‘Grabbed the puppy and ran. Then there was a bit more fighting, and someone must have called the police.’

‘Well, I’m glad you were there with Charlie, Signor-’

‘Lucio will do,’ he said hastily.

‘But I can’t represent you if I don’t know your name.’

‘I haven’t asked you to represent me.’ Inspiration made him add, ‘I can’t afford a lawyer.’

‘It’ll be my gift, to show my gratitude.’

Luke groaned, mentally imploring heaven to save him from a woman who had an answer to everything!

‘As Charlie says, I can’t just abandon you,’ Minnie went on. ‘But you must be quite frank with me. Where are you living?’

‘Nowhere,’ he said hastily, imagining her mirth if he gave the name of the hotel.

‘Sleeping in the streets?’

‘That’s right.’

‘But it makes my job harder. So does your lack of identity. How come you don’t have an ID card?’

‘I do.’

‘Where?’

‘I left it in the hotel,’ he said before he could stop himself.

‘But you just said you were sleeping in the streets.’

‘I’m not at my best,’ he said, inwardly cursing her alertness. ‘I don’t know what I’m saying.’

‘Signor-whatever your name is, I don’t think you’re as drunk as all that, and I don’t like clients who mess me around. Please tell me the name of your hotel.’

‘The Contini.’

Silence.

She looked him up and down, taking in every scruffy, dishevelled detail.

‘All right, you’re a comedian,’ she said. ‘Very funny. Now, will you please tell me where you’re staying?’

‘I just did. I can’t help it if you don’t believe me.’

‘The most expensive hotel in Rome? Would you believe you, looking the way you do?’

‘I didn’t come out looking like this. I left everything behind in case of pickpockets.’ He looked down at his disreputable self. ‘Now I don’t suppose any pickpocket would bother with me.’

‘If you are telling the truth, and I’m not sure I believe it, I still need your name.’