Bello arrived wearing crumpled khaki shorts and a faded T-shirt with bare feet. He looked more like a member of staff than the owner of the house. His dark eyes matched his skin and he had a roughly trimmed beard and moustache.

‘Sir,’ said Abdul. ‘Please may I introduce Captain Peterson and Miss Seraphine Walker.’

‘You have done well, Abdul.’ Bello turned to Seraphine. ‘And you have brought him to me. You will be rewarded.’

Harry recognized the accent. It reminded him of the porter with the wheelchair.

‘Captain Peterson?’ Bello looked at him. ‘Do you know why you are here?’

‘You believe that I have information. But I don’t.’

‘Good.’ Bello’s smile was broad, eager. Harry could sense that there was something strange about him, that he was fanatical and maybe even insane. He approached Harry and stood too close with his hands held behind his back. ‘Tell me what you do not know.’

‘I don’t know where the girl is.’

‘Which girl?’

Harry looked at Seraphine and Abdul who looked back without expression. ‘Alina Maree?’ Harry said tentatively.

‘She is alive, yes? And her mother?’

Harry shook his head. ‘I have no idea. I have no memory of anything from the past four years.’

‘But you know her name?’

‘Because Seraphine told me, not because I remember it.’

Bello didn’t look at Seraphine. ‘Your cousin, Mr Julian Peterson, disagreed.’

‘People who are tortured will say anything to make it stop.’

‘Maybe so, but your involvement makes sense, yes? Naomi took Alina to the coast for a boat. Your cousin said you were on the ships taking people from the water.’

Harry said nothing. He couldn’t disagree. Bloom had told him as much and he didn’t question her research, but he still had no recollection of it.

‘You will tell me if Naomi is alive and where she and Alina are.’

‘How do you expect me to do that? You’ve wiped my memory.’

‘What are you talking about? You are not a computer. Your memory can’t be wiped.’

‘You did this to me.’ Harry placed his hand over the side of his still bandaged head. ‘I had surgery.’

‘You had a bump on the head and now you expect me to believe that you cannot remember? This is convenient.’

‘I did have surgery and I don’t remember.’

‘This is no good to me.’ Bello’s eyes widened, more crazed than before. ‘These lies are no use. We will make you remember.’

‘It won’t help. I have no recollections from the last four years of my life.’ Harry knew that his protests were in vain. Karene had told him about Julian’s injuries; this wasn’t a man who took ‘no’ for an answer.

‘We will see. Because I have your children. So if you do not remember then neither will they …’