James spotted Smiler. He had stopped to talk to someone, but he was soon on the move again. The men finished their drinks and began following him in ones and twos. James realised that if he was going to keep up with Smiler he would have to show himself.

He picked up a tray of empty glasses from one of the tables and walked briskly across the courtyard, hoping that if anyone spotted him they would mistake him for one of Ugo’s servants.

He was just congratulating himself for getting away with it when a bull-necked man with a broken nose stopped him.

‘Je te connais,’ he said, and James shook his head.

‘Oui. Je te connais,’ the man repeated and he grabbed James by the shoulders and peered at him, breathing alcohol fumes into his face. Then he laughed. ‘Tu es le garçon du stade,’ he said and threw a mock punch at James. ‘Beau combat. Tu l’as massacré!’

He laughed again and shook James’s hand.

James mumbled something and shuffled off in the direction Smiler had taken.

He thought he’d lost him, but down another alleyway and more steps and there he was, striding across a terrace towards what looked like a semicircular temple half-carved out of the rock.

Ugo’s guests seemed to be congregating here. They were coming from all directions.

James watched as a group of men went up the steps in front of the temple, between the pillars and into the brightly lit interior.

His mind was alive with questions.

What was Smiler doing here in Ugo’s palazzo? Was he the man in the mask who had led the attack on Victor’s house? And what was his connection to Cooper-ffrench? Then there was the painting of Saint Boniface. Had it really been stolen from Perry’s family? And the painting of Ugo, in the cellar at Eton. Why had it been there?

There were too many coincidences for them to be just coincidences. There was a common thread in all this, something to tie it all together, but James couldn’t grasp it. It was too thin and wispy.

There was only one way to find out.

He had to see what was going on inside the temple.

James studied the building. The walls were blank and windowless, but it had a domed roof supported by statues standing on a ledge. Light spilt out from behind the statues. Maybe there were windows there.

The last of the stragglers had gone inside and there was nobody around.

James crossed the terrace towards the temple.

There was a big equestrian statue of Count Ugo standing in the corner and he used it like a ladder, quickly scaling the horse and rider. Finally, by standing on Ugo’s head he was just high enough to be able to jump across to the ledge.