‘Didn’t fancy another swim, then?’ I said.

She looked up, startled, and then smiled a little wearily as she put the voice to the face.

‘You didn’t say you had your own boat,’ I said.

‘I didn’t have the chance. You left. Anyway, you have to be a regular sailor to be a member of the club. They don’t . . .’

‘Allow social members. I remember.’

‘Are you angry with me?’

‘Angry? What gives you that idea?’

‘You left very quickly. As though I had said something wrong.’ She finished tying the knot and looked up, her gaze challenging me.

‘You didn’t say anything wrong,’ I said. ‘I had a meeting to go to. An interview.’

‘At this time?’

‘I’m back now.’

‘Do you expect me to bow down at your feet?’

So she was going to play it that way. ‘Look,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry.’

She didn’t answer.

‘Have you ever heard of something called Afrospot?’

She stared at me for a few moments, and then gave a sudden, astonished laugh. ‘You want to take me there?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘I just want to know what it is.’

She jumped into the boat, and I thought for a moment that she was going to unmoor it and sail off. But instead she removed the lifejacket, then lifted one of the seats and took out a black hand-towel and a pair of boots.

‘It is a nightclub,’ she said, raising her arms and wriggling into the centre of the towel, which it transpired was a dress. ‘In Ebute Metta.’

‘Is that in Lagos?’

She nodded. ‘About half an hour away by car. Do you have a car?’

I glanced up at the bar, and saw Manning standing at the window, looking worried. ‘Yes. What road do I need to take?’

She smiled, and pointedly looked me up and down. ‘They’ll never let you in, mon vieux. Not without me.’ And she jumped out of the boat.

IX

IX

I steered us onto the main road and Isabelle indicated I should take a right. Manning wouldn’t be too pleased when he realized I’d left, but he’d soon get over it: I was Larry Dark’s boy, after all.

‘It is not a new club,’ she was saying. ‘But it has a new owner recently, and more people visit. It is fun - you will see. Now it is your turn to speak: tell me why you are so interested in this place.’

‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Just that I heard it mentioned and wondered if there might be a story in it.’

She laughed softly. ‘I am not a fool, Robert! You didn’t even know it was a nightclub. This means there already is a story. Something big, non?’