Border Angels by Anthony Quinn

carefully and heard the sound of a foot slowly pressing onto broken glass.
    Something brushed the side of his head with a clacking noise. His heart leaped in his chest, as he instinctively dove for cover. A dark bird, like a crow, gave an angry caw and flapped into the mist.
    When he looked up, the pale face of Lena Novak hovered above him.
    “Don’t you know?” she said. “Birds hate being trapped. They like to take off in any direction they choose.”
    For a moment, Daly thought she was going to disappear, too, but instead she stood and watched while he dragged himself back to his feet.
    “My name is Inspector Celcius Daly,” he said. “I’m a police officer.”
    “Welcome to Club Paradise, Inspector Daly,” she replied, melting back into the darkness of the house.

12
    Lena’s voice floated through the dark interior. “Watch you don’t trip, Inspector. This place is a mess.”
    Daly switched on his torch and followed her into the cramped rooms. His light swung over her for an instant. She was wearing a short fur coat, jeans, and black boots. Her long hair had been cut roughly. Although she was too young and fresh faced to have worry lines, he saw the tension beneath her skin, the instinctive distrust that pulled at her facial muscles, and the practiced gaze of her eyes, the intensifying of the pupils, which suggested she had seen a lot, and not all of it pleasant.
    “I’m investigating the death of Sergei Kriich,” said Daly.
    “I’m glad to hear he’s dead,” she replied. “He was a piece of shit.”
    “I didn’t think the news would leave you choked.”
    “No one should give a damn for people like him.”
    “Someone has to, though, Ms. Novak. Law and order have to be upheld.”
    She sat down at the edge of a sofa. Daly placed the torch on a low table so that it lit up the wall opposite. A flurry of shadows rolled over a set of hooks and dressing gowns. Lena looked at Daly. Her gaze was challenging, bleak.
    “I’ve met policemen in this country. They’re not so different from the policemen back home.”
    “People are the same wherever you go.”
    “In my experience they do the same things.”
    “What sort of things?”
    “Who are we talking about?”
    “The policemen here.”
    She pulled a face. “What all men do who visit places like this. They’re crazy. Sex crazy.”
    She had raised the question of sex. Exploited sex. The thought of it left him feeling tired.
    “You were with Sergei in the car. What happened that night?”
    “I don’t want to talk about it.” She gripped her arms against the chill in the air. “Are you going to arrest me now?”
    It was not really a question. More a challenge.
    “I want to help you.”
    “That’s a line I heard before.” She reached down and slipped off her boots. She rubbed her stockinged toes, flexed them on the carpet.
    “Chilblains,” she said. “What you get for running barefoot in the snow.”
    “Why have you come back to this place?”
    “I had to collect personal things.” She held up a small rag doll. “My grandmother gave me this. She said I should keep it with me always.”
    “Is it meant to bring you good luck?”
    “If I take care of it. Yes.”
    “What about taking care of yourself?”
    “I patch myself up best I can.”
    Daly thought he understood why she had returned for the doll. It was a type of blessing. A reminder of happier times to pit against the darkness of her current predicament. Her life was in danger and she needed whatever sense of comfort the past provided.
    “If I can stay as quiet as her, I shall be safe,” said Lena.
    “I want you to know you have nothing to fear. We have everything ready for you.”
    “What do you have ready?”
    “A safe place. A refuge run by women. We don’t want anything to happen to you until we find out who murdered Kriich and what happened to Jack Fowler. You can stay there until the investigation is over.”
    “That sounds cozy. What happens afterward?”
    “If you