was tense.’
‘Was it?’
‘What would you have done if they were there for you?’
‘You don’t want to know.’
She gave him a look.
‘The driver,’ Victor prompted.
‘Her name really is Francesca Leone. She was born in Italy but she’s what you would call a citizen of the world. I’d struggle to name all the countries she’s lived in. She’s thirty-seven years old, from a wealthy family, and a graduate of the University of Florence. Art history, if you’re interested. But what she’s been doing for the last fifteen years, aside from globetrotting, is a little sketchy. She’s been a painter and sculptor, she was a curator in a gallery in NYC, she’s modelled, been married a couple of times. She never stays in one thing in one place for very long, and there are large swathes of seeming inactivity in her resume. If I had to label her, I’d call her a nomad.’
‘Criminal record?’
‘She was arrested for possession of cannabis resin in Munich twelve years ago, but no charges were pressed. Daddy’s lawyers took care of that one. He’s dead now and she inherited a tidy sum to help her through the grieving process.’
Victor thought for a moment. ‘How is Varina Theodorakis involved?’
‘She’s not. She reported her taxi missing before you’d even landed. The plates had been changed. She doesn’t know anything.’
‘And Leeson himself?’
She shook her head. ‘Nada. There are quite a few Robert Leesons hailing from the US and the UK, but none of them were in Budapest at that time or own a Rolls-Royce Phantom. Do you know how much one of those costs?’
‘A lot.’
Muir’s cheeks puffed as she blew out a breath. ‘And the rest. There aren’t that many of them out there, thankfully, and I’m in the process of compiling a list of the owners, but the kind of people with the money to buy one also like their privacy. You haven’t asked me how Procter’s doing yet?’
‘Why would I?’
Muir raised her eyebrows and didn’t say anything for a moment. ‘Whoever the target is, he must be a major one for Leeson to go through all this to find the right man for the job.’
‘Quite.’
‘But what I don’t understand is why a man as careful to cover his tracks as Leeson would risk a face to face with an assassin he’s never met. It doesn’t fit with his MO.’
‘It fits exactly with the kind of man he is. It was the only way to truly know if Kooi could be trusted to do the job he needs doing. Leeson knew enough about him from the contracts in Yemen and Pakistan to confirm his operational skills, but he needed a measure of Kooi’s personality. He wanted to see exactly how he reacted when asked to kill Francesca there and then, and sitting opposite Kooi was the only guaranteed way to see if he passed the test. It wasn’t just about yes or no, but how Kooi responded. From Leeson’s perspective it’s preferable to hire someone who knows his face but won’t get caught than someone he’s never met who gets picked up by the authorities two minutes after the target is dead. Or two minutes before. He couldn’t have got the same level of insight any other way. If Kooi had agreed to kill Francesca, Leeson would have known he couldn’t be relied on, and would have had his marksman execute him. Nice and clean, no comeback, and he looks for someone else. But I passed the test and Leeson’s still clean because he knows I’m trustworthy.’
‘Except you’re not.’
Victor nodded. ‘Except I’m not.’
‘Trust aside, I’m not sure I’m convinced with the reasoning. It still seems too much of a risk, but I can’t justify it any other way, so I guess I have to agree.’
‘There is another reason.’
She read his look and stiffened slightly. ‘Stan?’
‘Kooi didn’t fulfil the contract in Yemen exactly how he was meant to,’ Victor explained. ‘It was meant to be a suicide just like the one in Pakistan – slit wrists – but Stanley Charters was too good and Kooi didn’t pull it off as planned. That made Leeson doubt Kooi’s suitability. He wanted an explanation. He needed to hear it from Kooi’s mouth. He needed to see his face while he explained.’
‘Then I don’t know how you sold yourself with that mark against Kooi.’
‘Neither do I. And it presents us with a significant problem.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it shows that Leeson didn’t want to hire just any suitable killer. He wanted to hire Kooi. Specifically him, so he