‘I don’t care to see you blamed for not humouring Camilla’s naive little whim,’ Marina said, removing her husband’s hand and standing her ground, so that they were all trapped on the steps. ‘These powerful new politicians aren’t going to forget what happened during the bad old days. I’ve seen the blacklist that was in your study, George. You left the file open. Mr van der Beer knows very well what I’m talking about. He knows he can’t stay on his farm after Independence. No matter what you do for him.’

‘People like you don’t know anything about the Mau Mau years,’ Lottie said, shaking with anger. ‘You weren’t even in the country. You don’t understand the hardship there was, the fear and the danger that we lived with.’

‘Stop, Lottie,’ Jan said. ‘We have nothing to say to this woman.’

Marina ignored the interruption and addressed her daughter. ‘There’s no place for the white criminal class in the new Kenya, Camilla. I’m afraid you haven’t selected very suitable surrogate parents, darling. You haven’t made a good choice at all.’

Piet and Hannah were staring at their father. But Jan turned his back on them and strode away, hands deep in his pockets, shoulders hunched, head down. His family followed without a word. The Mackays waited in horrified silence as George took a firm hold of Marina’s elbow and steered her to their car where she sat, staring ahead. Doors slammed and tyres crackled on the driveway. Then they were all gone, the headlights picking out the canopy of palm trees. Camilla was left standing alone in the beam of light that streamed out from the hallway. She looked at the frozen expressions that surrounded her, and then walked along the verandah to her bedroom.

Unable to contemplate sleep, Sarah followed. She tapped on Camilla’s door, but there was no response, so she climbed the circular staircase that led to the roof terrace, a wide, tiled area overlooking the shipping channel. Vessels passed so close that you could make out every detail on deck, and she had often stood there with her parents, watching friends who were leaving Mombasa, their figures shrinking into sticklike silhouettes as they stood on the starboard side and waved. A slight noise made her turn round to see Tim appearing at the top of the stairs. He came to stand beside her.

‘Couldn’t sleep?’ he asked.

‘No. I can’t stop wondering what she meant. I think Lottie knew, though. She brought up the subject of the Mau Mau right away, so maybe it’s about that. I know Jan’s brother was killed during the emergency. Up in the Aberdare forest.’