The Rocket Man Read Online Free Page A

something might be made of this; but the coroner did not seem to think this was evidence of any foul play.
    The police had found nothing to indicate that it had not been a straightforward suicide. There had been no marks on the body, scratches or bruises, which might have indicated a struggle, and no signs of forced entry or disturbance to the flat. There were no other fingerprints on the bottle. None of the neighbours had seen or heard anything untoward. Müller’s colleagues said that he had seemed to have been depressed and stressed recently at work, though none of them could give any reason for this, except the stresses of travel and long periods spent away from home. Reference was made to the arcane nature of his work, but the Deputy Director General, Safeguards, Georges Lascalles, said that Müller had not been involved in anything that could have brought him to this brink; the matter had been looked into internally very thoroughly and nothing suspicious had been uncovered.
    The coroner summed up; it appeared to be an open-and-shut case. He said he had sympathy for the wife; often in these cases the bereaved relatives could not see any reason for a suicide. Above all she should not blame herself. A verdict of death by suicide was recorded.
    They got up to go. Lieselotte’s face was blank. It was all over so quickly; Katie felt cheated, that her friend had deserved more than this. Katie put her arms round her and hugged her; then she asked Lieselotte if she wanted to come back with her for tea but she said she had to go back to baby Jochum. She told Katie she would be leaving Vienna soon; she was going back with her sister to Cologne as soon as everything was arranged so that she could be near her family. Besides, Hans’s death meant she lost her diplomatic status and her right of residence in Vienna. She would have to be gone within the month anyway.
    On the stairs outside, where one or two journalists, including Nihal, were waiting to catch hold of anyone who might be able to give them a quote, Katie saw Dmitry Gavrilov. He was standing against a pillar, his hands thrust deep into his coat pockets, and he did not look at all happy, in fact, he looked agitated and disturbed. A man she did not recognise, presumably also from the IAEA, came up to him and said something in his ear; he shrugged and shook his head. Then he looked up and saw Katie, he must have seen her, he looked straight into her face, but he did not acknowledge her at all; then he turned suddenly and walked hurriedly down the steps and out of the building. Katie felt shocked, as if she had been cruelly let down; the whole brief scene had made an unpleasant impression on her.
    Left unexpectedly on her own, Katie made for the Café Central. She loved this place; it was one of her favourite haunts. The high ceiling was arched like a church, ribbed with gold, supported on gleaming marble columns; the tables too were topped with marble, but despite this, perhaps because it was usually full, it didn’t echo too loudly nor seem cold. Katie found a table in the corner; she ordered coffee and took out her book.
    She was unable to concentrate. She knew that she was going to miss Lieselotte terribly and she felt suddenly empty and depressed. She put her book away, stared blankly into space, looked around her. Then she saw Gavrilov, over by the window, reading a newspaper. He turned the page and refolded it, glanced up and his eyes met hers. She looked away. A little later she glanced at him again and for the second time their eyes met; this time she smiled to show that she recognised him.
    She looked down at her coffee. He got up and came over to her table; she had known that he would. He was a little nervous, made a gesture towards the empty chair beside her. ‘Do you mind…’
    â€˜No… please do.’
    The waitress came and they ordered more coffee. He turned to her: ‘Some cake?’
    â€˜No… I