‘You should try London.’ He looked away for a moment. ‘Funny going back there after being away for so long.’

‘I can imagine.’ I pulled a face. ‘Speaking of rushing around – I should really get back to Nairobi.’

‘You can’t be in that much of a hurry,’ Martha said. She called for Waweru and he appeared at the door. ‘Two Black Velvets. You will stay and have a real drink with me, won’t you, Theo, if Freddie won’t? It’s half champagne, half Guinness.’

‘I have to work – I only dropped by to see if Freddie was going in too.’

He looked sorry. ‘Not today. But come round soon and we can have a game of squash.’

‘As soon as I can.’

‘Good to have you back.’

‘It’s good to be back.’

He stood to shake my hand. Martha stayed seated, looking up at him unwaveringly. When I bent down to kiss her cheek she barely seemed to notice, and I wondered whether Freddie found her as intense and tiring as I did, or if she was more relaxed when they were alone. I met his eye and he raised an eyebrow, as if he knew what I’d been thinking.

‘’Bye then,’ I said, feeling suddenly awkward.

‘See you soon, young man,’ Freddie said.

My father was pacing my office when I arrived. The room was wood-panelled and brown-carpeted, like the rest of the building, with a stippled glass door leading out onto a dark, narrow corridor that ran the length of three more offices – my father’s, Mr MacDonald’s and the clerk’s. The only furniture provided was a large wooden desk, a hard chair and three bottle-green filing cabinets.

My window faced a wide, dusty avenue, its pavements lined with palm trees and sycamore figs, bee hives hanging from their branches. In the sun, the red-brick and white facades of the buildings opposite looked almost colourless and the people moved sluggishly from one spot of shade to another. If I raised my eyes to the horizon, I could see the blazing silver domes and twin minarets of Jamia Mosque.

I shut the door behind me and took off my coat.

‘Where were you?’ my father grumbled. ‘You shouldn’t be on the payroll if you’re gallivanting around the country instead of working.’

‘I stayed at Kiboko over the weekend. To see Maud.’

‘Oh. Mm-hmm. How is she?’

‘Same as always. I thought you had a lunch today?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘I postponed. Something else has come up, and I’d like you to join me. Don’t sit down – we’re leaving.’

At The Norfolk he bounded up the steps and onto the terrace. ‘There they are,’ he said. ‘Oh good, Auntie’s taking care of them.’