He put the game aside a few minutes later when the door banged open and two of his colleagues hauled a young guy inside. His T-shirt had a huge rip down the back and his skin was cut beneath it. Blood had soaked into the waistband of his jeans. He was unsteady on his feet, mumbling in French. I don’t know what he was saying, but it evidently annoyed the bigger of the two officers manhandling him: out of nowhere the policeman hit the guy so hard in the stomach that he left the floor for an instant before crumpling to the ground. I was flabbergasted. But the officer looked almost bored. He followed up the blow by rolling the guy over with a kick. When he didn’t get back up the two policeman dragged him away down the corridor by his feet!

‘Wow,’ breathed Amelia.

The casual brutality of what had happened was underscored by the fact that the desk sergeant went back to his chess game as soon as the commotion in the corridor was over. Not long after that Detective Hubert appeared, his sympathetic smile already in place.

‘You got my message?’ he said as he approached.

This threw me. ‘No?’ I said.

‘It was just to say that we’ve tracked down the guy who helped your parents arrange their trip out east.’

Immediately my scepticism evaporated. I checked my phone. Sure enough, there was a text. It must have landed just now when I was distracted. The detective had even given me the travel fixer’s name. I showed my phone to Amelia, who read it aloud: Yannick Mugalia.

‘If you didn’t get the message, what are you here for?’ he asked gently. ‘Do you have some information to tell me?’

I didn’t know how to answer. Amelia did however. ‘There were things we wanted to know about your missing-persons protocol, but since it’s already turning up results it sounds as if it’s fit for purpose.’

Detective Hubert smiled. ‘I’m glad if you think so.’

‘We also wanted to suggest you trace anyone Nicholas and Janine might have rubbed up the wrong way with their environmental activism. They were meeting with businessmen, other activists, government officials, and –’

The policeman cut her off. ‘We’re well aware of all of that,’ he said emphatically. More gently again he added, ‘We’ve drawn up a list and we’re working through it. True: they were due to meet with some … unsavoury people. But I still think the most likely explanation for their lack of communication is a lack of signal wherever they’ve gone exploring. Let’s not lose sight of that.’

‘Of course,’ I heard myself say.

‘Have faith,’ the detective said with a smile. ‘Our country gets a bad press, but many – most – among us are doing our best to make things work.’