelled a lot, so I thought maybe they were going abroad, but she was giggling about it, as if it was… naughty, or something, so then I thought maybe he was going to take her to his house, because his vife was going to be away. I didn’t like it, I didn’t think she should… not viz a married man and a father, it wasn’t right.’

‘Did Sofia tell you where the man lived?’

‘She said he had a big house in the country, with a swimming pool.’

‘Can you remember a county, a town?’

Gretchen shook her head.

Robin laid down her pen.

‘I can tell you’re a good person, Gretchen,’ she said. ‘You’ve got morals. You were worried about what Sofia was up to with that man, and you clearly felt protective of her.’

Gretchen closed her clear green eyes, as though she couldn’t bear to look at Robin.

‘And that’s why I know something big must have stopped you telling the police about this man,’ Robin continued.

‘Ja, I already told you – her family—’

‘I’m afraid I don’t believe it’s because you wanted to protect her parents from knowing she was having an affair with a married man,’ said Robin firmly. ‘They already knew she’d been posting nudes online for money. Anyway, if he’s the one who murdered their daughter, do you honestly think they wouldn’t want him caught?’

Gretchen started to cry again.

‘Are you scared of him?’ said Robin. ‘Are you afraid he’ll do something toyou, if you talk about him?’

Max was now staring up at the Deadbeats’ poster. He’d stopped trying to control the interview; the thing he’d tried to prevent had already happened.

‘Gretchen,’ said Robin, dropping her voice, ‘has this man got pictures of you, too?’

A tiny negative jerk of the head was the only response, but Gretchen’s sobs increased.

‘Has he?’ said Robin quietly, and this time, Gretchen nodded.

‘S-Sofia – he offered her a lot for some pictures of the two of us – I… I vos drunk. And next day… I vonted her to tell him to delete them, but I know he’s still got them…’

‘The best thing you can do, right now, is tell me that man’s name, and anything else you can remember about him,’ said Robin.

‘But der pictures will get in der papers,’ sobbed Gretchen.

‘If you’re a witness, there are ways of protecting you—’

‘People villknowit vos me, my family, people at college—’