“I understand.”
Her response was clipped, and I noticed her taking a turning on the left, her fingers blanching as she acquiesced with the impromptu diversion.I hadn’t expected her to offer to take me to the house right away, but staring out at the gloomy sky, I realized I couldn’t have conjured a better opportunity.With Kaspar distracted by her own compliance and the only official in tow, it would be potentially much easier to fulfil my real reason for being there.
“I promise I won’t be long,” I went on, suddenly conscious of needing to fill the towering quiet in the vehicle.
She appeared to be giving me what I wanted, but I sensed there might be a price tag attached to the request.I only hoped I could afford the cost.
“That is good.”She didn’t turn to meet my eyes, and the absence of the gesture knotted my unease.“I shall have to ask Mr.Harper about this man he knows.”
“I’m sure he’ll be happy to help if he remembers.”I was suddenly thankful for Harper’s abrupt bout of amnesia.
“Of course, we can track down the owner of the house with ease, anyway.”Her knowing tone did little to assuage my concerns.“Then I can speak to him myself.”
“Absolutely.”My attention slid to the window, a hundred questions rushing through my mind.
If Kaspar spoke to Fabian, what would happen?For starters, I was certain he would tell the truth and confirm he hadn’t known Harper prior to meeting us both on that day in the café, but then, he would also have questions to answer about leasing his property to unvetted tenants.I didn’t know the law in Switzerland, but if it was anything like the UK used to be before it fell to fascism, signing a tenancy agreement could take weeks to finalize and involved numerous checks.Fabian and Harper had settled the matter in little over an hour.
The slowing car dragged my attention from my growing woe, and lifting my head, I realized I’d been staring at my hands in my lap.
“Are w-we here?”I asked, not recognizing any of the local properties as she brought the car to a halt.
Harper and I hadn’t been in the area long, but I’d come to know a few of the local cafes and restaurants near the rented house, and none of the buildings out of my window looked familiar.
“No.”Her voice was stern.“This is not the address Mr.Harper was arrested at.”
“Then...where are we?”A part of me dreaded to ask, but it seemed Kaspar had something she wanted to say, and I wasn’t getting back into the house until she’d said her piece.
“We are at a crossroads.”Applying the parking brake, she shifted in her seat.“Where I am going to need you to tell me the truth.”
Shit.I didn’t like the sound of that.
“Iamtelling you the truth,” I started, but the wry look on her face conveyed how little she believed me.
“If you cannot be honest with me about how you and Mr.Harper came to be at the address, then I see little reason to take you there.”Her glare bored into me, as though she was daring me to lie to her face again.
“Please.”The initial niggles of what could prove to be a headache enflamed in my temples.“What does it matter how they knew each other?”
“It matters that you are lying.”She folded her arms across her chest.“My colleagues and I have gone out of our way to show you compassion, yet you are not telling us the truth.”
Closing my eyes, my hands rose to rub at the burgeoning pain in my forehead.“If I tell you the truth, then the man who owns the house will be in trouble.”
“If he has broken the rules, yes,” she barked.“Why defend him?”
“Because he helped us.”I blew out a breath, wondering how I’d slipped into the latest pit I’d fallen into.“He helped us when no one else would.I don’t think he deserves to be punished for that empathy, Officer.If anything, the world needs more empathetic men, not fewer.”
“That is your judgment, Miss Craness, and while I understand it, the law is still the law.”
“Oh, please.”I couldn’t hide the contempt in my voice.“That’s the type of bullshit I used to hear in Britain when I lost the right to work, and then the right to own property, and then hold a bank account.‘The law is just the law,’ they’d say.‘Suck it up, sunshine.’”
She scowled at my admission, apparently not wanting that level of honesty.Funny how that often happened.People demanding the truth rarely wanted to actually hear it.
“I have expressed my sympathy for what you have been through, and Switzerland has welcomed you here and offered you the chance to claim asylum, but that does not excuse those who have broken the law to get you here or help you stay below the authorities’ radar.Now, please, what do you know about this man?”
Stretching my neck, my mind reeled.If I told her what little I knew about Fabian, the police would be all over his house like ants, and inevitably, Adam’s bag would be found.
“Is there something you want to tell me, Miss Craness?”Kaspar’s prompt was goading.“If you cooperate now, I will take you to the place and allow you to take your personal items before we track the owner down.If not, then we’ll head back to the station, and I cannot promise that you shall ever return.”
For fuck’s sake.
