She looked ill, by now so thin as to be emaciated. Her eyes, which had never looked particularly large in her photographs or when we first met, were huge; frightened, threatened eyes of a faded blue in dark wrinkled nests. “Louis told my mother that years ago. It can’t have been long before she died. He told her they were an old couple. I think this may be the son. I think that was the daughter-in-law you saw.”

“A pity you didn’t say so before,” Andrew snapped. “Diana’s been dead for years.”

“Let’s not quarrel. Any of us.” She sounded tired to death. She had nothing to do and she never went out but she was exhausted. “Shall we have a drink? I see you’ve brought the wine.”

Now everyone had calmed down we had a lot to tell them. Principally, that Morna not Silver would be taking Jason to Sydney. Our idea of introducing her to them had been lost in the awful events of two nights before. Now Alison insisted on meeting her. I’d never known her so firm, so single-minded.

“I can’t entrust my son to someone I’ve never met.”

“My son”—I hadn’t heard her refer to Jason like that before. “Can’t you look on her as just a courier?”

“If it was myself, yes. Not when it’s Jason.”

Silver said he’d see if Morna would come with us the next day, the Saturday. We discussed the Nylands a little longer. Were they satisfied that Andrew was a bona fide tenant? Would they do anything?

“Like what?” Alison said. “All they could do is get in touch with Louis. He’ll tell them he was a friend of my mother’s.”

Andrew voiced the fear Silver and I felt. “I’m wondering if there’s ever been anything in the papers about people like Louis. I mean, interviews with friends and acquaintances of ours, or even just a mention of their names as people known to us, people who might help us. Because if there has, that ass Nyland might make the connection.” He turned on Silver again. “Why the hell didn’t you tell him your mother lived up here or something?”

“You think that would have stopped him coming up? Let’s not go into that again anyway. The important thing is you’ve only got four more days here and Jason’s only got three. You say Louis Robinson lives in France and he’s hard to get in touch with. By the time Nyland does, if he does, you’ll all be out of here. We’ll bring Morna to meet you tomorrow.”