“Did you know who this man he met that night was?”

“No. Hugh just said he was a business contact and he wouldn’t be long.”

“Do you have any idea what they talked about?”

“No. It was pretty crowded and noisy. Like I said, I was at the bar chatting. I wasn’t interested in Hugh’s business meetings. Why are you asking all this? What has he done? He must have done something, or you wouldn’t be asking me all these questions.”

“It’s more the man he met that we’re interested in,” Zelda lied. “Along with the Tadić brothers.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you there. I know nothing about them. I wouldn’t be surprised if that Goran Tadić wasn’t up to his neck in something dirty, though. He had that aura about him.”

“Could you tell me anything more about the meeting in the Italian restaurant, from what you saw—your impressions, whatever?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did they appear to be arguing, problem-solving, joking?”

“It was just ordinary, really. Just a discussion.”

“Neither one was angry or particularly animated? No raised voices?”

“No, of course not.”

“Who did most of the talking?”

“Well, whenever I looked over to see if he was finished, Hugh seemed to be talking. I did see the other man try to interrupt once, but Hugh cut him off sharply.”

“As if he was telling him to do something? Lecturing him? Giving him orders?”

“Or giving him a bollocking. Just a mild one.”

So perhaps Hawkins wasn’t warning Keane about her, after all, Zelda thought. Their meeting could have been about something else entirely, something to do with whatever it was that connected them. “Did they exchange anything?”

“Like what?”

“Objects, pieces of paper, briefcases, that sort of thing.”

“No, nothing as far as I could tell. You mean like spies? Is he a spy, this man? Is Hugh a spy? Are you?”

“When did you stop seeing Hugh Foley?”

“A couple of months ago.”

“Why? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I can’t see as it’s any of the police’s business, but in addition to what I’ve already told you, he was a bit of a bastard. I mean, there was already the important business stuff, and the secrecy, and how he was always disappearing; he was really unreliable, not turning up for dates and so on. But in the end it was the fact that he cheated on me that did it. The straw that broke the camel’s back, you might say. Or at least my back.”

“Who with?”

“There was more than one. I suspected for a while.”

“You caught him red-handed?”