The Valkyrie Song

5

‘Hard day?’

‘I thought you were asleep,’ said Fabel to the shadow in the bed.

‘I was. I asked if you’d had a hard day…’

‘The usual. Murder. Mayhem. Paperwork. You?’

‘The usual. I heard you have another celebrity murder on your hands. Are you sure you’re not doing them yourself, just to advance your career?’

‘Our career. I can see I’m going to have to bring you into this one,’ said Fabel. ‘That’s the deal: I’ll keep killing them to keep us both in work.’ He slid between the sheets. They were cool and clean on his skin. ‘By the way, have you seen my MP3 player lying around?’

‘No. You’ve already asked me. How did it go with Renate?’

Fabel sighed. ‘How does it ever go with Renate? She was as bitter as hell, as always. I don’t know how the hell she has managed to turn the whole situation around so that she’s the injured party. It was Behrens who dumped her. Not me.’

‘It’s a woman thing.’ Susanne still had her back to him. ‘If you can’t find the man to blame, find a man to blame. I hold you responsible for Hans Zimmerman not choosing me as his partner for our kindergarten parade.’

‘I knew there was something,’ said Fabel. ‘Anyway, Gabi is thinking about joining the police. Renate blames me and wants me to talk her out of it.’

‘Will you?’

‘No. Not talk her out of it. Give her an informed picture, yes. Talk her out of it, no.’

‘We’ll talk about it tomorrow.’ Susanne’s voice was thick with sleep, but Fabel slid close to her, put his arms around her, cupped her breast in his hand.

‘I’d like to make up for the kindergarten parade…’ he said.