Free Cobra by Deon Meyer Page B

he wrestled with disappointment.
    ‘Would it be possible for us to take a look at the document itself?’ asked Graber. ‘We have a comprehensive database of forgeries, which might help us trace its origin.’
    ‘Of course,’ said Nyathi. ‘I’m sure that can be arranged eventually . . .’
    ‘I see,’ said Graber thoughtfully. Then, ‘Of course, we only want to aid your investigation. As I understand it, the first seventy-two hours are usually crucial.’
    ‘Indeed. And your offer is much appreciated,’ said Nyathi.
    ‘We actually know very little about the crime that this person was involved in,’ said Graber. ‘Unfortunately, the detective who brought the photographs spoke to one of the clerks. Could you tell us more?’
    Nyathi hesitated, then smiled politely. ‘I’m really sorry, but the investigation is at a very sensitive stage. And now it seems as if Morris may not be a British citizen . . . I do hope you understand. . . .’
    ‘Of course,’ said Graber, and she smiled sympathetically. ‘We’re just trying to help. And I’m curious. Was it a robbery or something?’
    ‘I’m not at liberty to say.’
    Griessel wasn’t concentrating, and only became aware of the uncomfortable silence when Nyathi gave him a swift but meaningful glance. He finally grasped that there was something on the go here, a verbal chess game – Graber wanted very much to get her hands on the passport and to know more about the crime. Nyathi was most unwilling to share it with her. And he remembered Cupido’s reaction: Twenty past seven at night? Maybe this Morris is royalty or something.
    All at once he was alert, as if the fatigue had just rolled off him.
    There was a snake in the grass here. And the Colonel wanted him to help catch it.

12
    He knew he must now ask his questions right. ‘Do you monitor missing persons?’
    He noticed that the Consul General waited for Graber to answer.
    ‘Well, only if they’re reported missing, and are presumed to be travelling, of course. There is a process . . .’
    ‘Was a Paul Anthony Morris reported missing?’
    ‘Not that we know of,’ said Graber.
    ‘Someone of his age and description?’
    ‘It’s hard to say. The info you have provided is rather sketchy. If we could analyse the original document?’
    ‘Do you have any idea who this Paul Anthony Morris might be?’
    ‘Well, it’s quite a common name. As you can imagine, it is going to take some time to scour the Home Office database, which might turn up nothing.’
    It was almost as though she was encouraging him to ask the right question, but he didn’t know what that was. ‘But do you . . . have you got any idea?’
    ‘What we do know, is that no person by that name has been reported missing in the United Kingdom in the past fortnight.’
    Griessel tried to understand the game. She wasn’t giving him a direct ‘no’. Why not?
    ‘Are there any other persons who were reported missing that you think he might be?’ Not entirely correctly phrased, she was clever, he would have to think carefully.
    Without hesitation Graber said, ‘The Metropolitan Police in the UK run a database called Merlin, which, in addition to other information, also logs missing persons reports. We have to assume that the age indicated on the passport is more or less correct, because it has to correspond to the photograph. And of course the photograph must bear a close enough resemblance to the man who entered this country last week in order to fool customs. Now, I can tell you that Merlin provided absolutely no data on persons generally resembling this photograph, and in this broad age bracket, that have been reported to UK authorities over the past fortnight as missing.’
    Why was she going on about ‘fortnight’?
    ‘And in the past six to twelve months?’
    ‘In the previous fiscal year, Merlin logged more than forty thousand records of missing persons. That type of enquiry might take several days before I could answer with