An authoritative voice called out. ‘Will everyone who was in Court 3 please remain in the building!’

Too much noise, impossible to speak here. She eased away from the crowd and headed towards the toilets. As soon as she was far enough away from the din, she leaned against a wall, and with fingers that seemed to be in total disconnect from her brain, she struggled for a good minute or more before she finally got the correct number entered.

00 593 112 679483

She hit dial, lifted the phone to her ear and waited. There was silence, for what seemed an eternity, almost drowned out by her panting, the thudding of her heart and the drumming in her ears.

Then an overseas ring tone. Whine – silence – whine – silence – whine – silence.

A click.

Then to her utter joy, she heard the sleepy voice of her daughter.

‘Hrrrullo?’

It was midday here, which meant if she was still in the Galapagos, or over that side of Ecuador, it was a six-hour time difference – 6 a.m. ‘Laura! Laura, darling?’

‘Mum!’

Oh my God, she thought. Oh my God, you are alive! She closed her eyes, crushing away tears of relief. ‘My darling, have I woken you?’

‘Yrrrr, but that’s OK. S’good to hear you.’ She was talking quietly, as if she didn’t want to wake anyone up. She sounded fine, relaxed, normal.

‘Where are you, are you OK? Are you safe?’

Laura sounded surprised. ‘Safe? Yes, we’re in a hostel, back in Guayaquil.’

A tidal wave of relief surged through Meg. ‘I’ve been going out of my mind with worry. I haven’t been able to get hold of you.’

‘Yrrrr, sorry about that, Mum. Cassie and I got pickpocketed – can you believe it, in a queue for the toilets. Bastards took our phones, purses and passports. It’s been a bloody nightmare, we couldn’t pay for anything. We phoned the British Embassy in Quito – they’re going to help with new passports. Then we bumped into that weird guy – remember we told you about him – Jorge – who we thought was stalking us. He’s turned out to be our saviour!’ She was sounding increasingly animated. ‘We bumped into him right outside the hostel in the Galapagos – such a coincidence! He lent us some cash – I told him you’d pay him back, hope you don’t mind?’

‘Of course not.’

‘He found a phone place and bought Cassie and me a phone each – so amazing of him. But I couldn’t call you – we can’t call out internationally on them. He said he would get a message to you to call us!’

Meg said nothing. She didn’t believe Jorge was the saviour her daughter thought. But more importantly at this moment, she couldn’t believe she was talking to Laura again, how normal she sounded. How relaxed.

Had she been spoofed all along about the threat to her life?

‘How are you, Mum? How’s the trial going?’