The scarred man dried the knife and followed Mr Rafi across the yard to the car.

In the basement of the farmhouse, Willa lay still and silent. Her eyes were closed but her throat was open, and her blood soaked the dirt floor.

In her final moments, the scarred man had been almost gentle with her.

Chapter LII

That night, Luca Bilbija gambled as usual at the casino in Zbraslav. His Audi TT arrived as the middle vehicle in a convoy of three, with a black Land Cruiser leading the way and a police car bringing up the rear. The casino, housed in a small nineteenth-century villa, was surrounded by a low wall with two entrances: the main one, with a security barrier and a guardhouse, and a second access point at the rear, which was gated and used only by staff and delivery drivers.

Bilbija had not come alone. A younger man rode alongside him in the front of the car, and joined him at the blackjack table and the roulette wheel. According to Most’s source – a waitress and occasional escort who worked at the casino – the second man had arrived at the rented house sometime the previous evening, and he and Bilbija had later eaten at the casino’s restaurant. Bilbija had introduced his companion to acquaintances as his younger brother, Mirko. The two men subsequently spent four hours moving between blackjack and the wheel, losing about €4,000 in total, the euro being the casino’s currency of choice. Although women were available, the Bilbijas instead withdrew to one of the lounges, where they kept their own company. Most’s waitress said that Luca Bilbija, who had a naturally melancholic disposition, seemed even more subdued than usual. After a couple of brandies, the men were escorted back to the safe house.

The night of travel to and from the casino had been observed by Louis and Most with the aid of a heavily adapted DJI Phantom 3 Pro drone fitted with a lightweight thermal imaging camera. The Phantom wasn’t entirely silent – no commercial drone was – but the fact that its battery, motor, and wires were concealed in the body made it quieter than similar models, and the propellers were securely wound, reducing their noise level. The Phantom was software-limited to a height of five hundred meters, but Most had bypassed the restriction, meaning that there was little chance of the drone being heard from the ground. Also, the casino did not monitor its airspace, although Most had heard that the introduction of an advanced drone detection system was imminent. Privacy mattered to the Novákovi and their clients.

‘There they go,’ said Most, as his iPad screen showed the greenish image of the Audi disappearing behind the walls of the safe house. ‘You think Luca’s brother is in the same line of work?’