Across the street there’s a dirty white delivery van, the driver of which looks familiar but I can’t place him. Was he someone I’d arrested back out on the streets? Or was he just questioned in relation to a crime? Or … maybe I’m just being paranoid.

After seeing the state of his offices Patrick had got jumpy, making several calls in quick succession, and talking to me didn’t seem top of his list. I’d had to insist, just after I’d made my own call. I had to go through Jansen to get uniform out to secure the offices. Now, here in the cafe, I turn to Wust and spend a few minutes getting his background, before asking how long he’d known Marianne Kleine.

‘Just over two years. I met her at one of those networking events they put on for start-ups and we got talking. Next morning I get a call offering me a job.’

‘And what was the business doing, something to do with the dental industry?’

‘Dental?’

‘Your website … It’s full of smiling people with very white teeth.’

‘Oh, yeah. It’s just a holding page; we’re getting ours developed, should be ready soon. But to answer your question it’s not dental. We’re doing microbiome research.’

Which doesn’t really answer my question at all.

His phone is on the table face up and he keeps checking the screen. I reach out and flip it over. The look on his face says he can’t believe I’ve just done that and for a moment I think he’s about to react. But it passes. I’m starting to see glimpses of the future COO he’s going to become. Most people are intimidated in a situation like this, but he seems to be holding his own. Mind you, maybe if I’d dressed up a bit things might have been different. Tomorrow I’ll definitely pull out something a tad smarter.

‘Which is?’ I ask him.

‘The thing is, I can’t really go into details. We’ve all had to sign a pretty strict confidentiality agreement so that nothing leaks before we’re ready to launch. But essentially, we’ve got more bacteria in and on our bodies than we have cells. Traditionally medicine has viewed them as nothing more than a nuisance, unless they get out of balance and an infection occurs, in which case you kill them with antibiotics. Thing is, that model was so overly simplistic it looks barbaric now, because it’s caused almost as many problems as it solved. Kleine saw this and started to think of ways to manipulate the microbiome in far more subtle and precise ways. A few years later here we are.’

‘What exactly did she discover?’

‘That’s as much as I can disclose.’