‘Akela told you?’ Daniel asked when he had closed the door. He wore the same dusty jeans and paint-flecked jumper as when Sarah had last seen him.

‘Yes, as she was being taken away.’ Anya described what had happened as they walked through to the kitchen, where the sink, cupboards, work surface and units were half-assembled. They had to pick their way through the tools on the floor. Daniel cleared some screws from the small table and gestured to them to sit.

He looked at Sarah. ‘Why have they arrested her? What’s the point?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know whether she’s actually under arrest or whether they’ve just asked her to go and be interviewed at the police station. She wasn’t handcuffed or anything but they’ve taken her mobile and seem to be searching your house again.’

‘They won’t find anything there.’

‘Nor anywhere else?’ She said it as gently and unprovokingly as she could.

He turned to her, holding the kettle he was about to fill. ‘The trouble with people like you, people like you and Charles, is that because you don’t believe in anything yourselves you can’t understand people who do. I’m not a terrorist, I worship Allah. Islam is a religion of peace, that’s what the word means. Becoming a Muslim doesn’t mean becoming a terrorist. Nor does the fact that I’m helping – going to help – with charity work for suffering Muslims in the Middle East mean that I’m a jihadi.’

Sarah waited while he filled the kettle. ‘I believe you, Daniel, but I wanted to ask because it’s the kind of question the police will ask when they— when you decide to talk to them. They’re bound to ask how you intend to help in this charity work, which charities and so on. They’ll also ask about your Muslim friends. You have to—’

‘Get my story straight?’

‘Be clear and honest and don’t overreact.’

He continued to look at her as he held the kettle. ‘I don’t think I’ve overreacted.’

‘I’m not saying you have.’

‘But they have. There’s no reason for arresting Akela, none at all.’

‘I agree. Certainly none that I can think of.’

‘Why have they, then?’

‘Maybe it’s just because they can’t find you. Maybe they think she knows where you are.’

‘Will she be in trouble?’

‘She could be, if she’s found to be aiding and abetting a fugitive.’

‘So you think I should give myself up? Is that what you’re saying?’

‘That’s why we came here,’ said Anya. ‘That’s what we came to tell you.’