“Dušan, you didn’t have an argument, did you? It looks like she’s gone off to sulk. If she’s inside, she must have heard us looking for her,” said Alice, gradually opening all the doors with Dušan. They peered into the empty, musty rooms, which Tina wouldn’t have gone into for all the money in the world.

“No, we don’t usually argue,” he replied, opening up a large room with a balcony. “Eva just isn’t here,” he groaned.

“And have you checked downstairs thoroughly? Are her coat and shoes there? She can’t just have been swallowed up by the ground! Maybe she went for a walk,” suggested Alice.

“She wouldn’t have gone without me!” shouted Dušan, his voice starting to break into a sob.

“Dušan,” said Tina, holding him gently around the waist. “Why are you so upset? Maybe someone else made her angry?”

“No! I don’t understand what’s happened. I’m so worried about her!”

“The balcony door is open,” remarked Alice. The loose old floorboards creaked with every step she took.

“I thought so. I could feel a draught,” said Tina, stretching her neck out to see. “Close it, seeing as you’re there,” said Tina to Alice.

“I’ll have a look outside,” said Alice. “Maybe she’s wandering about in the park and I’ll catch sight of her. Was she very drunk?”

“She didn’t seem to be,” answered Tina. “And don’t go out onto the balcony. The railing is coming away, and I wouldn’t trust that floor either. Klejinka’s really dilapidated on this side.”

But it was too late. Alice was already standing on the balcony. “You’re right. Part of the railing is missing,” she shouted.

“Come back right now!” ordered Dušan, walking over to Alice.

“Alice, are you mad or what?! It’s freezing. Come back!” complained Tina, who realized she was on her own. She looked furtively around her.

“Jesus Christ!” cried Alice.

“What is it?! Come back at once!” screamed Tina hysterically as either a loose stone or a piece of the facade fell. “Alice, you’re scaring me!”

Now Dušan was on the balcony as well. “It won’t hold you, you idiots! Don’t go near the railing! Come back right now!”

“Oh, no! Eva, no!” cried Dušan, wailing like an injured animal.

“What’s happened?” asked Tina as Alice emerged from the darkness of the large parquet-floored room, ashen-faced and with shocked, shining blue eyes.

“I think Eva’s fallen. She’s lying down there, below the balcony,” she said in a deep, expressionless voice. “We have to help her.”

“Wh-What? What are you talking about?” cried Tina as the meaning of her words began to sink in.

Dušan came back into the room, curled himself into a ball and sobbed.

“Stop wailing and get up, Dušan! We have to help her!” screamed Alice, and she pulled him wildly by the arm until he finally got up.

“How are you going to help her? Are you blind or something? She fell from that stupid balcony,” sobbed Dušan. “No-one can help her now! She’s dead!”

Dead? Tina’s throat was gripped by horror. She just stood there with her arms at her sides, her mouth wide open.

(Translated by Graeme Dibble)