Still, it was obvious that Abdelhamid knew more than he was letting on. When Sam had tried to press him about the ‘rumours’ that surrounded Dar Nglîz, Abdel had become strangely vague, before quickly taking his leave. Why didn’t he want to talk? Sam’s neck kept prickling as if someone was breathing on it, thoughts of drowned men and old crimes filling his head as he ran up the steps of the Interpress building. Before, he’d been praying that Norton would find something. But now …

‘Sam Hackett,’ he gasped to the woman on reception. ‘Here to see Ellis Norton, please.’

She put down her pen. ‘He was here a little while ago waiting for you. I’ll ring up and tell him you’re here.’

He’d sat with Mouad and Abdelhamid for longer than he thought. He only had half an hour to get up to the Bab al-Bahr, to be at the gate just as the afternoon call to prayer ended. It felt like an age before the lift doors opened and Norton appeared.

‘Sorry,’ Sam rushed, stepping towards him. ‘Sorry, I lost track of time, and now I’ve got to run—’ He stopped. Norton was wearing a strange expression, his face flushed. Under his arm was a huge, leather-bound folder. Sam’s stomach tightened. ‘What is it? You didn’t find something?’

‘I did,’ Norton said breathlessly. ‘I bloody did, I hit the jackpot.’ He heaved the binder open, balancing it on one arm. ‘Look.’

He was pointing at the front page of an old newspaper, one of the dozens sewn into the binder. Sam had to blink hard in order to focus on the close-set type, his eyes still full of dust and sun and smoke.

THE TANGIER GAZETTE
Tuesday, 31 July 1928

31 July … Just three days after the mysterious letter. He skimmed over the tight columns, past news of the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and communists arrested in Paris, to a short article below the fold. A column headed by four, impossible words:

ENGLISHMAN DROWNS IN STRAIT

Spanish police recovered a body yesterday from the western end of Plage Merkala. The body has been identified by personal effects as that of a Mr Arthur Langham, late of Dar Portuna, Tangier. Langham was last seen late on Saturday night, when he is believed to have sailed his yacht, Spindrift, out on to the strait while under the influence of alcohol. The yacht itself was discovered capsized and abandoned shortly after the discovery of the body on Monday afternoon. Investigations are ongoing.

‘No.’ Sam pushed the article away. ‘No, it’s a mistake. Or a misunderstanding. I’ve seen Langham. I’ve talked to him. I was with him last night.’

They say the man could see the lights of his house as he drowned.

‘Don’t you get it?’ Norton was saying. ‘Whoever you’ve been talking to isn’t Langham.’

‘What?’