‘So what’s the feeling?’ said the mayor briskly. ‘Is this a Mafia assassination of a Russian diplomat?’ He smiled. ‘That’s pretty sensational, isn’t it?’

‘Too sensational,’ said the Secretary of State, guardedly. ‘There’s going to be enough speculation, without our contributing to it. At the moment we don’t have an official view of Mafia involvement. That understood by everyone?’

Elliott Jones frowned. ‘I think we need to get some things clear. My office have already had a lot of media requests for a statement. Naturally I’ve held off until now, but I’ve obviously got to say something.’ He was always immaculately dressed, usually in waistcoated suits and with a lot of jewellery. He looked good on television and knew it: his secretary had standing orders to video every appearance.

Hartz thought the handbook could be called Public Participation Without Political Problems: maybe he should write it himself. ‘I’d like you to confine yourself to regret at the killing and your understanding that everything possible is being done to apprehend the murderer.’

‘Is that all?’ protested Jones, disappointed. ‘I’ve got a lot of people who expect me to be up front with them.’

‘I’m not telling you what to say: I know I can’t do that,’ sighed Hartz. ‘I’m asking. And that applies to off-the-record briefings or conversations with particular media friends. That, perhaps, most of all. I want to keep as tight a lid on this as possible. By which I mean all statements that could be regarded as political coming from here, at State…’ he nodded sideways, to Ross ‘… and anything about the investigation coming from the Bureau.’

‘I see,’ said the mayor, stiffly.

Hartz smiled a professional diplomat’s smile. ‘For my part, I would be quite happy publicly to link your name with anything from here. And I would naturally expect you to participate in any press conference.’

Recognising his cue, Ross said: ‘I don’t consider the Bureau to be taking over lock, stock and barrel. We will need your homicide people on the team. And that’ll be made clear in anything we say, from the very beginning.’