Frederick stood with a circle of people. Black tie suited him, but then I had yet to see a man it didn’t. Frederick stopped talking mid-sentence and raised his glass at me.

I swished around the room as I sipped vintage champagne. I scanned the faces of everyone there. They all looked like they belonged. But wasn’t that the point? If the Coyote was here they would’ve made sure they fit in.

*

An immaculately laid U-shaped banqueting table filled Cherwell Castle’s grand dining hall, where gilt-framed portraits of Wycombe’s ancestors stared down at us from panelled walls. Peng was in the position of honour at the centre of the top table. She had Lord Wycombe on her left and on her right a chinless, balding man who was apparently the MP for the area.

I was a few seats down from the corner of the top table, giving me a good vantage point of Peng. I looked round for Frederick and spotted him further down on the opposite side of the room, seated next to Ling Ling.

A scallop and pancetta starter was produced with a flourish.

I sat listening to the man on my right wax lyrical about how everyone should move out of London, the air was so much fresher, the children so much happier and ‘we even grow our own vegetables’.

The man on my left was thankfully over-involved in trying to sleep with the bored woman in diamonds on his other side.

I scanned the room. Nothing but people dressed grandly, small-talking their way through a starter.

The main course was brought out. Pheasant. It was good that having spent the afternoon massacring them at least we were being made to eat them. I took a bite. Or maybe not.

The talk from the countryside lover had moved on to fixed-rate mortgages. There were many hazards in my job, I just never expected being bored to death would be one of them.

I pushed the bits of dry pheasant and new potatoes round my plate. I had thought the build-up to an assassination attempt might be a little bit more dramatic. I looked round the room at the exits. I caught Frederick’s eye as he did the same.

The MP next to Peng had disappeared off on his mobile so I had a clear visual of Peng. She was looking flushed. Alcohol or something else? And then I saw it. Her eyes widened slightly and she grasped at her throat. Wycombe next to her had not yet noticed. The bodyguard up against the wall directly behind her remained oblivious.

I had to be the first there.

I got up and raced towards Peng, plunging the item in my hand into her thigh.

Her bodyguard was on me within seconds and pulled me roughly away from Peng. When I showed him what was in my hand he let me go and we both turned to stare at Peng.