“Maria, please calm down. Let’s not start on the wrong foot. Remember, I asked you to tell the truth. Your mother was a cleaner and the nearest she would ever have got to a ten carat Cartier ring would have been window shopping. Now, why don’t you tell me where you got it, and everything will work out fine.”

Maria was terrified but somehow her instincts told her she should carry on lying. How could they possibly know where she’d found the ring? “You are right. She was a cleaner and one of her customers left it to her in their will. I always thought it was costume jewellery, which is why I sold it for a few hundred dollars.”

Luciano was an experienced interrogator and could tell Maria was lying. He nodded towards the man sitting to her right. A moment later, a large serrated knife was jammed against her neck. She screamed with terror and began to cry uncontrollably. “Now then, Maria. This is the last time I am going to ask you nicely. Where did you get the ring?”

“I swear, Señor, I didn’t steal it. I found it. I found it in the garden of one of my clients.”

Luciano leaned forward and indicated to his henchman to remove the knife from Maria’s throat. “There we are, Maria. You see how easy it is to tell the truth? Now, I want you to tell me the name of your client and take us to their home.”

“His name is Raúl Gonzales, and he lives in La Boca, close to the port.”

The van’s engine fired up and headed for the south-east of the city.

Raúl Gonzales was dressed in his cotton pyjamas, sitting in a wheelchair in the corner of his living room. Resting on his lap was a small bowl of cornflakes, drenched in cold milk. He was watching a daytime game show, part of his regular morning routine, while he awaited the arrival of his carer. The transit pulled to a halt outside the front of his small house. The journey had taken about thirty minutes and no one inside the van had spoken since Maria had given up the address. She had stopped crying and was rigid with terror. The driver turned off the ignition and turned to Luciano.

“We’re here, boss.”

Luciano turned to Maria and smiled reassuringly. “Thank you for your help, Maria. There’s one last thing. Can you kindly give me the key to Señor Gonzales’s residence?”

Maria fumbled inside her bag and pulled out a large bunch of keys. She handed them across to Luciano. “It’s the one with the blue tape at the end.”

“Now that wasn’t very hard, was it, Maria? Thank you for all your invaluable help. I really appreciate it.”