‘I’m sorry, Peter,’ my father said. ‘We’ll keep the job open for you. Do you have any sons you can send me while you’re away?’

‘One son, Bwana Miller.’

‘How old?’

‘Seven.’

‘We’ll give him a job.’ My father mopped his forehead. ‘And we’ll see what we can do about a pension or something of that sort for you.’

The second policeman prodded Peter. ‘Back to the cell now.’

He stood up obediently. ‘Thank you, Bwana,’ he said, not looking at us.

The first policeman showed us out. ‘I wouldn’t go through with that pension,’ he said. ‘It’ll just make trouble for them with the other families.’

Outside, my father stopped at the bottom of the station stairs. ‘That was rather unpleasant, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes.’

‘I wish I’d been able to do more.’

‘I’m not hungry anyway.’ I looked at my watch. ‘Why don’t I try finding Freddie, see whether he can do anything?’

He looked relieved. ‘Good idea. I’ll head back to the club.’

‘I’ll see you there.’

Freddie wasn’t at the Muthaiga, but one of the bar staff thought he’d gone for a meeting at The Norfolk. I ran into him there in the lobby. He looked pleased, and I guessed his meeting had gone well.

He listened to my account, then pulled a sympathetic face. ‘Sorry, Theo. I don’t know what I can do.’

‘I don’t know either – have a word with Byrne? He must know the police chief if you don’t.’

‘Byrne won’t want to get involved. The man was caught stealing.’

‘It just seems a bit disproportionate, don’t you think?’

He put his arm around my shoulder and steered me to one of the tables on the covered terrace. ‘It’s irritating when these junior officers start throwing their weight around, but it’s the law. I really don’t see how I can try to get this poor bugger’s charges dismissed. If I do a favour for one native, they’ll all expect it.’

‘That’s what the policeman said.’

‘It’s true, even if your sister won’t hear it. Individually you can sometimes reason with them, but in a group, they’re a nightmare. They don’t think the same way as us, Theo. They’re not logical – it’s the way they’re educated, or not.’ He looked away. ‘Try to forget the whole thing. No use worrying about something you can’t control.’

I thought about asking how much Rupert had been fined for setting the Africans’ huts on fire that time. But I didn’t think Freddie could have remembered that, or maybe he hadn’t heard about it at the time. Even so, it irritated me that he seemed so reluctant to help and I wondered for a moment how seriously he took me or my job.

‘I really am sorry.’