‘I don’t get it.’ Robin shook his head. ‘The woman in the wheelchair could be a plant? He could still have been meeting the Coyote inside the clinic?’

‘It’s his mother-in-law. She’s got terminal cancer. He found out she’d booked herself into Dignitas. He flew out there to talk her down and bring her home.’

‘How come the wife didn’t talk about it?’ asked Hattie.

‘She didn’t know. They’re estranged. He’s done it all on the quiet. Booked her into a private clinic for more treatment and no doubt a chance to make things right with Kate before she dies.’

What George was doing was admirable. He knew, despite Kate’s apparent ambivalence to having her mother in her life, that she would be heartbroken if she left this world without making things right. For all Kate’s worrying and complaining that she wasn’t appreciated, that she wasn’t valued, I hoped she would see the love in what George was doing and how next to that, all the little stuff paled in comparison.

‘Being a good husband shouldn’t rule out the fact he could still be the Snake,’ said Hattie. ‘We continue surveillance on him, but Peppa has now become our priority.’

‘We’ve found a link between Peppa and the Chinese Embassy,’ said Geraint. ‘Peppa’s local dry cleaners is owned by a Karen Lim. Her sister Alice works at the Chinese Embassy. We’ve red-flagged this connection, as in the last couple of weeks Peppa has visited the dry cleaners on five different occasions.’

‘And this is a deviation from her usual pattern?’

Pixie squinted at her screen as she scrolled down. ‘In the last year, her usage of this dry cleaners was more like once every two to three months.’

‘What do we have on Alice Lim?’

‘Limited information. She’s been at the Embassy for nearly eight years. Implies she’s pretty high up. We haven’t been able to locate her yet. If she’s funnelling confidential information about Peng and the delegation to Peppa using the dry cleaners, it’s a very safe way of doing it. No in-person interaction.’

Hattie nodded. ‘It makes sense. If Alice and Peppa are working together then the Coyote will have all the information they need to make the hit. How are we doing with the doll?’ He motioned towards Hoxton dolly on the meeting room table.

‘The tracker is inside the doll’s stomach,’ said Geraint. ‘We used our thinnest, most lightweight model. It means the range isn’t as good but anything bigger would’ve made her look noticeably pregnant.’