‘The police don’t ask questions of the Novákovi, as long as there’s no trouble,’ said Most. ‘Some of them even do security work on the side, officially and unofficially. You see here?’ He indicated the northern corner of Bilbija’s house. ‘That’s the guards’ residence. Two are present at all times. They’re relieved every forty-eight hours. The gate in the outer wall is opened, a car drives in, the occupants are checked by this camera on the inner wall, and only when the guards inside are satisfied that all is well do they open the door to the main house. The guards also take care of deliveries, so they bring in food, wine, women, whatever the guest requires.’

‘Weapons?’

‘Heckler and Koch UMPs, and Phantom pistols. But even if the guards were armed only with small stones, taking Bilbija at the house would not be an option. You might get to him, if you were lucky, but by the time you did, you would be surrounded. Fighting your way out, assuming you could, would involve killing police, and no one would be happy about that, including me.’

‘But Bilbija must leave on occasion,’ said Louis.

‘Only to go to the casino. He eats, he gambles, maybe he takes a woman upstairs to one of the private rooms, then he returns to the house.’

‘Let me guess,’ said Louis. ‘He doesn’t travel alone.’

‘He likes to drive himself – the Audi TT in the second picture is his rental – but an escort car from the casino arrives to bring him in, joined by a police vehicle. One car in front, one behind, and Bilbija in the middle.’

‘And the casino?’

‘No guns are permitted on the premises, or not for guests. There are metal detectors and hand scanners. The cars are parked securely underground, so it would be hard to get at Bilbija’s Audi. As with the house, killing him at the casino would be difficult, but not impossible. Getting away with it is the challenging part. I suppose it is a question of how badly you want him dead.’

‘Very badly.’

‘Ultimately, he will make a mistake. It’s just a matter of time and patience.’

‘I don’t have much of either.’

‘You could contract it out.’

Louis stared at Most.

‘Or maybe not,’ said Most.

‘Show me the route from the house to the casino,’ said Louis, and was pleased to see Most unfold a map of the area instead of using Google Earth on his phone. Most, like Louis, did not like leaving an electronic trail.

‘Here is the property,’ said Most, once again using the straw as a pointer, ‘and this is the casino. The distance between them is three point two kilometers, all of it on private roads through Novákovi land.’

‘So that’s where he’s most vulnerable.’