It took a few tries, but I finally managed to hoist myself up on top of the platform. I leaned against the foot of one of the statues, breathing hard from my effort. Even though I knew these moai had stood here for centuries, surviving hurricanes and storms and gales, some part of me couldn’t shake the conviction that I might end up toppling them over like dominoes, were I to lean against them too hard.

I got back up and carefully made my way along the platform to the statue illustrated in the diary. Rozalia kept pace with me on the ground, and I waved down at her. She waved back half-heartedly, and with a look that implied she thought I should be locked up. Chloe had been staring out to sea, lost in her own thoughts, but then she turned round to look up at me.

‘See anything?’ she called up.

I leaned back, staring up the height of the statue until I felt a twinge of vertigo. ‘Not a damn thing,’ I called back down. Suddenly I felt ridiculous; I had no idea what I was doing or what I was looking for. For all I knew, I was just wasting time.

I was just about to give up and climb back down again when I thought I saw something, wedged into a crevice between the foot of the statue and the platform on which it stood.

‘Are you coming down yet?’ Rozalia called up.

‘Hang on,’ I said, lowering myself on to my hands and knees by the bottom of the statue.

The moonlight was just bright enough that I could see that something had indeed been pushed into a crevice at the base of one of the statues. It looked as if it had been wrapped in something wrinkled and shiny. I wriggled my fingers into the crack, just catching the edge of the package. It felt slippery, like plastic. I tried to get a grip on it, but succeeded only in pushing it deeper into the crevice.

‘Damn it,’ I said, then looked back down at the two women. ‘Have either of you got something I can use to prise something out of here? I think I see something wedged in there, but I can’t reach it.’

‘What is it?’ Chloe called up.

‘I’m not sure yet.’

‘Hang on,’ said Rozalia. I glanced down and saw she was holding up a penknife. ‘Will this do?’

‘Sure,’ I called down. ‘Better than nothing.’

Rozalia tossed it up, and I caught it in my cupped hands.

‘Thanks.’ I turned back to the crevice, pushing the thin blade inside the crevice, working it in slowly until its tip caught the edge of the package.