Rebus put down the receiver, picked it up again, got an outside line and made the call. Explained his reason for calling and asked if there was anyone who could help him. He was told to hold. ‘Is this to do with Telford?’

Hogan asked. Rebus nodded. ‘Hey, Bobby, did you ever talk to Telford again?’

‘I tried a couple of times. He just kept saying: “It must’ve been a wrong number”.’

‘And this was echoed by his staff?’

Hogan nodded, smiled. ‘Tell you a funny thing. I walked into Telford’s office, and someone was at his desk, back to me. I apologised, said I’d come back when he’d finished with the lady. Well, the “lady” turns, face like fury ...’

‘Pretty-Boy?’

Hogan nodded. ‘And pretty fucking angry the last I saw him.’

Hogan laughed. ‘Putting you through,’ the switchboard told Rebus. ‘How can I help you?’

The voice sounded Welsh. ‘My name’s DI Rebus, Scottish Crime Squad.’

Rebus winked at Hogan: the lie would give him more clout. ‘Yes, Inspector?’

‘And you are . . . ?’

‘DI Morgan.’

‘We had this message this morning ...’

‘Yes?’

‘Concerning Sakiji Shoda.’

‘That would be my boss has sent you that.’

‘What I’m wondering is, what’s your interest?’

‘Well, Inspector, I’m more of an expert on vory y zakone.’

‘That clears things up then.’

Morgan chuckled. “‘Thieves within the code”. Meaning mafiya.’

‘Russian mafia?’

‘That’s it.’

‘You’ll have to help me here. What’s that got to do with . . . ?’

‘Why do you want to know?’

Rebus took a sip of coffee. ‘We’ve had a spot of bother with the Yakuza up here. One victim so far. My guess is that Shoda is the victim’s boss.’

‘And he’s up there for a sort of unofficial committal?’

‘We don’t have the committal stage in Scotland, DI Morgan.’

‘Well, pardon me for breathing.’

‘Thing is, we’ve also got a Russian gangster up here. I say he’s Russian, word is he’s Chechen.’

‘Is it Jake Tarawicz?’

‘You’ve heard of him?’

‘That’s my job, sonny boy.’

‘Well, anyway, with the Yakuza and the Chechens in town ...’

‘You’ve got a nightmare scenario. Understood. Well, look ... What about if you give me your number there, and I’ll call back in five minutes? Need to put some facts together first.’

Rebus gave him the number, then waited ten minutes for the call back. ‘You were checking me out,’ he told the Welshman.

‘Got to be careful. Bit naughty of you to say you were Crime Squad.’

‘Let’s just say I’m the next best thing. So is there anything you can tell me?’

Morgan took a deep breath. ‘We’ve been chasing a lot of dirty money around the world.’

Rebus couldn’t find a clean sheet of paper to write on. Hogan gave him a pad.

‘See,’ Morgan was saying, ‘the old Soviet Asia is now the biggest supplier of raw opium in the world. And wherever there’s drugs, there’s money needs laundering.’

‘And this money makes its way to Britain?’