Just then an assistant who was passing offered him a stool. He sat down, put on the shoes and walked to the end of the aisle. He’d just decided they were too loose when he spotted a rectangular packet amongst a display of pasta sauces by a well-known chef. It was a pair of insoles. ‘Go ahead,’ urged the assistant. ‘They’re a bit loose, aren’t they?’ With the insoles in, the shoes were a perfect fit and Simon placed them in his basket.
In a surveillance booth far away a man with shades, jet black moustache and a quantity of gold jewelry round his fingers and neck watched on a screen. He turned to another monitor and watched a woman coming into the store. He zoomed in on a ladder in her tights and spoke into a microphone.
On the shop floor an assistant pushing a trolley along the aisle of fruit and veg tossed a thin packet amongst the tomatoes. A moment later she put her finger to her ear to hear the man say, ‘Better put a smaller pair near the yoghurts to be on the safe side.’