Page 159 of The Hallmarked Man
‘Dann geh zurück zur Polizei!’ said Max angrily, and Robin deduced from the last word that Max was telling his girlfriend that the police should receive any information she might have, rather than Robin.
‘You don’t have to tell me what you know,’ said Robin, ‘but youshouldtell the police, if you know anything about that man.’ And now Robin changed tack again, becoming reassuring. ‘I’m sure you won’t be in any trouble. People forget things, and then their memory gets jogged…’
Gretchen was still crying. Max sat down again, putting a tentative hand on her back, muttering in German. The girl shook her head, her shoulders shaking, her face still hidden. Four young people at a nearby table, who were sharing a jug of some purple liquid, were staring over at the scene. Robin cast a cold look at them and they turned hastily back to their pitcher of cocktails.
‘Tell me more about Sofia,’ Robin said, judging it best to leave the subject of the curly haired man for now.
Gretchen looked up. Her tear-stained, woeful face looked childish now. She wiped her nose on the cuff of her fleece.
‘She vos… what Max said,’ she whispered.
‘A party girl?’ said Robin gently. ‘Well, he’s right, there’s no harm in that, is there?’
Still rubbing his girlfriend’s back, Max said through clenched lips,
‘Sag nichts anderes. Sie hat keine Autorität.’
‘I might not be a policewoman,’ said Robin, ‘but we work closely with the police, and continuing to hide what you know—’
‘She vonted a sugar daddy,’ blurted Gretchen.
Robin wouldn’t have needed to know any German at all to recognise that Max had just sworn under his breath. An argument now broke out in their native language, Max speaking in an angry whisper, Gretchen tearful, her voice rising higher and higher in pitch. Several words recurred:Polizei,AnwaltandLüge, the last of which Robin was certain meant ‘lie’.
‘Weil die Polizei es bereits weiß!’ Gretchen threw at her boyfriend at last, and appealing to Robin, she said, ‘They know already, the police, yes? They know she knew that man viz the curly hair?’
In the stress of the situation, her flawless English accent was deteriorating.
‘They do, yes,’ said Robin.And if they didn’t listen when we told them he was at Wright’s house, they will now.
‘You see?’ said Gretchen desperately to her boyfriend. ‘Dey already know!’
‘Tell me about this man,’ said Robin. ‘Where did Sofia meet him?’
‘On… on OnlyFans,’ said Gretchen.
Robin took her notebook out of her bag. Both her interviewees looked frightened at the sight of it, but they were in too deep, now, to run.
‘How long were they together?’
‘Only… a month or something, before she died. She said shelovedhim.’
‘It vosn’tluff,’ said Max impatiently. ‘She liked his money.’
‘He’s rich,’ Gretchen told Robin. ‘He gave her a ruby necklace… real rubies…’
‘Are you sure they were real?’ asked Robin, who was making notes.
‘Yes, because she took dem to a jeweller, and he said they were real.’
‘Was she was wearing the necklace, the last time you saw her?’
‘She wore it all the time,’ said Gretchen, as Robin scribbled. There’d been no mention of a ruby necklace on the body found on the North Wessex Downs.
‘Did you ever meet him, Gretchen?’
‘No, I didn’t vant her bringing him to the flat, I didn’t want any men from OnlyFans at the flat. She said he vos in the music business—’
A second surge of excitement shot through Robin.
