Dead at First Sight

5 Monday 24 September

Lena texted.

The reply came instantly.

As the text pinged on her phone, the doorbell rang. Nerves began to set in.

She gulped down the last of the glass of prosecco and pressed the intercom. ‘Ja?’

‘It’s Dieter!’

She buzzed him in.

A minute later, there was a knock on her apartment door. She strode along the hall and carefully checked the spyhole, but the light was out on the landing and it was too dark to see clearly. She removed the safety chain and opened the door, cautiously.

Then when she saw the figure, she hesitated.

Before she could close the door again, a powerful hand clamped over her mouth, stifling the scream. He pushed her backwards, one foot kicking the door shut behind him. He then hooked his foot around her ankle, sending her crashing backwards onto the bare wooden floorboards.

He stared around, surveying the flat. ‘Where’s the money?’

‘There is none,’ she said defiantly. ‘You told me your name is Dieter Haas and that you’re an air traffic controller, but I know who you really are. Your name is Tunde Oganjimi, right?’

He froze. She saw sudden rage in his face.

‘The police would very much like to know where you are, Mr Oganjimi. I have a friend in the Munich police.’

‘That’s too bad,’ he replied.