‘Correct. I never imagined the effect learning Japanese would have on my life. It led me to Masafumi. And Masafumi led me to Nishizaki. I told you in Reykjavík I didn’t know whether Masafumi killed himself or was murdered. Technically, that’s true. But I have little doubt Nishizaki “arranged” his suicide. He was in London at the time. And Masafumi clearly lived in fear of him.’

‘Yet this was the man you went into business with.’

‘I didn’t have much choice in the matter. Nishizaki and I ended up in something of a stand-off. I had evidence of his involvement in Masafumi’s sokaiya dealings from the documents I’d helped myself to while Masafumi was in one of his drunken stupors. He had evidence I was actually Peter Ellery, wanted by the MoD police in connection with the shooting of a guard at Nancekuke. It was a nasty surprise when I discovered he’d been checking up on me and had managed to join up the dots that connected me to my previous identity. He was concerned I might know too much about his part in Masafumi’s activities. And he was right to be concerned. As for how our stand-off was resolved, well, according to him, we had the basis for a good working relationship. I’d demonstrated my suitability to become his assistant as he took Masafumi’s work forward in a more professional manner. He was willing to supply me with a new identity that would bear more scrutiny than the Peter Evans persona. I could make a whole new life for myself – and become a wealthy man – by returning with him to Japan and throwing myself into helping him make a lot of money. And then a lot more after that.’

‘And that is what you did.’

‘Yes. For the next forty years I was his right-hand man. Not exactly his partner, because that implies equality, which isn’t a principle Nishizaki believes in. But closer to him than anyone. He allowed me to start my own subsidiary, Quartizon, but only because I persuaded him it would be useful to have a channel for certain specialized operations that couldn’t be officially tracked back to him.’

‘You knew about all the murders that Nishizaki commissioned to dispose of people who stood in his way? And you knew all the details of his arrangements with Aum Shinrikyo?’