‘You never cease to amaze me, Camilla,’ Tom said. ‘You’re the coolest customer I’ve ever come across. Too cool. No matter what happens to you, there’s never any lasting effect. I’m thinking of the disaster with your face, the robbery, your mother’s illness, the friend who was killed in Africa, and this thing with your father. Doesn’t anything ever get to you?’

She looked at him sadly, knowing for certain that he had no understanding of her at all. ‘I only worry about things over which I have some control,’ she said, flicking a hand dismissively. ‘There’s no point in wasting time on the rest.’

‘That was a very kind and courageous thing to do,’ Edward said later, sliding his arm around her and bringing her closer.

Camilla lay beside him with all her energy drained away, as though it had evaporated with her guests. She wondered where her father was now and veered away from the answer. This evening’s gesture was enough. Time would take care of the consequences. She turned over and pressed her body against Edward’s lanky frame, moulding herself into the secure form of love that he offered. Then she slept.

She awoke to another wintry day, with a percussion of rain and bare branches beating a light tattoo against the window pane. Edward had already gone, and Camilla put on jeans and a sweater and went to find the makings of breakfast. She drank her coffee slowly, her mind deliberately and carefully vacant. The morning papers had been delivered earlier, and Edward had left them on the table for her. The story was on page four and took up very little space, but the headline leapt out at her: Kenya Police Discover Remains Linked with Murder of British Farmer.

The article stated that remains thought to be those of the murderer, Simon Githiri, had been found in a forest near the home of the white farmer he had killed in December of the previous year. The bones indicated that the Kikuyu had been attacked and eaten by wild animals during his attempt to escape. Piet van der Beer had been savagely hacked to pieces on his property, Langani Farm, and left to die. The murder was reminiscent of the barbarous killings that took place after oathing ceremonies during the Mau Mau emergency. The deceased had been a close friend of international model, Camilla Broughton-Smith. She herself had been injured on the property during a holiday in the autumn of last year.