‘Nix.’ He paused and nodded his head across the room. ‘That guy might tell you something if you ask him nice. I told you this place was real popular.’

I looked over at a small group on the other side, fussing around a central figure. ‘Who is it?’

‘Conyers. The big ugly guy in the middle.’

The Prime Minister of Campanilla was tall and imposing and had the telltale belly of the prosperous man. His acolytes had significant bulges under their armpits. I said, ‘You don’t approve?’

Joe sighed. ‘He’s lived in Government House so long he’s become part of the establishment. He’s what the liberals call a successful member of the native intelligentsia.’

Joe’s voice was sardonic and suddenly more cultured, and I wondered about him. ‘And he’s owned. Man, is he owned!’ His bitterness seemed to etch the dark air.

‘Cardew Street?’

Joe nodded and took another drink.

I said, ‘I was reading one of Salton’s speeches. He talked about Conyers and his hired bully boys. Do you know anything about that?’

‘Conyers don’t need no heavy gang – he’s got the whole of the fuzz.’ I noted that Joe had reverted to type. ‘But it’s like this, man. If it’s a matter of leaning on a guy when the fuzz can’t do it, then the word goes out. Not that Conyers has a private army or anything – just enough to be useful.’

‘You think that’s what happened to Ogilvie?’

Joe shrugged. ‘Don’t ask me. Ask that cat over there.’

‘Maybe I will,’ I said grimly.

‘And maybe you’ll wind up in marble city with Ogilvie and Salton. Mr Kemp, why don’t you go home?’

‘I thought you wanted me to see this woman, Leotta Tomsson?’

‘A guy can change his mind, can’t he? Look, for a pinko you seem to be a nice guy. You don’t stand for no shit and you don’t give none. I’d hate to have to send white lilies.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said. ‘I can find her from her name.’

The waiter trotted by and snapped his napkin so that it cracked softly. Joe stood up. ‘I gotta go,’ he said. ‘The heat’s arrived. Gregory Plaza, number 432. Marshalltown.’

It seemed impossible that so big a man could move so quickly and quietly. I stood up and looked around but he had disappeared, so I moved towards the street, where a car was pulling up outside. It looked official and I laid a bet with myself, which I won when the rear door opened and Superintendent Hanna got out.

He straightened up, then saw me and beckoned, so I went to meet him. ‘You can be a hard man to find,’ he said.

‘I didn’t know you were looking. Have you come to tell me about Ogilvie?’

‘You know?’

‘Jackson told me.’