‘What do you mean, you’ll get to that? Who the hell are you, anyway?’

‘I represent the Caribbean Banking Corporation and you are working for Western and Continental Insurance of London. Right?’

‘And?’

‘Western and Continental own thirty per cent of Caribbean Banking, so you could say we’re working for the same people.’

‘I suppose you want me to welcome a new colleague,’ I said sarcastically. ‘You’re clearly after something, so why don’t you tell me what I can do for you?’

He sat down uninvited in an armchair and said blandly, ‘You can go back to London.’

I studied him silently for a while, then said, ‘Why should I?’

‘You’re a bit of grit in the works. The machine isn’t running so smoothly any more.’

‘You’ll have to come out with something plainer than a bad metaphor,’ I said.

He jerked his head at the window. ‘Those people out there believe that David Salton was murdered. After he died there were riots like that, but because of the findings at the inquest things quietened down. Now someone is stirring things up again – and that someone is you.’

‘How in hell would a crowd like that know about me?’ I demanded. ‘I’ve only been here two days.’

‘Two days too long,’ said Roker bitterly. ‘The word is that Mr Kemp says David Salton was murdered. And the word is spreading like a prairie fire.’

‘I don’t know who has the long ears,’ I said. ‘But whoever he is, he’s got it wrong. Admittedly, in a couple of private conversations I might have mentioned the possibility of murder – along with a few other hypotheses such as suicide, accident and natural causes. I suppose you believe Salton wasn’t murdered.’

‘I don’t know a goddamn thing about it,’ said Roker. He spread his hands. ‘But I do know what was found at the inquest. Go home, Kemp. You’re rocking the boat.’

‘Who sent you?’

‘Does it matter? Look, Kemp, it’s delicate here in Campanilla, like sitting on top of an atom bomb. If it goes off, a lot of people could get hurt.’ He pointed to the window. ‘You saw what just happened.’

‘You make me sick,’ I said. ‘You’re not worried about people being hurt. You just don’t want anyone stabbing you in the wallet. You’ve got a sweet set-up here and you don’t want someone messing about with the laws.’

‘It makes no difference what my reasons are,’ he said equably. ‘You are going back to London.’

‘And how are you going to make me do that?’

Roker became exasperated. ‘Haven’t you been listening to a single word I’ve been saying? Your company owns a big piece of mine. Our interests are the same. It’s your duty to quit.’

‘When I need a lesson in ethics I won’t come to you,’ I said.