Even Franklin was impressed by the sheer scale and audacity of the attack that Matias Paz had managed to pull off. Vargas and the contents of Box 1321 had all been cremated in a couple of seconds and he made a mental note to call Paz later in the day to congratulate him on his outstanding work. He concluded that he may have underestimated the talents of the CEO of Theodor Consultants after all and decided a significant bonus was in order. Fortunately for Franklin, it was a call he never got around to making. Had he done so, his voice and number would have been recorded, as the police in Buenos Aires had placed twenty-four-hour surveillance on Paz’s mobile and office phones.

* * *

Vargas stood in Hembury’s kitchen and pressed his face against the large glass aquarium housing dozens of stunningly marked tropical fish. Hembury was carefully feeding them and, as they swam towards the food, he began to call out their names.

“There you go, Chauncey … attaboy, Eric … come on, Willie, don’t hold back.”

“What the hell, Troy – you’ve given them names?”

Hembury dropped in the last of the feed and looked up from the tank. “Each one of these babies is named after a player on the Clipper’s team.” He pointed at an electric blue fish, whose skin colour was broken up with striking gold-and-black markings. “See that Blue Ram, he’s Bobby Simmons, our star forward. What a guy!”

Vargas laughed but could see his friend was deadly serious and clearly adored his tropical family. “Troy, you are full of surprises.”

Hembury walked over to a small shelved unit that contained a number of framed pictures. He reached for a particular one and handed it to Vargas. It showed a large and clearly overfed golden retriever.

“That’s Ollie. I lost him in the divorce. To be honest, that was one of the worst parts of the break-up. Living on my own and doing this job means it’s impossible to keep a dog.” He pointed towards the giant fish tank. “So that’s where these boys come in.”

Vargas was mesmerised by the fish, who were busy enjoying their supper. “I get it, they don’t need walking and are perfectly house-trained.”

“Yep, and unlike Ollie they don’t eat everything they can lay their paws on in the flat.” Hembury moved back towards the kitchen table. “Nic, I haven’t even asked. How’s Sophia? I couldn’t help noticing she wasn’t living at your apartment. Did you guys break up?”

Vargas felt a sharp twinge in his stomach. Hembury immediately noticed the look of pain on his friend’s face. “Troy, I lost her three years ago to a fucking brain tumour. It came from nowhere. By the time it was diagnosed, she had just weeks left.”