James said nothing and ate the food greedily while Zoltan watched with some amusement. ‘Ugo does not know I am here,’ he said. ‘So we shall keep this as our little secret.’

‘What do you want with me?’ said James. ‘And don’t bother lying. I know who you are.’

‘I could help you, James,’ said Zoltan.

‘I don’t want your help.’

‘You are strong,’ said Zoltan. ‘But Ugo will break you. Why not let me help?’

‘Why would you want to?’ said James. ‘What’s in it for you?’

‘I want Amy back,’ said Zoltan. ‘You know where she is. In a way we both want the same thing.’

‘No, we don’t,’ said James. ‘I want to free her, and you want to sell her.’

‘That is not all I want,’ said Zoltan.

‘She told me,’ said James. ‘She told me you’re trying to ransom her. What more could you want with her?’

‘That is a good question,’ said Zoltan. ‘One that I have been asking myself from the start. In a way I feel there is a strange bond between us. Maybe because she nearly killed me. Our fates are joined. I don’t think now that I do want to sell her. I want to keep her with me.’

‘What for?’

‘I wish I knew the answer to that,’ said Zoltan. ‘She is too young and I am too old to think about marriage, and beside she hates me. I killed her father. That is not a good way to win a girl’s heart.’

‘No,’ said James. ‘I don’t know much about these things, but I would have thought some flowers or chocolates would have gone down better.’

Zoltan laughed, then spoke quietly. ‘I don’t want her to be hurt, James.’

‘So, if you got her back, what would you do with her?’ said James.

‘I don’t know,’ said Zoltan. ‘She was my prize. But everything good I have ever had Ugo has taken. He talks of being a new Roman emperor. He is not. He is just a thief. A gangster.’

‘Like you,’ said James.

‘At least I know that is what I am,’ said Zoltan. ‘And do not pretend to be something more.’

‘An honest thief?’ said James. ‘I didn’t know there was such a thing.’

Zoltan smiled at him. ‘I never finished telling you about Ugo, did I?’ he said. ‘What happened to him in the war.’

‘No,’ said James. ‘You left him standing naked in a shower, facing a German soldier.’

‘Not a German,’ said Zoltan. ‘A Hungarian.’

‘Of course,’ said James. ‘I wondered how you knew so much about that day. It was you, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ said Zoltan. ‘It was me. That was how I met Ugo.’ Zoltan sat down and wiped his face. He was dripping with sweat and his pale eyes were yellow and feverish. He took a long deep breath and James heard it rattling in his chest.