She said my name and I muttered hers out of a dry throat. Cy pointed to a chair that more or less put his desk between me and Mrs Fleischman. Good thing too, if I was to do any thinking. I sat down and tried not to let the flash I’d caught of her long legs under a short white dress activate any free-range hormones.

“The committal hearing opens a month from today,’ Cy said. ‘The Crown’s case is that Claudia hired Van Kep and another man to kill her husband. Van Kep, who’s a difficult character to read, says he doesn’t know the true identity of the other man and that it was him that did the shooting. Van Kep is being charged with conspiracy to commit murder. That’s the deal they gave him. He’s their chief witness. He’ll plead guilty and it’ll go through as smooth as you please. He’ll get seven years, serve four at the most.’

Claudia Fleischman watched me as Cy spoke. I looked at her and had trouble concentrating on what was being said. I nodded at what seemed like an appropriate moment.

‘Claudia maintains that Van Kep worked for her husband in some capacity she’s not sure of. She had no dealings with him nor with anyone else as alleged. She loved her husband and had no reason to murder him.’

I said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I tried to keep the scepticism out of my voice. You don’t cop a seven-year sentence for no reason. A lot of nasty things can happen in gaol.

Mrs Fleischman smiled slightly and looked out the window. She’d caught the sceptical note. Cy replied quickly, trying to get past the awkward moment. ‘Investigate Van Kep. Find out everything about him. What he did for Julius Fleischman, why he’s lying about Claudia and, of course, try to find out who this other man is. It’s not credible that an assassin would work with someone he didn’t know.’