Bannerman had an immediate picture of the fat little man sitting at his desk, sweating and dabbing his brow with that infernal red handkerchief, his hair falling in greasy ringlets about his thick neck. ‘Well?’ he said.

Platt was taken aback. ‘Well, I thought you might have something for me. You just vanished for two whole days. I thought maybe . . .’

‘Then you thought wrong. I’ve got nothing new.’

He could hear the dryness in Platt’s mouth as he spoke. ‘Well, maybe I have. Been doing some digging of my own.’

‘And?’

‘I’ve come up with something quite interesting.’

Bannerman sensed his tension. ‘Which is?’

‘Perhaps,’ Platt said, ‘we should get together and, you know, compare notes. Don’t you think it’s time you came clean with me? I’m sure we can work out something to our mutual advantage.’

Bannerman sat down. It was just possible that Platt had something. Although it was equally possible that he was simply trying it on.

‘Hello. Are you still there?’ Platt sounded anxious.

Bannerman decided to call his bluff. ‘I don’t think there’s much point in our meeting, Platt. If you’ve got something to tell me, tell me now. Otherwise forget it. I’ve got more important things on my mind.’

Platt said quickly, ‘Look, Bannerman, it’s time we laid this thing on the line.’

‘Goodbye.’

‘No, no, wait.’

Bannerman had the impression now that Platt was cupping his hand around the mouthpiece to make this confidential. His voice was very close and slightly hushed.

‘I’ve been looking at company records. It’s an absolute jungle, Bannerman. Took me ages to piece together how it all works. That’s Lapointe’s handiwork. The man’s a genius. He can put companies together and take them apart again like a kid with Lego. It all looks legit on the surface, but if you start from the basic premise that nothing is really what it seems, and start picking at all the loose threads, then the whole thing starts to unravel.’

‘Get on with it!’ Despite his tone, Bannerman was interested.

‘Okay, okay. The way Jansen got fat was by buying up the competition. He’d squeeze them financially, forcing them to borrow. Then when things got tough and loans got called in they would go into administration. Almost invariably they would then get snapped up by a holding company called La Trasque, which in turn sold them to Jansen. Turns out that La Trasque, and the finance companies that put up most of those loans, were all owned by a nominee company called Corniche S.A., which traded on behalf of unnamed clients. It wasn’t until about two years ago when Corniche shut up shop and reregistered in Liechtenstein that it became apparent who was really behind it.’

‘Who?’

‘No one seemed to notice at the time, but it’s all there if you check back through the records.’