She hung up her coat and turned round. He flattered himself that he detected a look of disappointment. ‘Oh?’

‘Had a bit of a breakthrough at the weekend. At least I hope it was a breakthrough.’

‘Go on.’ She came over and perched on the edge of his desk and he made an extra effort to avoid looking at her legs for too long.

‘Well, what did we notice about Mr Tan last week? Where did he go?’ asked Gary.

‘To the Chinese restaurant…the…whatsitsname…the Red Dragon.’

‘Where else?’

‘Er…assorted business meetings…and Harley Street.’

‘Exactly.’

‘So it’s Harley Street that’s important. I was right,’ she said triumphantly.

‘It’s Harley Street that could be important. I’m not saying that I know for sure, but I’ve been doing some research.’

‘Drug running. Is that it? You’ve found evidence?’

‘No. Not yet.’

‘What then? Don’t tell me. Mr Tan’s into dodgy cosmetic surgery. He leaves all his patients looking like the Bride of Wildenstein and then does a runner with the money?’

‘He could do, but I think it’s unlikely.’

‘So what’s left?’

‘Transplants.’

Sarah looked puzzled. ‘He’s selling his organs?’

‘Not his. Other people’s.’

‘How could he do that?’

Gary was warming to his subject. ‘Well, if you’ve been reading the newspapers over the past year or so…’

‘Which I have…’

‘You might have seen bits about corpses being relieved of their organs before they were released to relatives for burial.’

‘Yes.’

‘It seems there’s a massive market out there, and an illegal one at that.’

‘Illegal in what way?’

‘Criminal gangs work out deals with undertakers–or even dodgy hospital staff–and arrange for the removal of body parts for sale to transplant companies.’

‘Transplant companies?’

‘Yes. If you have enough money they’ll find you a heart or a kidney or whatever you want, and arrange a transplant.’

‘You make it sound like buying a car.’

‘A very expensive car.’

‘So you think Mr Tan is involved with dodgy undertakers?’ asked Sarah, sliding off Gary’s desk and walking round to her own.

‘Not necessarily. Let me set this out for you. The National Health Service is all well and good except that waiting lists are still far too long, regardless of what the government says. Result? More and more people are going private, so they can skip queues. But that still presupposes, where transplants are concerned, that there are enough organs to go round.’

‘Which there aren’t,’ chipped in Sarah.

‘Correct. So, another private market develops, where the very rich can go completely independent and book into a Harley Street clinic, for instance, which specializes in transplants.’

‘So if you’re rolling in dosh, but need a new kidney, you can get one straight away?’

‘Exactly. But where do these organs come from?

‘Corpses?’

‘Not always.’