Langdon waved away my attempt to tell him that I’d already agreed to pay the ransom. ‘That’s time enough for me to put out the word. Tell you what, let’s agree the following: we’ll decide upon a course of action on Friday at noon, in the light of what I can find out between now and then. In the meantime, sit tight and have faith. I know what I’m doing.’

38.

Langdon swept back to his SUV confident we’d do as he said, but there was no way on earth I could just sit back and wait for news. Now I knew the truth of my parents’ situation, and could no longer blindly pray that they’d waltz back into the hotel any minute, ‘waiting for news’ was its own special kind of torture. I paced to and fro, my mind ablaze. Perhaps Langdon’s ‘connections’ would enable him to track down the kidnappers between now and Friday. I hoped so, obviously. But if they didn’t, I had to go to the museum drop, and had no intention of going empty-handed.

Where could I get hold of $75,000 though? The only people I knew who could access Mum’s and Dad’s money were, well, Mum and Dad. If I’d been at home I could perhaps have sold some stuff, Mum’s jewellery, some of Dad’s fancy paintings, but home was nearly ten thousand kilometres away. Even if I’d already organised flights, I could barely get there and back in two days, and anyway, I knew that there are rules about the amount of cash you can take to certain countries. I was stuck in a luxury hotel with my spending money for the trip and my parents’ restaurant tab. Though the place had a swanky pool and armed guards, there was no way they’d advance me $75,000 on the off-chance my dad would turn up and pay it back. Could I steal the money somehow? I’d risk ending up in jail myself if I did that. Which only left forcing Langdon to give me the cash. But how on earth could I do that?

‘You realise you’re actually walking round in circles,’ said Amelia as I passed her lounger for a third time. ‘Or rectangles at least, it being a rectangular pool.’

‘I can’t help it. My head’s on fire.’

‘You’re better off jumping into the water than walking round it if that’s the case.’

‘He doesn’t mean it literally,’ sighed Xander.

‘I know that. I do though. Swimming always helps me untangle my thoughts. You should give it a try, Jack.’

‘Swimming up and down the pool is no more likely to produce 75,000 dollars than walking round and round it,’ I said.

‘Is that what you’re worried about?’ said Amelia.

‘Er, yes!’