Chapter 20
Rosie and Steve are in a hospital corridor. The heavy smell of disinfectant can’t mask the generations of grief that lie around them like a fog. What tears this place has seen.
Ernesto has sent Rosie three photos. She shows them to Steve in turn.
The first photo is an airport shot of Jakob Eriksson that Steve has already seen.
‘Bratislava?’ asks Steve, and Rosie nods, quickly.
The second photo is another airport shot. Helsinki this time, but that shining skull is unmistakable.
The third photo appears. Eriksson again, this time in Minsk. But Ernesto has added a note underneath.
There’s another man in all three photos. Same guy each time. Must be connected to Eriksson, no? Thought it was interesting. Someone to keep an eye out for! I love you both!
Another man in the three photos. Steve scans the images. In two of them the same man is a couple of places behind Eriksson, and in the other he is directly in front. Clearly someone connected to Eriksson. Someone who works with him? Works for him?
Rosie expands the third picture, the clearest one, with her fingers.
Steve looks at the phone, then looks at Rosie.
He recognizes the man with Jakob Eriksson just as easily as she did.
It is, without a shadow of a doubt, Vern Blackwood’s bodyguard Korbin.
‘We have to tell Amy,’ says Rosie. ‘Now!’