Sometimes people Muhammed had marked out as bounty hunters walked straight into his ahwa. For appearance's sake, they ordered a coffee, and at a suitable point down the coffee cup, they asked the inevitable question: Do-you-know-where-my-friend-such-and-such-lives? or Do-you-know-the-man-in-this-picture? I-owe-him-some-money. In such cases, Muhammed received a supplementary fee if his stock answer ('I saw him take the bus to Porto Seguro with a big suitcase two days ago, senhor') resulted in the bounty hunter leaving again on the first bus.
When the tall, blond man in the creased linen suit, with the white bandage around his neck, put a bag and a Playstation carrier bag on the counter, wiped the sweat off his brow and ordered a coffee in English, Muhammed could smell a few extra reais on top of the fixed fee. It wasn't the man who aroused his instincts, though; it was the woman with him. She might just as well have written POLICE across her forehead.
* * *
Harry scanned the bar. Apart from him, Beate and the Arab behind the counter, there were three people in the café. Two backpackers and a tourist of the more down-at-heel variety, apparently nursing a serious hangover. Harry's neck was killing him. He looked at his watch. It was twenty hours since they had left Oslo. Oleg had rung, the Tetris record was beaten and Harry had managed to buy a Namco G-Con 45 at the computer-game shop in Heathrow before flying on to Recife. They had taken a propeller plane to Porto Seguro. Outside the airport he had negotiated what was probably a crazy price with a taxi driver, who drove them to a ferry to take them to the d'Ajuda side where a bus jolted them the last few kilometres.
It was twenty-four hours since he had been sitting in the visitors' room explaining to Raskol that he needed another 40,000 kroner for the Egyptians. Raskol had explained to him that Muhammed Ali's ahwa wasn't in Porto Seguro but a village nearby.
'D'Ajuda,' Raskol had said with a big smile. 'I know a couple of boys living there.'
The Arab looked at Beate, who shook her head, before putting the cup of coffee in front of Harry. It was strong and bitter.
'Muhammed,' Harry said and saw the man behind the counter stiffen. 'You are Muhammed, right?'
The Arab swallowed. 'Who's asking?'
'A friend.' Harry put his right hand inside his jacket and saw the panic on the dark-skinned face. 'Lev's little brother is trying to get hold of him.' Harry pulled out one of the photographs Beate had found at Trond's and put it on the counter.
Muhammed closed his eyes for a second. His lips seemed to be mumbling a silent prayer of gratitude.
The photograph showed two boys. The taller of the two was wearing a red quilted jacket. He was laughing and had put a friendly arm around the other one, who smiled shyly at the camera.
'I don't know whether Lev has mentioned his little brother,' Harry said. 'His name's Trond.'
Muhammed picked up the photograph and studied it.
'Hm,' he said, scratching his beard. 'I've never seen either of them. And I've never heard of anyone called Lev, either. I know most people around here.'
He gave the photograph to Harry, who returned it to his inside pocket and drained the coffee cup. 'We have to find a place to stay, Muhammed. Then we'll be back. Have a little think in the meantime.'
Muhammed shook his head, tugged at the twenty-dollar bill Harry had put under the coffee cup and passed it back. 'I don't take big notes,' he said.
Harry shrugged. 'We'll be back, anyway, Muhammed.'
* * *
At the little hotel called Vitória, as it was the down season they each got a large room. Harry was given key number 69, even though the hotel only had two floors and twenty-odd rooms. On pulling out the drawer of the bedside table beside the red heart-shaped bed and finding two condoms with the hotel's compliments, he assumed he had the bridal suite. The whole of the bathroom door was covered with a mirror you could see yourself in from the bed. In a disproportionately large, deep wardrobe, the only furniture in the room except for the bed, hung two somewhat worn thigh-length bathrobes with oriental symbols on the back.
The receptionist smiled and shook her head when she was shown the photographs of Lev Grette. The same happened in the adjacent restaurant and at the Internet café further up the strangely quiet main street. It led, in the traditional manner, from church to cemetery, but had been given a new name: Broadway. In the tiny grocer's shop, where they sold water and Christmas tree decorations, with SUPERMARKET written above the door, they eventually found a woman behind the till. She answered 'yes' to everything they asked about, and watched them through vacant eyes until they gave up and left. On the way back they saw one solitary person, a young policeman leaning against a jeep, arms crossed and a bulging holster slung low on his hips, following their movements with a yawn.