I nodded intelligently. ‘Yes, I see what you mean.’ She sat down on the arm of her chair, and folded her arms.

‘I was speaking to someone who still works on the DAZ,’ she said, ‘and he says that there’s a rumour that in a couple of months, Goering will assume control over the second four-year economic plan. Given his declared interest in the setting up of state-owned raw material plants to guarantee the supply of strategic resources, such as iron ore, one can imagine that Six is less than happy about that possibility. You see, the steel industry suffered from considerable over-capacity during the depression. Six is reluctant to sanction the investment that is required for Germany to become self-sufficient in iron ore because he knows that as soon as the rearmament boom finishes, he’ll find himself massively over-capitalized, producing expensive iron and steel, itself the result of the high cost of producing and using domestic iron ore. He’ll be unable to sell German steel abroad because of the high price. Of course, it goes without saying that Six wants business to keep the initiative in the German economy. And my guess is that he’ll be doing his best to persuade the other leading businessmen to join him in opposing Goering. If they fail to back him, there’s no telling what he’s capable of. He’s not above fighting dirty. It’s my suspicion, and it’s only a suspicion, mind, that he has contacts in the underworld.’

The stuff on German economic policy was of marginal consequence, I thought; but Six and the underworld, well that really got me interested.

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Well, first there was the strike-breaking that occurred during the steel strikes,’ she said. ‘Some of the men who beat up workers had gangland connections. Many of them were ex-convicts, members of a ring, you know, one of those criminal rehabilitation societies.’

‘Can you remember the name of this ring?’ She shook her head.

‘It wasn’t German Strength, was it?’

‘I don’t remember.’ She thought some more. ‘I could probably dig up the names of the people involved, if that would help.’

‘If you can,’ I said, ‘and anything else you can produce on that strike-breaking episode, if you wouldn’t mind.’

There was a lot more, but I already had my seventy-five-marks worth. Knowing more about my private, secretive client, I felt that I was properly in the driving seat. And now that I’d heard her out, it occurred to me that I could make use of her.