Anna looked at Brodie. “I could have blown your head off.”
“Have you ever shot a person before?” Like Harry Vance?
“No. But there’s always a first time.”
Brodie asked, “Where’d you get the rifle?”
“I inherited it from my father. He inherited it from his father, who was a veteran of the First World War.”
“Right.” Brodie glanced at the rifle, which looked military. Probably a Mauser, so the caliber would be larger than the .22 that had killed Harry.Did that eliminate Ms. Albrecht as a suspect? Maybe. Unless she had an arsenal somewhere. He advised her, “Always keep your finger outside of the trigger guard unless you’re about to shoot.”
“Iwasabout to shoot.” She explained, “You could have been here to kill me. Like they killed Harry.”
“Whokilled Harry?”
She shrugged, then thought a moment. “Perhaps… not who you think.”
Brodie and Taylor exchanged glances, and Taylor said, “We need to speak to you.”
She nodded, went to the splintered door, shut it, and slid a chain lock in place, then led them to the kitchen, a compact room with dark tile flooring, aging cabinets, and a small breakfast table shoved in the corner. A slender window next to the fridge looked out on a small interior courtyard.
Anna put water and grounds into a metal coffeepot, lit her gas range with a match, then set the pot over the flame and grabbed a pack of cigarettes from her jeans pocket. She held the pack out to Brodie and Taylor, who both declined.
She shoved a cigarette in her mouth and lit up using the flame from the gas range, which seemed to Brodie like a bad idea. She gestured with the cigarette. “They shoot you for this in the States, yes?”
“Only on a second offense,” Brodie assured her.
Anna blew out a stream of smoke as she leaned against the counter and eyed him. “What did he teach you?”
“Harry was a counterterrorism instructor,” said Brodie. “A very good one.”
“And now you use his training.”
“In a way. We are not counterterrorism specialists.”
“Do you think a terrorist killed him?”
“We’re not at liberty to discuss that.”
“How did you find me?”
“We’re not at liberty to discuss that either.”
“If I call the Bundeskriminalamt headquarters and give them your names, will they know who you are?”
“They will,” said Taylor. “But it’s probably better for all of us if you don’t do that.”
Anna made a look of exaggerated concern. “Why is that? You don’t get on well with the German police?”
Brodie said, “We’re happy to be on the team.”
She laughed. “Yes? I don’t like the police.”
“Harry was a policeman.”
Anna looked away. “Harry was different.”
Taylor asked, “Is that why you haven’t come forward? You don’t trust the police?”
