Mma Makutsi gazed about her. If she needed to act the part of the interested client, then it was not a difficult role for her to fill; she was very interested. They were in a large, high-ceilinged space, windowless but with an open door at the back. The sun streamed through the back door, but the main lighting was provided by a bank of fluorescent tube lights hanging from the ceiling. In the centre of the room stood the German printing machine, while four or five other complicated-looking machines were arranged around the rest of the area. Mma Makutsi noticed an electric guillotine, with shavings of paper below, and large bottles of what must have been ink on high racked shelves. There were several large supply cupboards, walk-in affairs, and stacks of supplies on trolleys and tables. It was a good place for a thief, she thought; there were plenty of things.

Next, she noticed the people. There were two young men standing at the side of the German printing machine: one engaged in some sort of adjusting task, the other watching a rapidly growing pile of printed brochures. At the far end of the room, two women were stacking piles of paper onto a trolley, while a third person, a man, was doing something to what looked like another, smaller printing machine. Just off the main space there were two blocked-off glass cubicles, small offices. One was empty, but lit; a man and a woman were in the other, the woman showing a piece of paper to the man. When Mma Makutsi looked in their direction, the woman nudged the man and pointed at her. The man looked across the room.

“You should introduce me to the staff,” said Mma Makutsi. “Why don’t we start with those two?” She indicated the two young men attending to the large printing machine.

“They are very nice young men,” said Teenie. “They are my best people. They have a printer’s eye, Mma. Do you know what a printer’s eye is? It means that they can see how things are going to turn out even before the machine is turned on.”

Mma Makutsi thought of the two apprentices. If there was such a thing as a mechanic’s eye, then she doubted whether the apprentices had it.

“Printers used to be able to read backwards,” said Teenie as they approached the machine and its two young attendants. “They could do that when type was set in metal. They put the letters in backwards.”

“Mirrors,” said Mma Makutsi. “They must have had mirrors in their heads.”

“No,” said Teenie. “They did not.”