‘No, oh no,’ she said, collapsing into a chair and wringing her hands, inconsolable, consumed by the force of her grief. ‘I can’t talk to them. I can’t. I can’t ring that number because I know he’ll never answer the phone again. None of us will ever hear his voice again. And they’ll never forgive me. Never.’

George opened the cupboard and found a bottle of brandy. He poured a stiff measure and handed it to her, but she ignored the proffered glass. She sat with hunched shoulders, rocking back and forth, her arms wrapped round her body. After a time she became very still and finally she turned back to her father, her gaze dull and despairing.

‘Show me the paper,’ she said.

He handed it to her, and waited while she read the article. When she had finished she stood up.

‘Tell me,’ she said, ‘is this about what Jan van der Beer did?’

‘Camilla – I can’t divulge—’

‘Tell me, damn you!’ she screamed at him. ‘Tell me what Mother knew. Tell me the truth, because otherwise I can’t live with myself.’

George sat down heavily. ‘Jan killed a man,’ he said. ‘During the Mau Mau years when he was in the Aberdares, tracking the gangs in the forest.’

‘It was a war,’ she said. ‘British soldiers were brought in. They killed people. African policemen killed people.’

‘This was a particularly brutal killing,’ George said. ‘The man was tortured. Jan would have been tried for murder but for the amnesty. There was a blacklist circulating just before Independence, and his name was on it.’

‘So Piet’s death – was it about revenge?’

‘It has the marks of it, although I can’t be certain. And if it was revenge, then there is nothing that you or any one of us could have done to prevent it.’

She paced the room for a time, before coming to stand in front of him. ‘Hannah will need to know why this happened,’ she said. ‘I have to tell her. And it will help the police, give a direction, a reason.’

‘No. I don’t think you should tell Hannah anything. She’s just lost her brother. Would you tell her now that her father was a murderer? That he might be responsible for the barbaric death of his own son? Neither Jan nor Lottie ever told their children about what happened. That much was clear on that unfortunate evening in Mombasa. What good could it do, to tell Hannah now?’

‘It could bring justice, find who did this thing.’ Camilla was crying again.

‘And destroy what remains of the poor girl’s family. Are you going to do that to her? Those files are closed. I don’t believe there’s any point in their being opened again.’