‘But look,’ Xander was saying, ‘all this is probably beside the point. If you’ve made the drop, then we can expect to see them any minute. Where are you?’

‘Stuck in traffic, or we were.’

‘You’ll be here soon?’

‘Yeah,’ I said sadly, as the hotel swung into view.

‘So don’t worry – they’re probably stuck in traffic too.’

‘Sure,’ I said. We rocked to a stop. The driver pulled up the handbrake with a finality that made my skin shiver.

Langdon and I climbed down from the truck slowly. We were astronauts wading through treacle: neither of us wanted to arrive in that hotel and find my parents weren’t there. But I knew they wouldn’t be. I’d known before I called Amelia. To his credit Langdon didn’t make a meal of it. He sat with us that evening as the minutes ticked into hours without his brother and sister-in-law arriving, and he didn’t utter a word of told-you-so. In fact he tried to comfort me. First he said the kidnappers might be waiting to release Mum and Dad after dark, and when that didn’t happen he said, ‘Look, it may not have worked, but making the payment can’t have made your mum and dad’s situation worse.’

I supposed not.

‘No doubt the kidnappers will be back in touch soon,’ he said.

‘If only to ask for more money,’ added Amelia unhelpfully.

‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,’ Langdon said, giving my shoulder a squeeze as he rose. ‘In the meantime, let me check with my people to see if they’ve turned up any leads. Stay put, keep your chin up and I guarantee we’ll get to the bottom of this soon.’

He headed for his car. As soon as he was out of sight I stood up and started pacing around the pool. God I hated that pool. Pacing was pointless too. But blind hope plus sitting still? That was the very last thing I could do.

44.

I’d been marching around the hotel grounds for some time before they turned the pool lights off. Now I had a black hole to circle instead of bright blueness. It suited my mood better, I suppose. The blackness couldn’t be trusted. It was a hole my parents had been sucked into. Orbiting it, I felt so alone. Without my parents I was a rock tumbling through empty space. I made a decision. Mum and Dad had last been seen heading east. Come what may, and ignoring Langdon, I’d make the same journey. With Marcel’s help I’d track down whoever had chaperoned them to the mines. I’d retrace their steps. I’d find them.