‘Greg Mavers needed an analyst he could call on in case something came up in the reception and he needed quick answers. Knowing I could probably wangle a couple of days off afterwards I volunteered. It was as simple as that.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Jeez, Rebecca, I don’t have to answer to you.’

‘Even if what was happening at Wittering in some way involved my mother?’

‘How in the hell could it?’

‘Karen Hope.’ Silva held Sean’s gaze as he stared across the table. She felt as if he was trying to see what she was thinking, what she knew.

‘Karen Hope.’ Sean reached for his drink. Took a draught. ‘You’re talking American Armaments, right?’

Silva nodded, realising the question was tentative. A probe to discover something deeper. So far nothing she’d said gave anything away, but without a hook Sean wasn’t likely to open up. ‘Shortly before she was killed, my mother uncovered unsavoury details about the Hope family business. The substance of it was serious enough to threaten Karen Hope’s presidential chances.’

‘I see.’ A beat. No more. But just enough. Sean continued. ‘What, exactly?’

‘She found Karen Hope has links to a Saudi associated with funding terror groups. The Hopes, realising the information could never be allowed to get out, had my mother killed. Next came Neil Milligan, the head of the news agency my mother worked for. I spoke to him about my mother’s research, but he told me to forget the whole thing. He was scared – rightly so, it proved.’

Sean opened his mouth to speak.

‘No,’ Silva said. ‘I’m not finished.’

She moved on. There was a picture, she said, that showed Karen Hope with Haddad, a man who was a known terrorist sympathiser. Hope, fearing exposure, had paid to have Francisca da Silva eliminated. Neil Milligan had been at first threatened and then he too had been murdered.

‘That’s it,’ Silva said.

Sean gave a nervous laugh. He raised his head and blew out a long breath. ‘Let’s just say, in some other crazy life, I believe you. What on earth did your mother discover that threatened Hope’s election? Just being seen with Haddad wouldn’t be enough.’

‘Something to do with arms dealing.’

‘So?’ Sean shook his head. ‘There’s nothing illegal in arms dealing. In fact Karen Hope’s major selling point is she’s not a wishy-washy liberal. Her base are going to vote for her anyway, so attracting those to the right of that is part of her plan. She’s got nothing to hide.’