Amelia gave me a ‘course it does’ look, then said, ‘Now will you call your uncle?’

I was already scrolling to find his number. He answered after the first ring. I realised, as I began to tell him about the letter, that I didn’t want to sound panicked by it. Was I fighting to keep calm to stop my imagination from running away with itself, or because I wanted to protect Langdon (this was his brother in danger after all) from jumping to his own terrible conclusions? I don’t know. I do remember that I went so far as to suggest to my uncle that the note was partly good news: we knew my parents were alive and well and considered valuable by their kidnappers. All we had to do was follow their demands and Mum and Dad would be set free unharmed, surely?

‘Stay put in the hotel. I’m on my way,’ Langdon said.

He arrived within minutes. I waited just inside reception with a view past the potted palms out onto the street. His big SUV slewed to the kerb in front of the hotel with the passenger’s door opening before the car had quite stopped. Langdon jumped down and walked briskly up the steps, put a hand on my shoulder and steered me in silence, his face grim, through to a corner table on the far side of the bar. Amelia stuck with us, but I’d already handed my uncle the ransom note by the time Xander, clicking on his crutches, caught up. I noticed a sheen on Langdon’s forehead as he read the note, and saw that his Hawaiian shirt was pasted to his sides. Was it the dash across town or fear making him sweat like that? He inspected the note carefully, turned it over, folded and unfolded it again, and took a deep breath.

‘What do you think?’ said Amelia, just as he was obviously about to speak.

I gritted my teeth.

‘Your parents understood the risks of coming to the DRC with their … agenda,’ he began. ‘We discussed it at length in advance. This is a volatile country at the best of times, and the battle between conservationists and those seeking to develop the country through mining and other industries is fraught. Add poaching into the mix and the national parks your parents are here to protect, as you’ve seen for yourselves, can be very dangerous. On top of that, most of the police are corrupt, in the pocket of politicians and businessmen who are more corrupt still. Given the general lawlessness, organised crime is rife.’

‘We know all this,’ said Amelia bluntly.