Page 61 of Be Less Panda

‘Hopefully.’

Nancy hurried back to her apartment building. She checked the postbox - it was empty. She ran up the stairs to Hans’ flat and banged on the door. Still no reply. ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’ She shouted in frustration, leaning her head against the door.

She heard Olivia’s voice call out to her over the bannister. ‘Ingrid and Christa are here.’

‘There’s no news, though,’ Olivia added when Nancy looked up expectantly.

‘What do we do now?’ Nancy asked as she walked into the living room.

‘I went to the police station this afternoon and reported them missing,’ Ingrid said.

‘What did they say?’

‘They took all the details and said they’d be in touch if they heard anything. So I guess we just have to wait.’

‘I’m not very good at waiting,’ Nancy said as she took the cup of tea Olivia offered her. ‘I wonder if Madame Morceau would let us into Hans’ flat? There might be a clue there.’

Or Hans lying there unconscious or worse.Why didn’t you think of that yesterday?

‘You could ask. She can only say no.’ Olivia said.

‘I’ll come with you,’ Ingrid offered.

She followed Nancy downstairs and across the courtyard to the concierge’s tiny lodge.

Madame Morceau was sitting by her window. She opened her door. ‘Oui?’

Nancy explained the situation. ‘Please could you let us into his flat so we can check if Hans is there?’

‘He’s not there,’ she said.

‘But you don’t know that for sure.’

‘I do. The flat is empty apart from the basic furniture that belongs there. A woman came to take away his things this morning.’

‘What woman?’

Madame Morceau shrugged. ‘I didn’t ask her name. She had the necessary paperwork. She was from the company that rented the apartment. They wanted to terminate the rental agreement early. She paid the remaining rent, so I let her in. She left with a suitcase half an hour later. I checked everything was ok in there and locked up.’

‘Did she say why he’d left?’

‘No, and I didn’t ask either. It’s best not to ask too many questions in this job.’

‘What did she look like?’

‘Thirty-ish. Short dark hair, apart from a streak of white at the front. Smartly dressed.’ She sounded exactly like the woman Nancy had seen with Hans in the Louvre all those weeks ago.

‘What’s the name of the company?’ Ingrid asked.

Madame Morceau reached inside her lodge and produced a letter typed on headed paper. Nancy quickly read it. The letter requested that the rental agreement be terminated exactly as Madame Morceau had said. The company name was Fischer Exportations. She’d never heard of them, but their address was near the bookshop.

She showed the letter to Ingrid. ’It’s too late to go there now. No one will be there at this time,’ Ingrid said.

‘We’ll go first thing tomorrow.’

30

Nancy had slept deeply for the first time since Hans had gone missing. Madame Morceau’s revelation yesterday had been shocking, and it hadn’t stopped her worrying about where Hans was, but at least it was less likely that he was lying dead in an alley somewhere.