Seated in the back beside Simon, who was asleep, Stern tried to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside the grey blocks of flats gliding past. He longed to see something real and ordinary. Not people opening coffins or cutting dead men down from ceilings, but normal families preparing supper with the TV flickering or friends visiting for the weekend. Sadly, the lights of everyday life were flying past him far too quickly. Almost as fast as his own tangled thoughts. Criminals. Villains of the first order. Murder, rape, prostitution, torture. They worked their way through all the capital crimes in the penal code … ‘What did you say?’ asked Carina, who was sitting up front. She was just gathering her abundant hair into a ponytail. Stern hadn’t realized he was thinking aloud. ‘If Engler’s telling the truth, the murdered men were renowned for their brutality.’ They left a bloodstained trail the length and breadth of the country. We still haven’t managed to clear up the mess they left.
