The Good Thief's Guide to Berlin Read Online Free Page B

and smiled her wonky smile.
    I tried not to let it distract me. I needed to concentrate. Arithmetic has never been my greatest talent, and it took me a long moment to appreciate why Victoria appeared quite so smug. Then I got it. Our agent-author agreement gives her twenty percent of any foreign deals she negotiates on my behalf, and I had the distinct impression she intended to claim her share of this particular transaction. Twenty percent of eleven thousand was, oh, just over two thousand euros. And that would put my own fee almost back to where it had started.
    I raised my hand and scratched the side of my face with the pitted rubber of my table-tennis bat. I was holding the bat in a modified pencil grip and my fingers were spread in a conspicuous V . Victoria seemed to grasp my point.
    “Don’t be too hasty,” I said to Freddy. He’d collected his overcoat from the bench and was threading his stubby arms through the sleeves. “You still haven’t told me yet what it is you’d like me to steal.”
    And that was when Freddy sucked air through his teeth, and looked at me apologetically, and, well, you’ll recall just how unsatisfactorily that part of our conversation had evolved.
    “Please try to understand,” he said, once he’d finished explaining why he couldn’t possibly tell me what it was he was hoping I’d find. “This situation is very troubling for our company. For our chief exec in particular. If for any reason you fail in your assignment, we couldn’t possibly afford to have the information get into the public domain.”
    “Charming,” I said. “You don’t trust me.”
    He smiled awkwardly. “Forgive me, Charlie, but we’re hiring you precisely because you’re a thief. Surely you can understand a little hesitancy on our part?”
    He dropped his table-tennis paddle into one coat pocket and removed a mobile telephone from another.
    “Give me your number,” he said, “and I’ll pass on all the information you’ll require as and when you’ll need it. I’ll start by texting you the first address and the identity of suspect number one.”
    “No you won’t,” I told him. “I don’t have a mobile.”
    Freddy reared backward, as if I was certifiable.
    “No mobile? But how can you possibly—”
    “Don’t exhaust yourself,” Victoria said, and hopped off the table-tennis table. “I’ve nagged him about this enough times to know he’s not going to change.”
    “They’re dreadful contraptions,” I explained. “One never knows when they might go off.”
    “One could always switch them to silent.” Victoria fished around in the back of her jeans and removed her own phone. “Here, I’ll give you my number,” she told Freddy. “You can text the information to me and I’ll pass it along.”
    Freddy seemed more than pleased with her suggestion. He rushed to input Victoria’s number into his mobile, and I shifted my weight between my feet as the dinky gadget blipped and beeped and shone brightly in the darkness. Then he jabbed it with his thumb and wafted it in Victoria’s general direction, and a moment later Victoria’s phone lit up and issued a beep of its own.
    “Got it,” she said.
    “Excellent. And you’ll text me once Charlie has searched the first apartment?”
    “Whether or not he finds the item,” she confirmed.
    “Marvelous.” Freddy beamed at Victoria and dug his hand inside the chest pocket of his overcoat. I heard the telltale rustle of stiff paper and watched him pass Victoria a thick white envelope. “Here’s two thousand to start you off. As a gesture of our goodwill.” He began to back away with a deft little bow, like a besotted courtier in some sappy costume drama. “It’s been an absolute delight meeting you.”
    “Lovely to meet you, too,” Victoria replied, in a voice that sounded worryingly sincere.
    “Er, there is something else before you go,” I told Freddy, raising my voice to snap him out of the spell he seemed to be under. “Who