I watched carefully, and he didn’t so much as shoot Caleb a look, which seemed strange. My uncle has always been tough on my cousin when he’s messed up, punishing even the smallest mistakes hard. One of my earliest Langdon memories is of him locking Caleb out in the garden, in the rain, because he’d failed to take his shoes off coming into the house and had tracked mud across the kitchen floor. Caleb was about seven. Langdon refused to let him back inside until Mark and I had finished our dinner. I remember what we ate, sausages and mash, because the sausages were incredibly hot and when Mark told me to eat up quickly I burned the roof of my mouth.

Was he waiting today until he had Caleb alone before tearing into him? Apparently not. Once we’d made our way – slowly, Xander wasn’t that good on his crutches yet – to where his driver had parked up his big, blacked-out SUV, and all climbed in, he turned from the front seat and, addressing Caleb, said, ‘Terrible shame about young Innocent. First guide to be killed in a gorilla attack for years apparently.’

When Caleb didn’t reply I said, ‘It was absolutely awful.’ The words sounded ridiculously hollow, and I didn’t improve things by adding, ‘A complete tragedy.’

Langdon glanced at me, sniffed and said, ‘Must have been. Still, I suppose it’s a valuable lesson. Nature’s unpredictable, no matter how experienced you are. Big animals like that can always turn.’ Nodding at Xander he went on, ‘Not something you’ll forget in a hurry, eh … boy.’

Two things were clear. First, that he couldn’t remember Xander’s name. And equally obviously, that he wasn’t bothered about Innocent. If Caleb was a self-regarding idiot, here was a reminder of where he got it from.

‘It’s not really something any of us are likely to forget,’ said Amelia. ‘Unless we develop amnesia.’

Langdon looked her up and down before conceding, ‘S’pose not.’ He went on, seemingly out of a sense of duty, ‘No, it’s an awful tragedy for Innocent’s family, you’re right. We should just be grateful that – your leg aside, sonny – none of you were hurt or worse. I’ve made arrangements to compensate the family.’ Then he turned to face the road again, gripping the handle above the door to steady himself as we swerved to avoid a woman cycling on an ancient bike with a basket balanced on her head. This little speech seemed to have drained the goodwill from my uncle. As the driver pulled back into our lane Langdon turned to him and snapped, ‘Take it easy. It’s not a race!’