The Asian guy is at the kerb at the bottom of the steps, smoking a cigarette and spinning a car key in one hand. I’m guessing it’s for the black SUV parked nearby. The lumberjack is still inside.

Tracksuit man is adjusting the back of his pants, where the knife is. I don’t know if he’s willing to use it. He and the Asian guy would both have been recorded entering and leaving the courthouse. If he stabs me and runs, the police could probably ID them both with facial recognition. He might be too dumb to realise that, though. And Warner might consider them both expendable.

‘You don’t know as much as you think you do about my business,’ Warner says finally. ‘But you know enough that I don’t want you hanging around cops.’

‘It’s a one-off,’ I say. ‘Just this case, then I’m done.’

‘It won’t surprise you to hear that I’m a big fan of Bill Clinton.’

Actually, that surprises me quite a lot, not least because it seems to have nothing to do with what we were talking about.

‘I liked his three-strikes law,’ she continues. ‘It was nice and easy to understand. Get caught three times, that’s it. Life sentence.’

The law was more complicated than that, but now I see what she’s getting at. ‘You must have lost a few customers.’

‘I’m a minority shareholder in a few private prisons. I make money off these guys whether they’re on the streets or not. The point is, you didn’t call me when Francis missed the drop-off yesterday. That’s one. You took a case for the FBI. That’s two.’

I say nothing.

‘You’re not gonna solve this case,’ Warner says. ‘You’re gonna drop it. Or else that’s three. And then I find a new waste-disposal guy and give him his first assignment.’

The Asian guy is watching me from the bottom of the steps.

‘You understand?’ Warner asks.

I cough. ‘Yeah.’

‘You’re gonna drop the case?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. I’ve got another delivery for you. Be waiting at one am. Now put Tane on so I can tell him not to kill you.’

I hand the phone to tracksuit man. He puts the phone to his ear. ‘Yeah?’

There’s a pause.

‘He tried to run,’ he says.

I can hear Warner laughing. Then she says something else.

‘Understood,’ Tane says. He ends the call and hands the phone back to me. ‘Lucky break, asshole.’

But I can see signs of relief. An unclenched jaw, slackened shoulders. Some people go through life hunting opportunities for violence. You find them in bars, police forces, armies. Looks like Tane isn’t one of them.