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Alex smiled. "Yes. Perhaps." He took his wife's face in his hands and looked into her unhappy eyes. "Don't cry, my love," he said quietly. "Give me a smile before I go."

"Yes," Alex said. "I can't stay longer. Perhaps the police are out there now. They're watching all our friends' houses. Pauli told me." He put on his shoes and coat, then looked at his wife.

"Olivia. Listen. Be very careful and live very quietly. The police are going to watch you for some time. Wait for a year, then take the children and leave the country secretly. Our friends can help you. Find a new home in a new country and make a new life."

At three o'clock in the morning Alex got up from the bed and looked out of the window. Olivia opened her eyes. "Are you… Are you leaving now?" she asked.

"Oh Alex! I'm afraid!" Olivia could not stop crying. "I love you, I love you," she whispered. "Go quickly. And be careful. Please."

Olivia began to cry. "But Alex! You're going to be there with us."

Alex smiled sadly. "Goodbye, my love."

He left the house quickly and went out into the dark night. He waited for ten minutes at the door and listened, but he heard nothing and saw nothing. He came out into the road very carefully. Again he waited. From an upstairs window in his house, a white face watched him.

Felix ran across the road and looked at the body. Adam was there before him.

Then Alex began to walk quickly along the road. He stayed near the houses and looked behind him again and again. Two hundred metres along the road there was a car. Alex stared at it, but there was nobody in the car, and he walked quickly past.

Suddenly there were noises and lights -- and soldiers with guns. Alex began to run, but he did not run far. There was a shot… two, three, four, five shots… And Alex did not move again.

"No, he's dead." Adam stood up and looked at Felix. "Very, very dead," he said.

"Is he alive?" Felix asked quickly.

Felix's face was angry. "The soldiers killed him," he said.

Adam looked at Felix. "Well, that's their job. Dinon ran away, so the soldiers shot him. 'Alive or dead', the Chief said. But we found him. That's the important thing."

Felix stared down at Alex Dinon's face. "I wanted to talk to him… to ask him…"

"To ask him what?" Adam said.

The Chief did not often say "Felix". Ususally she called him "Inspector".

There was a lot of noise in the road now. Soldiers and policemen moved here and there. Police cars came and went. The people in the houses looked out of their windows, but they did not open their doors. It was better not to ask questions. An ambulance came and took the body away.

Felix did not answer. He looked down at the dead body on the road, then he turned away.

"Nothing," he said. "It doesn't matter."

"But perhaps," Felix said slowly, "the stories are true. And it's a policeman's job to ask questions."

Later that day Felix went back to the Chief's office. The Chief called him into her room.

Felix sat down and looked at Eva Hine. "A lot of people think…" He stopped. Then he began again. "They say… Alex Dinon wasn't the President's murderer."

"People say a lot of things," the Chief said. She smiled. "But they're not all true. Don't listen to stories, Felix. You've got a good job. Don't ask questions."

"So he's dead," she said. "Well done, Felix. The President is very pleased with you."

Eva Hine's face did not change. She stared at Felix, and Felix stared back at her.

"I'd like to know the murderer's name," he said quietly. "And I'm going to find it." He opened the door. "Goodbye, Chief."

Eva Hine stood up and came nearer to Felix. She looked down into his face, and her grey eyes were cold.

After a long time Eva Hine said, "Perhaps you need a new job, Felix. Think about it… very carefully."

"Listen," she said. "Somebody murdered the old President. Right? And our new President needed a murderer. Quickly. So we found a murderer for him. Alex Dinon. We don't kill murderers in this country. They go to prison. But Dinon escaped from prison -- and now he's dead. The murderer is dead, Felix, and that's the end of the story."

"Who murdered the President?" he asked.

The young man looked at her face, then he looked away, out of the window. After a minute or two he stood up, and went to the door. Then he turned and looked at the Chief of Police.

It was very quiet in the room. The Chief watched Felix and waited. Felix looked down at his hands and said nothing. Then he looked up into Eva Hine's cold eyes.

He went out and closed the door behind him, for the last time.