‘Test me.’

‘Your little friend Sami was a police informer. A tout. A grass.’

‘What?’ She was stopped in her tracks. ‘You’re making this up.’

‘I saved his life. In service of your country, of my employer, I declared his innocence.’

Patrick had been listening hard. ‘Whose life did you take to save his, Kareem?’

Kareem, silent, shook his head, displaying a silent contempt.

‘Was it Asif by any chance? The innocent young man you sacrificed to maintain your credibility.’

‘Do not worry yourself, Patrick. Whether he is now dead or alive, that boy was a nothing.’

‘That sounds like a confession to murder,’ said Patrick.

Kareem slowly shook his head, his face forming a contemptuous smile. ‘No, Patrick. No bodies. There never will be. We have moved on from the Irish days when an informer was left on the side of a lane with two bullets in his head for his loved ones to collect and grieve for.’

‘How many more Samis, Kareem?’ said Patrick. ‘How many more Asifs?’ He stood up, pulled out a sheet of paper from his jacket pocket and held it in front of Kareem’s eyes. ‘You may recognise this.’

Sara glanced at him, questions and fears in her eyes. Patrick had never mentioned he was bringing it; she had no idea. Had he had a sixth sense? Now that Kareem was in front of him, what card was he trying to play? To drum some sort of confession out of him?

‘Of course,’ replied Kareem. ‘And I have kept my own copy.’

‘The contract. My signature and yours. It truly was your licence to kill, wasn’t it? I’ve lived in fear of it for twelve years,’ said Patrick bitterly. ‘But no longer. Tomorrow I will hand this original copy to the Secretariat of the Morahan Inquiry. If you at least acknowledge the existence of the contract, even if nothing more, your conscience can be clear.’ He paused. ‘And, though it will mean nothing to you, mine might finally feel clear too.’

At the mention of ‘conscience’, Kareem cast him a long, mirthful look of incomprehension. ‘Morahan is dead, Patrick.’

‘His Inquiry lives on. It’s not over, it’s unstoppable. This whole ghastly devil’s bargain will be blown.’

‘And you with it if you persist. But not me. For I am dead,’ said Kareem with finality, allowing the silence of death to fall.

‘Patrick?’ murmured Sara.

‘Yes, Sara.’ Both men turned to her, a flicker of surprise in Kareem’s eyes.

‘When you were summoned to act as Kareem’s solicitor – to represent him – you said he told you from the beginning that the police and MI5 had enough evidence to put him away for many years.’

‘Yes, correct,’ he said uncertainly, not knowing where she was heading. ‘Kareem always knew that. So that was the choice – prison or join our side.’

‘Did you ever examine that evidence?’