As the Pughs rose from their table, Ross pocketed the cigarette case, but continued to read his paper as they left the restaurant. He waited for a few minutes before he left. As he passed the maître d’ he slipped him another fifty-rand note, not for services rendered, but for services he might require at some time in the future.

• • •

‘He’s in Cape Town,’ said William.

‘What’s he doing there?’ asked the commander.

‘Keeping a close eye on Mr and Mrs Pugh would be my bet. He probably intends to warn the blushing bride about her husband’s long-term plans for her before it’s too late. But I’m confident he’ll be back in time for Thursday morning’s meeting with Sanchez.’

‘Why?’ asked the commander.

‘He has an appointment on the first of September that he can’t afford to miss.’

‘Who with?’

‘Max Sleeman’s debt collector, Leonid Verenich, who Paul assures me always starts his rounds with new customers on the first day of the month.’

‘So Ross will be waiting for him. But what do you think he has in mind, because whispering death isn’t a man you’d go looking for if you could possibly avoid it.’

‘I’ve no idea, sir, but I intend to put a stop to Ross’s plans before I end up having to arrest him.’

‘He’ll see you coming.’

‘I’m hoping he’ll be so preoccupied with Verenich that I can take him by surprise.’

‘Don’t count on it,’ said The Hawk. ‘Since his wife’s death, he’s been like a man possessed. First Abbott and Roach, now Pugh, next Sleeman, and he’s probably also got Darren Carter in his sights. Where will it all end?’

‘With Miles Faulkner would be my bet, sir.’

CHAPTER 27

ROSS WOKE AT FIVE THE next morning on London time to find it was already seven o’clock in Cape Town. Not long before he would have to make a decision.

He was among the first to come down for breakfast, but he chose to sit on the other side of the dining room to reduce the chances of Mr and Mrs Pugh remembering him.

Like Jimmy the dip, Ross began the day with a hearty breakfast, starting with a bowl of porridge, followed by a pair of lightly grilled kippers that would have passed muster in a Highlands hostelry.

While he waited for the Pughs to appear, he read the previous day’s London Times.

He took his time reading a long article on page three below a photograph of the choirboy. ‘The officer who brought the two most feared gangs in the East End of London, the Abbotts and the Roaches, to their knees,’ the crime correspondent informed his readers. Ross was relieved to find no mention in the article of a mysterious tramp who’d been seen pushing a pram through the middle of the battlefield, and the crime correspondent concluded that ‘this was an internal feud between the two rival East End gangs and no one else was involved’. Ross doubted that William had come to the same conclusion when delivering his report to The Hawk.