‘I don’t know and neither do they. But . . . he’s an unpredictable man. Normally it has to do with money, or loyalty, the only things he cares about. You understand that. No one can ever consider themselves truly a friend, and the closer you get, the more in danger you may be.’

‘What does this have to do with me?’

‘My father has been around long enough to know that the wind has changed. They will interrogate Durov until they have squeezed everything possible out of him. They will then put him on trial for corruption. In a week, or two at the most, they will arrest my father and take him to the same place. They are not going to bother with a trial for him.’

‘My heart bleeds for you both.’

Mikhail ignored the remark. Having finished the first cigarette, he took another and pushed the case across to her. She accepted this time and leant closer so he could light one for her.

‘My father has an offer. But we would need to move very quickly. In return for residency, the guarantee of a passport, freedom of movement in America and Europe, assurance that he will be able to keep his wealth, and security protection for life, he is prepared to bring you evidence that your prime minister is a spy working for Moscow.’

‘Oh, yes?’ Kate could feel the knot tightening in her stomach. The threat, even the likelihood, that this had long been true was unsettling enough, but hard evidence would be like a nuclear device exploding at the heart of British democracy. She shuddered at the thought she might be the one to detonate it.

‘You should not make light of this.’

‘What kind of evidence?’

Mikhail leant back, dragging deeply on his cigarette, as if to allow time for his offer to sink in. ‘Payments, very large ones,’ he said. ‘Made to your prime minister, James Ryan, over many years.’

‘The evidence my friend Rav managed to find before you killed him?’

‘That had nothing to do with me – or my father.’

‘We’re not interested.’

‘Oh? And what if I said we have even more than that on offer?’

‘Such as?’

‘Kompromat.’

‘Our prime minister’s lax personal morals are legendary. There can hardly be anyone in the country who doesn’t know of his many affairs.’

‘He would not survive this.’

‘Oh, Christ, don’t tell me – animals?’

‘Your flippancy does you no credit. Underage girls.’

Kate felt the ground being cut from under her. Mikhail’s gaze was locked on her. ‘How young?’

‘Fifteen – fourteen in one instance. He can be heard asking their ages before he has sex with them.’

Kate tried to compose herself. ‘Where? He can’t have been stupid enough to do it in Moscow?’

‘Kosovo, during the war there.’

It made sense. The prime minister had once been an army officer and he had certainly served in Kosovo. Before he died, Rav had identified Ryan’s female interpreter at the time as a probable Russian agent.